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William G. Lord II

Aug 8, 2008 - 4:29:05 PM

 

William Galey Lord II of Waquoit died at the age of 84 at home on August 4.

Born in Philadelphia in the summer of 1923, he was the child of Edwin and Helene Schock Lord. Mr. Lord was a direct descendant of Thomas Lord, one of the founders of Hartford, Connecticut, in 1636.

After graduating from the Hotchkiss School, Mr. Lord enrolled at Yale University but left in 1942 to enlist in the US Army. He immediately volunteered for a new type of outfit called the parachute infantry. He served with the 508th Parachute Infantry attached to the 82nd Airborne Division and parachuted behind Utah Beach in Normandy, France, in the early morning of June 6, 1944. Holding the rank of corporal on that D-Day jump, he went on to the rank of second lieutenant after fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and the Rhine crossings.

Later, while serving in the occupation of Germany in 1946, he wrote the official history of the 508th Parachute Infantry.
In 1947 he married the former Joan Malloch. They raised their family in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York.
Mr. Lord spent his career in textiles, rising to the position of president of Galey & Lord, a division of Burlington Industries, and subsequently, president of Crompton.  

He and his wife retired to their summer home on Cape Cod in 1996.

One of his great passions was sailing. He served as navigator on many ocean races, including the 1966 Trans-Atlantic Race from Bermuda to Copenhagen, Denmark, and the 1972 Trans-Atlantic Race from Bermuda to Ibiza, Spain.

In 1992, a series in the Enterprise prepared by the Waquoit Bay Watershed Citizens Action Committee addressed the declining water quality in the watershed. In one installment, Mr. Lord wrote an impassioned article about the beauty of Waquoit Bay, urging boaters to use care when traveling in those waters to avoid damaging the fragile ecological balance of the bay, especially the shellfish beds and eelgrass meadows.

In addition to his wife, he leaves a son, Alexander Lord of Mt. Washington; three daughters, Susan Lord of Alexandria, Virginia, Pamela Lord Camara of High Falls, New York, and Meg Lord of Parsonsfield, Maine; and two grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, August 30, at 2 PM at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church on the Village Green in Falmouth.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Hospice & Palliative Care of Cape Cod, 765 Attucks Lane, Hyannis, MA 02601.

 

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