Cecil Kent Drinker

1922-2008. It is with regret and sorrow that we report the sudden death of Cecil Kent Drinker, our most loved husband, friend, father, step-father, uncle, grandfather, and step-grandfather. Cecil was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1922 to parents who were physicians at the Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health. He attended the Park School in Brookline, graduated from Milton Academy in Milton, and Harvard College in Cambridge. He served in the United States Army Tank Battalion during the Second World War. Returning to the Boston area, he worked in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a linear accelerator and at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory on the DEW line. He later moved to Portland, Maine and worked on the installation and repair of electronic and electrical systems on yachts and delivered some of the boats to owners in the Caribbean. He returned to Boston to work for Harvard University in the purchasing department, the Harvard College Observatory on the Solar Satellite Project, then became Research Administrator of The Howe Laboratory in the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Institute of the Harvard Medical School. Upon retirement, the thrill of adventure lured Cecil, in partnership with his wife, Susan, to emigrate to Victoria BC in early 1989, where he operated THOTI, a Bed And Breakfast on Portage Inlet. Pursuing his love of woodworking, he graduated from Camosun College's Fine Woodworking Course, and proceeded to create many fine pieces of furniture for their house. Because of their enjoyment of their new country and aversion to "taxation without representation", Cecil and Susan attained Canadian citizenship in 1997. Skilled at many intricacies of household repair, he pleasured in rising to the challenges of maintaining THOTI and then the supervision of the complete remodel of their current house in the Rockland area. His interest in fine furniture lured him to volunteer in the Archives of The Government House, where he was in the process of tracing imported pieces shipped from Scotland after the destruction of the House in the 1957 fire. Cecil's love of life and travel took him to many places and provided many experiences which he enjoyed sharing with any who would listen. His unexpected death interrupted plans for further train travels across Canada to Halifax and the Gaspe Peninsula. Cecil is predeceased by his sister, Nancy Drinker Zinsser, and is survived by his wife, companion and partner of twenty-seven years, Susan Hemenway Bartol-Drinker, his children: Barbara Rotan Clapp (Jeffrey), Hyde Park NY, Alison Sandwith Brockway (Peter), North Plains OR, Kent Gerrish Drinker (Kimberly), Annapolis MD, his grandchildren: Emily and Justin Clapp, Joshua (Misty) and Abigail Brockway, Amicia Brockway Evans (Ryan), Kendall and Avery Drinker, his nieces: Judith Zinsser (Roger) and Katherine Zinsser (Jonathan), his step-sons: James Cabot Crichton (Dawn), William Bartol Crichton (Pamela), and his step-grandson, Samuel Cabot Crichton. Cecil's humour, wit, love of life, and deep appreciation of his friends and family will be remembered with pleasure & comfort for many years. In accordance with Cecil's preference, there will be no formal service. Memorial donations in his name may be made to British Columbia's Land Conservancy in support of sustainable agriculture.