William “Bill” C. Platt
Contoocook, NH – William “Bill” Crosby Platt, 64, of Contoocook, NH,
died at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston on Wednesday, September
17, 2025, after a long illness.
He was born January 31, 1961, in North Hempstead, N.Y., to Harold and
Elizabeth Platt. Bill grew up in Manhasset, N.Y., and in Tulsa, Ok. He
was a graduate of UMass-Boston and received his master’s degree from
the University of Montana. He was a writer to his core, rarely
traveling anywhere without a notebook and pencil in his pocket.
He married Paula DelBonis-Platt in 1995 in Kalispell, Mt. Bill and
Paula moved from shared bylines to a shared life in higher education
and parenting their two beloved sons, the adventure and loves of a
lifetime. Bill especially treasured these moments and memories with
their sons, Nate and Will — dinners, projects, automotive exploits,
concerts and theater, movies, golf, celebrations, travel, and long
talks.
Bill was a senior writer in Dartmouth College’s Office of
Communications for the last 13 years of his life. He had held writing
and editing positions from his student days onward, including an
internship at the Boston Globe; as a reporter at the Vineyard Gazette;
leading the Montana Standard’s bureau in Anaconda; overseeing and
editing translations at Bowne in New York City; writing for the Dow
Jones Newswires, including the famous Times Square “ticker”; working
as a stringer in France for the Associated Press; and editing on the
night desk at the Concord Monitor. He greatly valued his colleagues,
connections, and friendships from each of these times in his life.
When not writing professionally, he was busy penning screenplays and
stories or reading about writing and writers. Rarely devoid of hope,
he died with a fresh sheet of paper in his Remington Quiet-Riter
Eleven typewriter and a fresh supply of pen and ink cartridges on his
desk.
He also reveled in music, from Tin Pan Alley to Tulsa Sound, and had
passed his own instruments, the guitar and banjo, to his children to
play.
Bill is survived by his wife, Paula; sons, Nathaniel Platt (partner
Kirsten Hanchett) of Manchester, N.H., and William Platt of Contoocook
and Fort Collins, Co.; brother, Donald Platt of Marietta, Ga.; sister,
Allison Platt of Goldsboro, N.C.; and a close cousin, Dianne Platt of
Tulsa, Ok. He was predeceased by his parents and an infant sister
Pamela.
A celebration of Bill’s life will be held on Tuesday, October 14, at
10 a.m. at Wesley United Methodist Church in Concord, N.H. In lieu of
flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute’s Jimmy Fund or the American Cancer Society.