Reginald E. Burleigh ’62 died on August 31, 2021, in Presque Isle, Maine.
(The following was published by the Bangor Daily News on September 1, 2021)
Reginald E. Burleigh, 81, husband of the late Muriel “Molly” Burleigh, passed away unexpectedly, Tuesday evening, August 31, 2021, at a Presque Isle healthcare facility. He was born February 21, 1940, in Bangor, the son of Cecil H. and Jeannette (Fowler) Burleigh.
Graduating from Caribou High School in 1958 as Class Valedictorian, Reggie was a member of the 1958 Eastern Maine Class L Basketball Championship Team, participated in band including three years in the All State Band. He was also involved in numerous activities including the National Honor Society.
Reggie graduated from Bowdoin College in 1962, and graduated from Duke University School of Law in 1965. Admitted to practice law in Maine in 1965, Reggie practiced law with his father until April 1966. From May 1966 to April 1973, he was on active duty with the United States Army. Reggie was initially commissioned as an officer in Air Defense Artillery, and transferred to the Judge Advocate General’s Corp U.S. Army in December 1966. He served at Fort Jackson, South Carolina as Claims Officer, then Chief of Military Affairs until January 1969. From then until January 1970, he was stationed with the Second Infantry Division in Korean. During 1967 through 1969, he prosecuted and defended numerous court martial cases. He was reassigned to Fort Bliss, Texas in 1970, as Chief of Military Justice and then in August 1970, to the Advanced Course at the Judge Advocate General’s School at the University of Virginia Law School. From August 1971 to April 1973, Captain Burleigh served as Deputy Staff Judge Advocate at Fort Eustis, Virginia. He left the Army in 1973, to return to Caribou to practice law until 1990.
Reggie served as Commissioner of the Maine Workers’ Compensation Board until January 1994. He worked for Maine Employers’ Mutual Insurance Company from May 1994 until June 2009, as an adjuster. From 1974 to 1990 Reggie taught various legal courses for Ricker College, Unity College, Husson College and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He was a member of the Universalist-Unitarian Church of Caribou, was active in the Republican Party as former Chair for the Caribou City Committee, and Fort Fairfield Town Committee. At the time of his death, Reggie served as guardian ad litem to seventeen individuals. Reggie and Molly particularly enjoyed their summer vacations at Samoset with her nephew, Sam Chapman, and watching the Red Sox.
In addition to his parents, Reggie was predeceased by his wife, Muriel on June 6, 2012, just shy of their 35th wedding anniversary; and one stepson, Stewart Parks. He is survived by his son, Charles Burleigh and his wife, Faydra of Petoskey, MI; one daughter, Katherine Burleigh and her husband, Louie Huerta, of Petoskey, MI; four stepsons, Robert Parks of Limestone, Frederick Parks and his wife, Myrna, of Plano, IL, Kent Parks of Portland, and Kurt Parks of Fort Fairfield; five stepdaughters, Regina McArthur and her husband, William, of Sarasota, FL, Penny Olson and her husband, Carl, of Caribou, Lynne Graves and her husband, Robert, of Presque Isle, Donna Parks of Sarasota, FL, and Mona Chapman and her husband, Chris, of San Deigo, CA; one sister, Joanne Murach and her husband, Benjamin, of Bel Air, MD. He is also survived by two grandchildren, Mathew Burleigh and Jacoby Burleigh-Huerta; eleven step grandchildren, Brhawn, Shane, Vanessa, Ian, Merredith, Kara, Ingrid, Robert, Jordyn, Joshua and Natasha; and numerous step great-grandchildren.