Beverly Bruce Burnham was born on December 21, 1922 in Old Town, Maine; youngest child of the 5 of Margaret Jane (Porter) and Waldo Worth Burnham. 12 years younger than his next oldest brother, his sisters Leona(Toni), Marguerite(Margie), and brothers Aubert and Roger were required to help keep an eye on him, not their favorite task. Having survived this special attention, he attended Old Town schools, graduating from high school in 1940. He next attended the University of Maine in Orono in the engineering/technical program. Upon his graduation in summer of 1944, he entered the U.S. Navy, training and serving stateside. He was then on board ship headed to the Philippines in August 1945 when Japan surrendered, the effective end of WWII. He stayed in the Philippines for several months and completed his enlistment in June 1946. He was next employed by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics(later became the NASA) in Langley Field, Viginia.
He had returned home to Old Town for a visit when he met his future wife Barbara M. Putnam who was in the nursing program at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. They were married in February, 1948.
This new family returned to Virginia for the next two years where their first child, Alan, was born. BB, as friends and co-workers knew him, wanted to move closer to Maine, and found employment in New London, Conn. at the US Naval Underwater Sound Laboratory in the fall of 1950. After renting in New London for almost 2 years, the family bought a house in the Oak Grove Beach section of Niantic, CT for the sum of 11,500 dollars, and BB carpooled to New London every day. His second and third children, Bruce and Karen, were born over the next 3 years, and the family became involved in Niantic and East Lyme life.
BB continued his work for the Navy, receiving an MBA from UCLA, and moving into engineering management. He became involved in the advisory committees for the construction or renovation of 3 schools in East Lyme, including chairing the Building Committee for the Lillie B. Haines School.
BB had a broad range of interests and was always helping friends and neighbors with projects. In the days when TVs were filled with tubes, he often fixed them for relatives and neighbors, and repaired TVs were what his family watched. Having grown up during the Great Depression, he was trained to be frugal. He kept a vegetable garden, improved and repaired his own home and cars, cleaned his own furnace, built his own tube radios, speaker cabinets, and stereos. When they were first introduced, he designed and built his own transistor radios, both stationary and portable. He became interested in personal computers when they were introduced, and began with an Apple II. He also built two prams in his basement, which were used in Niantic Bay and Pushaw Lake. Later he learned winemaking, and made wines from elderberries, grapes, dandelion blossoms, and rhubarb. He enjoyed planting unusual tree seeds he picked up while traveling, and that others brought to him. Classical music and traditional jazz were often heard around him, and he watched the evening news and every weather program he could, and shows about nature. He enjoyed dry, British comedy, and humor about Maine and Connecticut. He liked reading newspapers and magazines, and historical material. And he was a "people person", always engaging in conversations about their interests.
His retirement from Federal Service came on the 29th of February in 1980 after 36 years.
After retirement, 5-1/2 months of each year were spent at the family summer camp on Pushaw Lake in Old Town, and 6-1/2 months were spent in Niantic. During the summer of 1984, BB and Barbara traded homes with Karen AND continued this pattern for the next 22 years.
In 2006, what had been a summer camp was rebuilt as a year-round home. BB and Barbara again became Maine residents after 62 years in other states. Fading health caused by his contraction of polio as a child resulted in his taking up residence at Dirigo Pines Retirement Community in November, 2013. He enjoyed his interactions with the staff and was visited frequently by family and friends. Special thanks is extended to the staffs of Dirigo Pines and Beacon Hospice for their caring for and oft-humorous interactions with him.
His death came on Sunday, February 2, 2014, at the age of 91 with several family members by his side.
BB is survived by: his wife of 66 years, Barbara; his sons, Alan and spouse Joan and Bruce and spouse Pamela, his daughter, Karen and spouse Bruce, by his grandchildren Ross with Jena, Rachel with Patrick, Kate with Josh, Robyn with Chris, and Mark with Amanda, by his great grandaughter Madison and by many relatives and friends, and by his dog Ruby.
A celebration of life will be held during the coming summer. Flowers that might have been sent to a service can be replaced by making a donation in BB's memory to Crossroads Ministries, P.O. Box 408, Old Town, ME 04468 (www.crossroadsministriesandresourcecenter.com).
He had returned home to Old Town for a visit when he met his future wife Barbara M. Putnam who was in the nursing program at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. They were married in February, 1948.
This new family returned to Virginia for the next two years where their first child, Alan, was born. BB, as friends and co-workers knew him, wanted to move closer to Maine, and found employment in New London, Conn. at the US Naval Underwater Sound Laboratory in the fall of 1950. After renting in New London for almost 2 years, the family bought a house in the Oak Grove Beach section of Niantic, CT for the sum of 11,500 dollars, and BB carpooled to New London every day. His second and third children, Bruce and Karen, were born over the next 3 years, and the family became involved in Niantic and East Lyme life.
BB continued his work for the Navy, receiving an MBA from UCLA, and moving into engineering management. He became involved in the advisory committees for the construction or renovation of 3 schools in East Lyme, including chairing the Building Committee for the Lillie B. Haines School.
BB had a broad range of interests and was always helping friends and neighbors with projects. In the days when TVs were filled with tubes, he often fixed them for relatives and neighbors, and repaired TVs were what his family watched. Having grown up during the Great Depression, he was trained to be frugal. He kept a vegetable garden, improved and repaired his own home and cars, cleaned his own furnace, built his own tube radios, speaker cabinets, and stereos. When they were first introduced, he designed and built his own transistor radios, both stationary and portable. He became interested in personal computers when they were introduced, and began with an Apple II. He also built two prams in his basement, which were used in Niantic Bay and Pushaw Lake. Later he learned winemaking, and made wines from elderberries, grapes, dandelion blossoms, and rhubarb. He enjoyed planting unusual tree seeds he picked up while traveling, and that others brought to him. Classical music and traditional jazz were often heard around him, and he watched the evening news and every weather program he could, and shows about nature. He enjoyed dry, British comedy, and humor about Maine and Connecticut. He liked reading newspapers and magazines, and historical material. And he was a "people person", always engaging in conversations about their interests.
His retirement from Federal Service came on the 29th of February in 1980 after 36 years.
After retirement, 5-1/2 months of each year were spent at the family summer camp on Pushaw Lake in Old Town, and 6-1/2 months were spent in Niantic. During the summer of 1984, BB and Barbara traded homes with Karen AND continued this pattern for the next 22 years.
In 2006, what had been a summer camp was rebuilt as a year-round home. BB and Barbara again became Maine residents after 62 years in other states. Fading health caused by his contraction of polio as a child resulted in his taking up residence at Dirigo Pines Retirement Community in November, 2013. He enjoyed his interactions with the staff and was visited frequently by family and friends. Special thanks is extended to the staffs of Dirigo Pines and Beacon Hospice for their caring for and oft-humorous interactions with him.
His death came on Sunday, February 2, 2014, at the age of 91 with several family members by his side.
BB is survived by: his wife of 66 years, Barbara; his sons, Alan and spouse Joan and Bruce and spouse Pamela, his daughter, Karen and spouse Bruce, by his grandchildren Ross with Jena, Rachel with Patrick, Kate with Josh, Robyn with Chris, and Mark with Amanda, by his great grandaughter Madison and by many relatives and friends, and by his dog Ruby.
A celebration of life will be held during the coming summer. Flowers that might have been sent to a service can be replaced by making a donation in BB's memory to Crossroads Ministries, P.O. Box 408, Old Town, ME 04468 (www.crossroadsministriesandresourcecenter.com).
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