William T. Talcott, Jr. ’45 died on December 25, 2019 in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.
(The following was published by the Worcester Telegram & Gazette on January 2, 2020)
William T. Talcott, Jr. passed away on Christmas morning, December 25, 2019 at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester at the age of 95. He was born to Vina and William T. Talcott, Sr. in Chelsea, MA, on March 19, 1924. Bill was the oldest of five siblings that included Robert, Marjorie, Jack and James. He was the product of the Depression and he was taken care of in his younger years by his family and several foster families. He attended Winthrop High School, where he was an outstanding athlete in baseball, basketball and football. He was senior class president and graduated salutatorian in 1941.
Bill started his collegiate career at Bowdoin College in the fall of 1941. He enlisted in the Navy in July of 1943 where he was sent to Bates College for officer training. As a lieutenant, Bill was the chief officer of a Navy vessel in the Asian Pacific theater and was honorably discharged in the fall of 1946. He graduated cum laude from Bowdoin College in 1947. He was extremely proud to have graduated from Harvard Law School in 1950, passing the bar on the first try that same year.
Bill married Alice May Gustavson of Winthrop, MA, on July 30, 1949 and they were together for 70 years. They proudly raised their family in Oxford, MA. Bill became a partner in the law firm of Maher, McCann and Talcott of Worcester after a short time working at Liberty Mutual Insurance in Boston. The firm later became Talcott, Gould and Cosgrove. While in Oxford, Bill was civically engaged in the community, serving as town moderator and helping start the Oxford Methodist Church in North Oxford. Bill specialized in municipal law and was the town counsel for Oxford and several other surrounding towns for decades, before his retirement in 1987 at the age of 62.
Bill was an avid reader and loved all sports, though he particularly enjoyed skiing, traveling, being on the ocean and doing home improvements. He loved visiting Winthrop, but his biggest passion was fishing, particularly fly fishing, on the First Roach River in Maine. Bill and Alice became snowbirds, and split their time between Florida and Bill’s second greatest love, the camp at Kokadjo, Maine. Bill was president of the condo units both in North Miami Beach and Del Ray Beach, FL. He was a passionate Red Sox and Patriots fan, and he was often seen wearing his favorite Red Sox baseball cap. He particularly enjoyed puttering around the camp in Kokadjo, spending hours at a time in his tool shed. The last few years of his life were spent in Shrewsbury, so that he could be closer to family, doctors and dialysis. Bill loved spending time with his family. He was a kind and caring son, brother, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, and coach, and was very proud of his entire family.
Bill is survived by his loving wife Alice of Shrewsbury; daughter Christine Roberts and husband Gary of Belmont, ME, daughter Patricia Talcott (’79) and husband Glenn Adams of Moscow, ID, and son William Talcott and wife Wendy McGovern Talcott of Sutton, MA; as well as grandchildren Jon Hessen and wife Zayra, Alexandra Cayer and husband Andrew, Courtney Talcott, and Haley and William Adams; and great grandchildren Charles, Finn, and Atticus Cayer; along with siblings Marjorie Donovan and husband Dan of Port St. Lucie, FL, James Blunt and wife Barbara of Wakefield, MA and sister-in-law Dorothy Talcott in Lewiston, ID. Bill is preceded in death by two younger brothers Robert and Jack Talcott.