Earle Balcom Dane Jr.

Lyme - Earle Balcom Dane Jr., of Burr Road, Lyme, died Wednesday, March 5 at Gladeview Nursing Home in Old Saybrook.

Mr. Dane was born April 20, 1918, in Providence, R.I., the oldest child of Earle Balcom Dane and Emily McBee Dane. He grew up in East Greenwich, R.I., where his father was a community leader, and served many years on the school board.

He attended Providence Country Day School and Brown University in Providence, graduating from Country Day in 1937 and Brown in 1941 with a degree in English. He was an Eagle Scout and played football and baseball at Country Day, starring as an All-Conference lineman in football. He also played football at Brown, and was a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity.

Shortly before the entry of the United States into World War II, he enlisted in the Marine Corps, taking his training at Parris Island, S.C., and subsequently trained new recruits himself. He was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in 1943. In early 1944 he was sent as part of special unit of sailors and Marines to the Southeast Coast of China. The mission of SACO (Sino American Cooperative Organization) was to undermine Japanese units in China and prevent their further penetration. He spent a year and a half in China and was promoted to captain. He learned of the end of the War in Europe while on the ship home.

He married Florence Norton "Flip" Sunderman in Larchmont, N.Y., in 1946. They returned to Hong Kong in an attempt to start an import-export business from mainland China to the U.S., thwarted in part by the fact that the Communists were then taking over China. Their son Peter was born there in 1947. The family returned to Rhode Island, where Mr. Dane worked briefly in manufacturing management.

Still a Marine Reservist, he was called back to active duty to serve for a year in Congressional Relations in Washington during the Korean War and was promoted to major during that time. Their daughter Sarah was born at the beginning of that period. He remained in the reserves for a total of more than 25 years, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.

After his service during Korea, the young family moved to Wilton in January 1952. Both the children did their schooling through high school there, and Earle and Flip would remain in Wilton until 1978.

He worked as production manager for Voltarc Tubes in Norwalk through most of the 1950s. He then turned to a career in sales. Though employed by several organizations, he worked the longest for the Bureau of Business Practice in Waterford, a division of the publisher Prentice Hall. BBP published business advice and organizational products to improve efficiency of managers at all levels, from shop foremen to corporate sales executives, superintendents of schools, etc.

His prominence and the proudest part of his life, however, was as a volunteer leader in his community, especially after the couple moved to Old Lyme in 1978.

In Wilton he has served as a Little League coach at two levels, and later as a coach and administrator of Senior Little League. He also served on the vestry of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church and the Wilton Fire Commission, including a stint as its chairman.

After moving to Old Lyme, he greatly expanded those volunteer activities. He was a volunteer tutor in the school system for 22 years. Each year he would take a new student, usually a seventh grader, and work with him or her throughout the remainder of the year on math, writing, confidence and study skills. He also tutored briefly through Literacy Volunteers of America.

He served the Old Lyme Library Board for several years, including two stints as its president, and co-chaired the capital campaign that raised $1.2 million for the expansion of the Phoebe Noyes Library in the early 1990s. He served as an alternate and then a regular member of the town's Zoning Board of Appeals and on the Republican Town Committee, also serving as its chairman. He was also a Justice of the Peace for several years.

He and Flip were also members of the Old Lyme Country Club for more than 15 years.

He is survived by his loving wife of 61 years, Flip; his son, Pete, of Colchester and daughter, Sarah, of Lyme and his son-in-law, Albert Brown; a grandson, Evan Edward Brown, of Arizona and granddaughter, Emily McBee Brown; his sister, Ruth Dane, of Providence; and eight nieces and nephews.

His sister Nancy Dane Osborne predeceased him.

A Memorial Service will be conducted at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 15, 2008, at St. Ann's Church in Old Lyme. Burial will be private.

Fulton-Theroux Funeral Home, Old Lyme, is handling the arrangements.

Donations may be made in his memory to St. Ann's Church, 82 Shore Road, Old Lyme, CT 06371, or to the Old Lyme Phoebe Noyes Library, 2 Library Lane, Old Lyme, CT 06371. Please visit www.mem.com for to see or post photos and tributes.