William “Bill” S. Stone of Burlington, Vt., and Oaxaca, Mexico, died on April 14, 2026, surrounded by friends and family in the home he lived in, in Oaxaca, Mexico. He was 85 years old.
William was born in Milwaukee on February 26, 1941, to the late Thomas S. Stone and Ann Louise Stone. In 1971, William was married to the late Joyce Elaine Gamble Stone at the Beacon Unitarian Universalist Church in Boston, and they had two children together, Kevin and Emily. He later was briefly married to Pauline Allen of Richmond, Vt.
He is survived by his older brother, Thomas R. Stone of Kansasville, Wis.; his children, Kevin Stone (Debbi Stone) of Tampa, Fla., and Emily Stone of Burlington, Vt.; and his grandchildren, Katherine Stone, Kira Stone, Olivia Stone and Jillian Stone Sriharsha.
Fluent in Spanish, he joined the Peace Corps in 1960 and was located in Costa Rica, where he developed many projects, including a dental facility for children that is still in use today. After the Peace Corps, he attended graduate school at Tulane University, earning a master’s degree in Latin American studies. At the culmination of his Peace Corps journey, he traveled to Tanzania and successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. This was the start of a life full of travel and exploration of the world. He had a wanderlust for seeing new places and exploring new cultures. He was an extrovert, and everywhere William went, people were drawn to him. These were not often one-time meetings. He was adept and skilled in making these happenstance meetings into lifelong friendships, and these friendships were just as meaningful to him as his love for travel.
William’s adventures often followed the path of his career, centered in international student affairs. In Boston, he worked at Boston University and then Harvard University. A move to the middle of the country landed him and his family in St. Louis at Washington University. Another career move brought him back to New England, to the University of Vermont in Burlington, a place he would ultimately call his U.S. home. William loved Vermont and the people there, but the call of the world drew him to SIT (School for International Training), running programs in Chile and, ultimately, Oaxaca, Mexico. He instantly fell in love with Oaxaca, its culture and people and resided there as a naturalized Mexican citizen until his death. Oaxaca accomplished the seemingly impossible: It sated his wanderlust and became his forever home.
William’s passions in life were many — not only travel but also social justice and politics. He was a lifelong learner and up until his death took weekly guitar lessons and refined his skills in speaking Portuguese. He loved movies and music and had a wicked sense of humor. He was fiercely loyal to friends and family alike, known for hosting Thanksgiving feasts for American expats in Oaxaca. He has been deeply loved and will be sorely missed by a multitude of people.