- Date Of Birth: May 3, 1918
- Date Of Death: February 27, 2016
- State: Connecticut
Herbert Hanford Bottomley died peacefully at his home in Monroe on February 27, 2016 at the age of 97. Hank was a wonderful role model, a loving and devoted father, grandfather, great-grandfather and friend. He was the husband of the late Thordis Hoyesen and Helen Whitaker and the son of Herbert Bottomley and Jessie Bracken Bottomley. Hank was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on May 3, 1918 and lived in Connecticut his entire life. He graduated from Central High School in 1935 and University of Connecticut in 1941, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. He was a member of Phi-Mu-Delta fraternity. Following graduation, he enlisted in the Navy (Seabees Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 11). Following time in the Navy, he attended United States Coast Guard Academy. Stateside, he served in New Orleans and Curtis Bay Maryland. In the Pacific, he served as a Loran Map Making Officer in the Dutch East Indies at Morotai, and in the Philippines on Lubang Island. He achieved the rank of Lieutenant by the end of the war. Hank was a professional Civil engineer for the State of Connecticut for 32 years. He survived a severe accident which nearly took his life during the construction of a bridge on the Connecticut Turnpike in Norwalk. Prior to and after his retirement, he kept himself busy working as a Monroe Special Policeman, Monroe Postman, and a Stepney Volunteer fireman, jobs he claimed that “every little boy wanted to be”. Hank also enjoyed working as a “go-fer” for Gilbertie’s Herb Gardens in Easton until his late eighties.
