Geoffrey Locklin

Geoffrey H. Locklin 1951 - 2011 BENNINGTON Geoffrey Hughes Locklin, 60, died unexpectedly on June 17, 2011, at his home in Jefferson Heights, following a short illness. Born March 21, 1951, in Amsterdam, N.Y., he was the son of Monica Burton Locklin and the late Donald S. Locklin. In 1955, at age four, he traveled with his mother to England to visit family in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, where she was born. His grandfather, Herbert Burton, was stationmaster at the train station there, and Geoffrey accompanied him to view the trains and steam locomotives, an experience that sparked his lifelong love of railroads. Later that year, he moved with his family from New York State to Bennington, where he attended local schools, graduating from Mount Anthony Union High School in 1969. He attended the University of Vermont and, afterwards, traveled, living for a short time in New Orleans and Florida. He was most recently employed at the Vermont Department of Labor in Bennington. He worked previously for NSK Steering Systems of America. From the mid 1980's to 2000, he was employed in Philadelphia, by Krauss, Katz and Ackerman Court Reporters as legal video and audio recording technician, and as supervisor of their Electronic Reporting Department. He returned to Vermont in 2001, during his father's final illness. Geoffrey was an accomplished photographer, a conscientious practitioner and craftsman committed to the discipline since his youth. He was fourteen or so when his first submitted photo was published in the Bennington Banner. The photo was of a man walking with a skunk he had just captured downtown, with the live animal dangling by its tail in his hand. Geoff's subjects were both serendipitous and studied. As a mature photographer, he produced a large body of work, documenting architecture, historic sites, landscapes, street life, family, and other subjects, working until a few months before his death. He was a musician, playing as a drummer with bands, from his high school years onwards. He was the drummer, in the early 1970's, for Pure Lard, a well-regarded local band, and recently filled in with the Buddy Madison Band. Geoffrey had broad interests, from culture, current events, and politics, about which he made many a droll comment, to science and philosophy. He read widely and deeply, and had a special interest in world history, military history, and the history of railroads and railroading. He enjoyed traveling through New England, New York, and Pennsylvania to visit unusual natural and historic sites, and had recently joined a work group in Pennsylvania to help restore sites there with cultural and historic significance. Geoffrey enjoyed nature, and worked hard in the family vegetable garden. He had sympathy and affection for animals of all kinds, wild and tame, and he made insightful observations about the things he saw in nature, from the weather, to the quality of light at evening, to the comings and goings of birds in the backyard, or about the behavior of the family cats, by whom he was adored. In the last days of his life, he would sit quietly and comment about the beauty of a wood thrush's song, as it sang at day's end. Besides his mother, he leaves his sister, Cynthia Locklin of Bennington; his aunt and uncle, Dorinda and George Pigram of Devonshire, England; an aunt, Ruth Margaret Burton of Bedminster, N.J.; his cousins, and their families, Donald Lubin of Allston, Mass., Andrew Burton of Hillsborough, N.J., Douglas Burton of Nazareth, Pa., Pamela De Vita of Gaithersburg, Md., Patricia Burton of Easton, Pa., Graham Hurren of Llanrhidian, Wales (UK), Phillip Hurren of Richmond Hill, Ontario, and Alison Franks of Devonshire, England. FUNERAL NOTICE: Friends may call Thursday, June 23, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the HANSON-WALBRIDGE FUNERAL HOME, 213 W. Main Street, Bennington. A gathering to celebrate the life and memory of Geoffrey will be held Saturday, July 9, 2011, from 3 to 7 p.m. at the family home at 700 Jefferson Heights in Bennington. To send the family personal email condolences please visit www.sheafuneralhomes.com. Should friends desire, contributions in his memory may be made to the Second Chance Animal Center of Shaftsbury, VT, c/o Hanson-Walbridge Funeral Home P.O. Box 957 Bennington, Vermont 05201.