World War II veteran, career intelligence officer, Turkey expert, artist, singer, and passionate gardener, William (Bill) Arthur Fielder defined himself above all by his love for his wife and family. Beloved husband of Ann Riggs Fielder, father of five, and grandfather of nine, Bill died March 17, 2009, leaving behind a close-knit family for which he created the strong foundation.

Bill was born Jan. 6, 1924 in Washington, D.C. to Wilbur C. Fielder and Katherine Rich. His mother died when he was three years old, and he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother until his father remarried six years later. After graduation from high school in 1942, he attended a year at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He was drafted into the army in 1943, and served until the end of World War II as a cryptanalyst based in London,, surviving the V-1 and V-2 bombings of that city. He earned a good conduct medal, the European African Middle Eastern Theater Ribbon, a World War II Victory Ribbon, and his unit was awarded a Meritorious Unit Citation. After mustering out in 1945, Bill returned to Antioch to finish his college studies, majoring in Political Science — but also devoting considerable time and energy to painting. He met his future wife, Ann, in the college library, where she was disturbing his studying by talking, and he told her to be quiet! Ann still has the note she wrote in annoyance to her friend: “Who is that?!” After graduating from Antioch in 1949, Bill went on to study painting for a year at the Pennsylvania Academy.

Despite the rocky beginning, Ann and Bill were married on June 20, 1950, and then set off for Paris, France, where Bill was to study painting at La Grande Chaumiere, and Ann was to write. Life intervened in the form of a baby daughter, born on May 29, 1951, and Bill decided he had to get a serious job. In preparation, he began Russian language courses at the Sorbonne.

Back in the United States in 1952, Bill applied for work with the Central Intelligence Agency. While awaiting security clearances (a lengthy process) Bill took graduate courses in Russian Studies from Columbia and American Universities.

In February 1962, Bill received his first overseas assignment, to Ankara, Turkey. By then, Ann and he had five children; Dionis, David, Evan, Judith and Geoffrey; ranging in age from 10 years to six months. It must have been a daunting prospect, traveling halfway around the globe with this large young family! They were to stay in Turkey for five years, and all of the children remember with fondness wonderful camping trips on which they took in the length and breadth of that fascinating country. Home leave, every two years, was spent on Martha’s Vineyard with Ann’s mother and father, Dionis and Sidney Riggs. The tour in Turkey was followed by a two-year assignment to Saigon, 1967 to 1969, when the family was sent to Taipei, Taiwan. In 1973, Bill was reassigned to Turkey, where he served another five-year tour. During that assignment, Bill began work, in collaboration with his mother in law, poet Dionis Riggs and Turkish poet and linguist Ozcan Yalim, on a series of translations of Dionis’s poems into Turkish, and Turkish poetry into English. The collaboration was to last for almost 10 years. The English translations were published in Stone Country, Poet Lore, the Christian Science Monitor and Mundus Artium, among others. Several Turkish translations of Dionis’s poems were published in the Turkish publication, Varlik, and the Turkish-American Association showcased the poems in 1976 and 1978 in two poetry evenings, Poems in two Languages.

Bill retired from government service in 1978 to live full-time on the Vineyard. He reveled in his life here on the Island. He and Ann set immediately about taming the land around their then half-finished house on New Lane, building a vegetable garden, starting a raspberry patch, and planting perennial borders. Over several years, they completed the second story of the house, built a greenhouse and finished their basement bedroom, doing most of the finish work themselves. Bill started a weekly life-drawing session for local artists, who pitched in to fund the model, and did a plein air class with another group. Bill was committed to his community and conservation. He sang with the community chorus and in the West Tisbury Congregational Church choir, and he and Ann hosted winter soup suppers at the Congregational Church over many years. He was one of the founding members of the Solar Greenhouse, was a longtime donor to the Vineyard Conservation Society, and served a term on the Vineyard Solid Waste Committee. He and Ann were early participants at the West Tisbury Farmers’ Market, where they sold baked goods and raspberries for several years. Bill and Ann knew Polly Hill well, and when the Polly Hill Arboretum was founded in 1998, they were regular volunteers at the visitors’ center.

In 1993, Ann and Bill converted their home to a bed and breakfast, “The House at New Lane.” Bill put his baking skills to work and his breakfasts became renowned among their guests (and grandchildren). The B& B continues with Ann at the helm, and she will do her best to keep his memory alive with her own hospitality.