Obituary for
William Wood Anderson
Orono and Castine - William Wood Anderson
Bill Anderson died on November 13, 2017 after 92 years of life well lived. He was still 18 years old when he landed on Utah Beach, Normandy, France on June 6, 1944 as part of “Foxy 29,” an elite cadre of Navy doctors, nurses, and corpsmen put together for the invasion of Europe. The LST 500 he sailed on made over 20 trips from England to France and return between D-Day and October. By war’s end he was serving in a Navy hospital on Espirtu Santo in the Pacific Theatre.
Bill was born in Hartford, Connecticut on July 18, 1925 and grew up in Wethersfield with his parents – Anna Wood Anderson and William Oliver Anderson – and his beloved older sister – Lois Anderson Wieder. He as graduated from Wethersfield High School in 1943 and in his home town he earned the Eagle Scout honor.
After the war Bill attended Bowdoin College under the G.I. Bill (thank you America) and was graduated in the Class of 1950, called by the graduates “Bowdoin’s Biggest and Best.” After graduation he took a job with the State of Maine as a social worker in Aroostook County. This was a life-changing event, but not because it launched a career in social work, rather because this is where he met the love of his life, Edith. After a whirlwind romance measured in weeks they married at a social work convention in Portland, Maine. While some said “it will never last,” their life together continued for nearly 55 years until Edith’s death in 2009.
Bill and Edith built a family together in Caribou, Brewer, and Castine. He taught in elementary and junior high schools at Loring Air Force Base, Old Town, and Brewer, where he retired in 1980.
Bill is survived by five children: Laurie Liscomb of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina; Warrie Trichka of Vernon Connecticut; Rae Cousins of Southwest Harbor, Maine; Warren Baldwin of Merritt Island, Florida; and Mark Anderson of Holden, Maine. He is also survived by 9 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren, all of whom benefited from his love and example of life well lived.
Services will be private for the family.
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