Norman A. Hamlin, 84, naval architect, retired professor, concerned environmentalist, and past president of the Thompson Ice House Preservation Corp., passed away on Oct. 29 at Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick.
A resident of Brunswick and Christmas Cove, and formerly of Huntington, N.Y., he was born Nov. 23, 1922, in New York City, N.Y., the son of Talbot F. and Hilda Edwards Hamlin.
After spending his early childhood years in France, he grew up in Northampton, Mass. During summers spent by the ocean at Christmas Cove, he developed an enduring love of boats and the sea that guided his education, shaped his career and enriched his entire life.
He enrolled at Webb Institute of Naval Architecture in New York, graduating in October of 1944 under the accelerated Navy V-12 program. After midshipman school, he was assigned to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash. as an ensign, USNR, serving as hull ship superintendent until 1946. While in Bremerton, Wash. he met a vivacious redhead in a kelly-green suit; he and Barbara Trescott were married June 21, 1946 and began a 61-year voyage together.
Norman worked as a naval architect at the Navy s David Taylor Model Basin in Maryland, then spent 15 years as an engineer with Bethlehem Steel Company in Quincy, Mass. in the Central Technical Department of Bethlehem s Shipbuilding Division. He received the degree Master of Science in naval architecture from MIT in 1951.
In 1964, he joined the faculty of Webb Institute of Naval Architecture in Glen Cove, N.Y., working as a research associate, research professor and professor of naval architecture. He also taught graduate courses in ocean engineering at Long Island University.
He published a variety of technical papers and wrote the first chapter of Vol. 1 of Principles of Naval Architecture, published in 1988 by the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. As a consultant, he assisted maritime attorneys and government bodies in connection with marine casualties and ship collisions.
In 1987, Norman and Barbara retired to Brunswick where he became head of the non-profit corporation that restored the Thompson Ice House in South Bristol, established an ice-cutting museum, and initiated an annual ice harvest.
Norman was an associate member of Union Church in South Bristol and an active member of First Parish Church in Brunswick, where his longtime dedication to energy conservation and ecology found an outlet in the church s earth care committee. Until a week before his death, he also volunteered weekly for the Mid-Coast Hunger Prevention Program and the Maine Maritime Museum.
Norman was devoted to his family and will be deeply missed by his wife, Barbara; children, Becky and Bob Pine of Groton, Mass., Jennifer and the late Tracy Church of Petersburg, Mich., and Sam and Eve Hamlin of Ipswich, Mass.; his grandchildren and their families; his nieces and nephews; and older brothers, Wilfrid and Talbot.
Memorial service 11 a.m., Mon., Nov. 12 at First Parish Church in Brunswick.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Thompson Ice House Preservation Corp., P.O. Box 216, South Bristol, ME 04568 or the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, ME
Arrangements are by Brackett Funeral Home, Brunswick.
