Nina Gumpert Parris, a longtime resident of Burlington Vt., passed away peacefully on October 21, 2024, after a year in hospice at the Arbors in Shelburne, Vt.
Nina was born in 1927 in Berlin, Germany. Her father was Dr. Martin Gumpert, a German poet, writer, doctor, and pioneer in public health and gerontology. Her mother, Dr. Charlotte Blaschko, was also a physician. Nina’s mother died of tuberculosis when she was 6 years old, and in 1937, at the age of 10, she fled the rise of Nazism in Germany and emigrated to the U.S. She frequently talked about the dangers and stress she experienced as a Jewish child under Hitler and the challenges of being an outsider and not speaking the language in her new country.
Raised in New York City by her father, she went to the Dalton School, with a strong interest in art, drama and political activism. After a brief stint at the Yale Drama School and studying stage design that included apprenticeships on Broadway, she joined the Caravans performance troupe, which entertained audiences prior to campaign speeches by then-presidential candidate Henry Wallace in 1948. It was there that she met her husband, Arthur Parris, a pianist. Later they spent a year in Paris, where Nina studied art while Arthur studied music at the Paris Conservatory.
After returning to the U.S., Nina started working as activities director at the Home for the Jewish Aged in Philadelphia, while raising her first son, Carl. In this job, she was given leeway to innovate with activities that encouraged residents to build upon their life skills and interests — an early example of her ability to blaze new paths in many of her endeavors.
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Nina returned to college while Carl and her second son, Tom, were attending junior high and elementary school. At Bryn Mawr, where she was a McBride Scholar and Wilson Fellowship recipient, she received her bachelor’s degree in art history. She completed her master’s and PhD at the University of Pennsylvania, with a specialty in 20th-century German painters. She returned to Germany as part of her dissertation research, where she was able to revisit the famous Berlin art museums of her childhood and observe the post-war changes in the younger German mindset.
After her divorce, she and Tom moved to Burlington, Vt., where she became the curator of the Robert Hull Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont. There she led a multiyear effort to restore, reframe and catalog more than 1,500 pieces of artwork in the attic of the museum; produced numerous exhibits; and taught museum studies and art history. She worked to highlight the work of Vermont and northern New England artists, making the museum a focal point for contemporary regional art and crafts.
Shortly after Tom left for college, she became curator of the Columbia Museum of Art in South Carolina. Again, she led efforts to modernize the museum infrastructure and facilities, while growing the focus on Southern artists, with particular attention to reaching out to African American artists and the crafts community. She also became very involved in national and international museum organizations and was the chair of the Curators Committee of the American Association of Museums, leading an effort to write a curators’ code of ethics.
Upon retirement, Nina returned to her house on South Union Street and became deeply engaged in the Burlington community, where she served on the board of the Fletcher Free Library and the Telecommunications Advisory Committee. She continued teaching art history and fine art at Burlington College and the Vermont College of Fine Arts, while mentoring many graduate students into her eighties. During this period, she was a forceful advocate, seeking dignity, self-determination and justice for Palestinians. She was a voracious reader on a wide range of topics and pursued her love of photography.
Nina was a founding resident of Burlington Cohousing on East Avenue — an intentional, multigenerational community, committed to sustainable living and supporting the local community.
Nina used her understanding of history to imagine a better future. She was not a wallflower. She did not bite her tongue. She did not hesitate to share her opinion when she had one, and she usually had one! Her passion could not be missed, and she passed these traits onto her children, friends, students and colleagues.
She is survived by her sons, Carl J. Parris (wife Ann Moring) and Thomas M. Parris (wife Victoria Tamas); grandchildren Daniel, Riana, David and Noah; and four great-grandchildren.
Donations can be made to the Fletcher Free Library or the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) in memory of Nina Parris.
A green burial will take place on November 2, 3 p.m., at Burlington Cohousing (180 East Ave., Burlington, VT), followed by a reception with a catered meal in the cohousing dining room on the same property. All friends, neighbors and colleagues are welcome to attend. Bring stories, anecdotes and special memories to share.
Please RSVP to Peter Lackowski at petervt3@gmail.com.
This article appears in The Tech Issue 2024.