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In Memory

Thomas Dugdale - Class Of 1951 VIEW PROFILE

Thomas Dugdale

 

Thomas William Dugdale, Jr.

November 8, 1933 - April 14, 2023

Thomas William Dugdale, Jr. passed away peacefully at home on April 14, 2023 with his wife, Patty, and his daughter, Wendi, at his side. He was born November 8, 1933 in South Bend, Indiana, the oldest of Thomas and Anna Lois (Elsey) Dugdale.  Tom distinguished himself as a precocious musician and an excellent student.  Following in his father’s footsteps, he enrolled at Purdue University in 1951 where he met his first wife Helen Kay (Harris) and took a detour from his original ROTC scholarship track.

In 1953 he left Purdue and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. After completing Boot Camp, he attended an eleven-month Fire Control Technician school in Washington, D.C. where he learned to operate and maintain the radar and computer systems used to control ships’ guns.  Finishing first in his class earned him first pick of the available assignments.  He selected the destroyer USS Eversole DD 789 out of Long Beach, CA and set off to see the world, which he did—at least that part between California and Japan! He was honorably discharged in 1957 as a First Class Petty Officer.

After a short stint as a technical writer at Douglas Aircraft Company with the NIKE-Ajax guided missile systems, he returned to Purdue to complete his Electrical Engineering degree.  Upon graduation from Purdue, he joined Control Data Corporation (CDC), a leading developer of mainframe computers and associated peripheral equipment. He spent the next 17 years with CDC in the design, manufacture, and OEM sales of high-performance disk drives and magnetic tape transports. He earned many awards and accolades in his assignments, which included Minneapolis, MN; Amersfoort, Netherlands; and Waltham, MA.  Looking for a retirement area, he drove up to the Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire area one day, and it was love at first sight. With a purchase and sales agreement on a plot of land on Lake Todd in Newbury dated that very day, he and his friend Patty, who would become his second wife, dreamed of the home that they would “stick build” themselves.

Not being very good at retirement and having caught most of the bass in Lake Todd, Tom got into real estate and later founded and operated Lake Station Realty until 2019.  Tom was humble and modest concerning his many talents, including playing the trumpet and baritone in younger years, painting, and writing, to name a few. Besides literally building his own home, he developed and maintained his business website and dabbled in video-editing shortly after video cameras were released. 

He enjoyed reading, maintaining his yard and gardens, and cherished looking out over his lake to view and listen to the many birds and waterfowl that surrounded him. In later years, health problems limited his mobility, but his mind remained sharp as he kept current on sports and news stories and rarely missed a Celtics or Patriots broadcast.  Tom’s family is extremely grateful for the medical care provided to him by his many doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, and hospice personnel over the years.

Tom was predeceased by his parents and his two younger siblings Martha (Tom) Brovont and David (Suzee) Dugdale and his first wife Helen Kay (Harris), with whom he maintained an amicable relationship until her death in 2015. 

He is survived by his second wife of over 40 years, Patty (Fuller); his three children Tom (Tina) Dugdale III, Paula Dugdale, and Wendi (Ken) Roy; his eight grandchildren Tom Dugdale IV, Lauren (Dan) Liebermann, Evan (Isabelle) Dugdale, Tara (James) Carrier, Matt Monahan, Kat Foley, Erin Foley, and Megan Janelle Foley; two great-granddaughters Vivian Liebermann and Iris Liebermann; four siblings Nancy (Dave) McKinley, Lois Wozniak, Ned (Dottie) Dugdale, and Mary (Larry) Pio; and one sister-in-law Suzee Dugdale. 

Services will be private for family members. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the charity of your choice in Tom’s memory.

04/19/2023 EJS

https://www.chadwickfuneralservice.com/obituary/thomas-dugdale-jr



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