Philip S. Bird ’51 died on October 2, 2020 in Augusta, Maine. 

(The following was published by Central Maine on October 6, 2020)

Philip Stanley Bird, 91, died peacefully at Maine General Hospital in Augusta, Maine on October 2, 2020, of natural causes after a brief illness.

He was born on July 16, 1929, in Skowhegan, Maine, the son of Stanley and Phyllis Whittemore Bird. Phil graduated from Waterville High School in 1947, Bowdoin College in 1951 and Boston University School of Law. Following graduation from law school, he entered the United States Marine Corps and served as legal counsel at the U.S. Marine Corps base in Cherry Point, North Carolina for two years.

In 1952, he married Marilyn Jean Johnson of Augusta, Maine. They were married for 68 years.

Phil and Jean returned to Maine in 1955. He practiced law, served as city solicitor of Waterville and in later years worked for the State of Maine Department of Transportation. In 1961, at the age of 31 he argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, a rare opportunity for Maine lawyers at that time, working with fellow Waterville lawyer Cyril M. Joly. Phil and his wife Jean also owned and managed several apartment buildings in Waterville for more than sixty years.

For many years, Phil was a member of the Waterville Country Club where he liked to play golf. He and Jean loved the movies and supported the Railroad Square Cinema in Waterville from its founding. Phil was a member of the American Contract Bridge Association and earned over 1000 points to become a Silver Life Master.

Phil and Jean were world travelers. At the age of 80 they became eligible to join the Travelers Century Club, an international travel club based in California. To join the club, one had to travel to 100 countries. Phil’s last trip was to Alaska in 2019 and at the time of his death Phil had visited 140 countries.

He is survived by his wife, Jean; two daughters, Lisa Scofield of Hamden and her partner Curt McCormack of Burlington, Vermont, and Leslie Bird of Boothbay Harbor, a son and daughter-in-law, Paul Bird and Amy Parsons of Bedford Hills, New York, two brothers, Bruce Bird of Belfast and Doug Bird of Bar Harbor, his brother and sister-in-law, Glenn and Lois Carson of Belleair, Florida, eight grandchildren, one great-granddaughter and one step great-grandson, and several nieces and nephews.