Franklin Wilmot Eaton ’42 died on September 27, 2009, in Brooksville, Maine.

He was born on November 19, 1920, in Bangor, son of George F. Eaton ’14, and prepared for college at Bangor High School. At Bowdoin, he was a French major and a member of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. He was inducted into the Army the following June, got married in August, and shipped out to the South Pacific in November. He attained the rank of technician third class serving with the 1098 Army Signal Corps, providing communications support for the New Guinea and Luzon campaigns. In 1946, he took a position at Columbia Investment Co., of which he became president and co-owner in 1957. He closed the company in 1977, and he later joined Paine, Webber, Jackson & Curtis Inc. He became a corporator of Bangor Savings Bank in 1950 and served as bursar of Bangor Theological Seminary from 1950 to 1963, becoming treasurer in 1970. He also served as secretary- treasurer of the Home for Aged Men, (later called the Phillips-Strickland House) and as treasurer of Bangor Fuel Society and Mount Hope Cemetery Corp. He was an active member of All Souls Congregational Church and served as collector for many years. After retirement, he and his wife moved from Bangor to South Brooksville and became active in the First Congregational Church of Blue Hill, where he served a long stint as treasurer. He was a longtime member and one-time commodore of Bucks Harbor Yacht Club. He built his first radio by the age of 10 and became a lifelong ham radio operator with the call signs W1LHK and later, W1BU. He is survived by three daughters ,Elizabeth Gale Eaton, Emily Eaton Moore and Deborah J. Eaton; a son, Jonathan F. Eaton; four grandchildren; and two brothers, Robert J. Eaton ’51 and Dwight L. Eaton ’57. He was predeceased by Polly Perry Eaton, his wife of 66 years and friend since kindergarten, and by a brother, Richard G. Eaton ’44.