Frances Kidder Stiles ’55 grew up just a block from UVM’s Redstone campus. Before the University of Vermont became Fran’s college, it was her home. Fran spent her summers playing hide-and-seek with childhood friends in the backyards that bordered university buildings.

“We were sometimes hiding by fraternity houses and other places,” she recalls. “We grew up part of the campus.”

The connection ran deeper than geography. Her father, George V. Kidder, of the Class of 1922—a UVM alumnus, professor, and longtime dean—dedicated nearly his entire adult life to the university. Her mother, Betsy Kimball Kidder ’23, was also a UVM graduate who remained closely tied to the community. Together, they shaped not only their daughter’s college choice, but also her sense of place and belonging.

“We lived it,” Fran says simply.

Fran’s ties to UVM span in every direction. Her grandfather, Ben Kidder, was a charter member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. Her sisters and several members of her extended family also attended UVM. But it was her father’s enduring role that defined the family’s decades-long rela-tionship with the university.

George Kidder’s UVM story began as a student and extended through years as a faculty member and dean. Even into his 90s, he maintained a desk in Waterman, informally supporting university leadership and serving on accreditation committees. “All the rest of his life, from student to the end, was at UVM,” Fran says.

George and Betsy met on campus and, as Fran tells it, her father helped her mother get through Greek class. “She gives him credit,” Fran says with a smile. A later plaque in the university’s all-night study room would honor them both—a quiet symbol of their lasting presence.

The Kidders’ Summit Street home was close enough to Redstone to hear marching drills during World War II. “I think the troops kind of occu-pied Redstone campus,” Fran says. “We didn’t really understand it, but we were aware.”

She remembers Saturday morning programs at the Fleming Museum, milk sold from the dairy building, and UVM ice cream served in sundae dishes. The Waterman building housed both a cafeteria and a bowling alley—then an option for physical education.

After her father became dean, the family moved to a larger home on South Willard Street to accommodate Fran’s grandmother and three great-aunts. “That house was also used to entertain faculty,” she remembers, through “coffee and sandwich parties.”

Back then, rules for women students were still strict. “We weren’t allowed to wear pants—only if the temperature was below 10 degrees,” she recalls. “And freshmen had a curfew. My sister had to be in her room by nine o’clock.”

Decades after graduating, Fran remains deeply connected to the university. She attends Kidder Scholarship luncheons and meets scholarship students, who receive support from a fund created in her family’s honor. “We loved meeting the scholars,” she says. She also gets to know faculty honored with the George V. Kidder Outstanding Faculty Award. “I feel that my dad has been honored,” she says.

Even as societal shifts transformed the university and the world around it, Fran has stayed engaged and reflective. “When you’re 90 years old, there’s been a lot of adjustments,” she says. “If you’re open to them, you grow.”