MORRISVILLE – George Charles Hemmens, a resident of East Hardwick, died on July 25, at Copley Hospital following complications due to a fall.
George was born on December 31, 1932, in Chicago to John Albert Hemmens and Dorothy (Kieskalt) Hemmens and grew up in Belleville, Ill. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, receiving a B.A. in economics. Following his service in the United States Coast Guard, he entered the Ph.D. program at M.I.T., receiving his doctorate in city and regional planning in 1966. George’s career as a professor of urban planning spanned over three decades, and he moved with his wife Kathleen to East Hardwick following his retirement as Emeritus Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Illinois at Chicago in May of 2000.
George will be missed by his wife Kathleen; his son Craig, wife Mary and their daughter Emily, of Spokane, Wash.; his son Eric, also of East Hardwick; and his daughter Ann of Washington, D.C. He also will be missed by his step-children Kate VandenBergh, husband Rick and their children, Zachary and Rebecca; Timothy Knox, wife Yuki and children Maclan and Leanna; and Rebecca Knox and her husband George Rice; his sister-in-law Evelyn Hemmens, and nieces Kaye and Kris, and nephew Kirk. George was predeceased by his son, John George Hemmens, and his brother Thomas John Hemmens.
During George’s long career teaching urban planning and policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and later at the University of Illinois at Chicago, he also took up the craft of pottery, studying initially at The Lill Street Gallery in Chicago. Following his retirement in 2000 and move to Vermont, George took up pottery full-time and over the years exhibited his work with Caspian Arts and at Montpelier Mud in Middlesex as well as selling his work at The Miller’s Thumb in Greensboro and the Whistle Emporium in Hardwick. Two of his ceramic sculptures adorn the gardens at the Craftsbury Community Care Center where George spent the last three years of his life.
George contributed to the greater Hardwick community in many ways: serving on the Jeudevine Library and GRACE Arts boards of directors and as chair of both the Hardwick Planning Commission and the Hardwick Development Review Board. He helped many children and their families as a guardian ad litem from 2005 to 2015.
A gathering of family and friends will be planned in the near future to celebrate George’s life. Donations in his memory may be made to the Craftsbury Community Care Center or Copley Hospital in Morrisville.
Arrangements are with the des Groseilliers Funeral Home. Online condolences and memories of George may be shared with his family at dgfunerals.com.
