Niece of Amelia Earhart was an adventurer, author and advocate for women’s rights
Amy M. Kleppner was born in 1931 in Boston, Mass., and over the course of her 93 years had several long careers. Her career as a teacher started in the early 1960s, when she taught philosophy at Howard University, where her students included both future civil rights leader Stokely Carmichael and future novelist Claude Brown. After taking a few years off to start a family, Amy went back to work and taught English in Maryland high schools for decades. She was a public speaker and a writer and published numerous articles on subjects ranging from historical art to driver safety to hiking and more. She also published three books, the last of which, about Amelia Earhart’s advocacy for women’s rights, will be released in early 2026. She had a lifetime of adventuring, starting as a teenager in the 1940s, when she biked from Boston to Québec City. She climbed all 46 of the High Peaks in the Adirondacks; she led her young son and nephews in hiking end to end on Vermont’s Long Trail (250 miles); she canal boated in France; she trekked in Siberia, Alaska, Spain and New Zealand; and she went swimming in Antarctica. She celebrated her 63rd birthday by climbing Half Dome in Yosemite, her 77th birthday by kayaking the 350-mile Connecticut River end to end, her 85th birthday by doing a 100-mile hike in England, and, at the age of 92, set off for the Mediterranean to retrace some of Odysseus’ voyage. Always active, she played basketball, field hockey, lacrosse and volleyball in high school and college and enjoyed tennis, volleyball, hiking and cross-county skiing in later years. During all those years of teaching, writing and adventuring, Amy was a wife, a mother, a grandmother and a beloved aunt. She married Adam Kleppner in 1958, and they were married for 59 years until his death in 2018. They were both teachers in Maryland during the school year. In 1963 they bought an old farmhouse in Wardsboro, Vt., where they lived during the summers, until they retired and moved to Wardsboro full-time. That home became a family gathering place where two generations of cousins and second cousins have grown up together. During those summer days in Wardsboro, she organized games of spud, croquet, badminton and tennis. Amy took her two children and various nephews, nieces and grandchildren hiking, camping and swimming across Vermont and across continents…
Niece of Amelia Earhart was an adventurer, author and advocate for women’s rights
Amy M. Kleppner was born in 1931 in Boston, Mass., and over the course of her 93 years had several long careers. Her career as a teacher started in the early 1960s, when she taught philosophy at Howard University, where her students included both future civil rights leader Stokely Carmichael and future novelist Claude Brown. After taking a few years off to start a family, Amy went back to work and taught English in Maryland high schools for decades. She was a public speaker and a writer and published numerous articles on subjects ranging from historical art to driver safety to hiking and more. She also published three books, the last of which, about Amelia Earhart’s advocacy for women’s rights, will be released in early 2026. She had a lifetime of adventuring, starting as a teenager in the 1940s, when she biked from Boston to Québec City. She climbed all 46 of the High Peaks in the Adirondacks; she led her young son and nephews in hiking end to end on Vermont’s Long Trail (250 miles); she canal boated in France; she trekked in Siberia, Alaska, Spain and New Zealand; and she went swimming in Antarctica. She celebrated her 63rd birthday by climbing Half Dome in Yosemite, her 77th birthday by kayaking the 350-mile Connecticut River end to end, her 85th birthday by doing a 100-mile hike in England, and, at the age of 92, set off for the Mediterranean to retrace some of Odysseus’ voyage. Always active, she played basketball, field hockey, lacrosse and volleyball in high school and college and enjoyed tennis, volleyball, hiking and cross-county skiing in later years. During all those years of teaching, writing and adventuring, Amy was a wife, a mother, a grandmother and a beloved aunt. She married Adam Kleppner in 1958, and they were married for 59 years until his death in 2018. They were both teachers in Maryland during the school year. In 1963 they bought an old farmhouse in Wardsboro, Vt., where they lived during the summers, until they retired and moved to Wardsboro full-time. That home became a family gathering place where two generations of cousins and second cousins have grown up together. During those summer days in Wardsboro, she organized games of spud, croquet, badminton and tennis. Amy took her two children and various nephews, nieces and grandchildren hiking, camping and swimming across Vermont and across continents…