David Reade Colburn

Burlington - Dave Reade Colburn was born and raised in Burlington and died at the McClure-Miller Respite House on November 10th at the age of 84. He was the only son of the poet Gladys Laflamme Colburn and the painter Francis Colburn. His childhood in the family house on South Willard St. gave him a lifelong appreciation of the arts that sustained him alongside his career as a civil engineer.

Dave tried his hand at poetry, sculpture and blacksmithing as a young man, but music was always at the forefront. He lived a life enhanced by music, whether playing his Martin guitar or through his expansive appreciation of others' virtuosity- especially blues, bluegrass, folk and country. He showed his family how to love music like it was something magic and to take deep pleasure in it. Towards the end of life, Dave returned to sculpture and created beautiful mobiles, one of which adorns the reading room in the Fletcher Free Library.

Dave served in the Army Corps of Engineers and was a surveyor and engineer in California, Vermont, Maine and in the web of tunnels underneath Washington DC during construction of the Metro system. In the 1980's and 90's he worked in the Burlington area on projects that largely exist underground. He was immensely proud of his work, often waxing poetic about the many bridges, culverts and sewers he worked on. Decades on, Dave would still stop by the parking lots in town that his work lay beneath, just to see how the drainage had held up.

Dave was both a notorious grump and a consummate joker- he had that dry Vermont wit, owned a "museum of bad taste" and loved karaoke and a good costume. He was a steadfast supporter of his children's endeavors, always believing in what they were trying to do in the world. His pride in them was sustaining.

He leaves two daughters: Selene Colburn and her family Chris Burns, Ione Burns and Clio Burns; Adriane Colburn and her family, Jonathon Lowery and Ajax Erasmus Colburn-Lowery.