Klemens S. Burdzel

1927 - 2019

AUGUSTA - Klemens "Klem" S. Burdzel, 92, passed away peacefully on April 11, 2019 with his wife of almost 70 years, Patty, at his side.

He was born in Augusta on Jan. 10, 1927, the eldest child of Polish immigrant parents, Klemens S. F. Burdzel and Helena Symc Burdzel. He was the big brother of Emiley, Richard, Norman and Raymond. He was the proud and adoring father of Stephen and Rebecca, "Becky". He met his wife, Patricia Lucier Burdzel, when he returned to high school after leaving his junior year in order to serve his country in Germany during WW II. They married on Sept. 2,1950 and he went on to serve his country proudly for over 34 years in four branches of the military. Klem was one of a kind. By age 20 he had bought his first stock, a life insurance policy and a new Chevy. By the time he was 25, he had purchased his lifelong home, a former school house Patty had attended, where they raised their children and shared many special memories.

He had many and varied interests including the stock market, coins, stamps, cars, guns (may have owned a 1928A Thompson machine gun) and auctions where he always loved getting a good deal. One noteworthy deal was exchanging cigarettes for hand painted portraits of his seven family members by a German artist while he was stationed there during the war.

He was an entrepreneur starting at a young age working at the Comer Store across from the old YMCA, selling newspapers outside Cony High School and working at the Hazzard Shoe Factory near his childhood home on Gage Street. Later he worked as a wedding photographer, ran the post office at Togus and started his own business, Maine Orthopedic Appliance Co. which made braces and artificial limbs, the only one of its kind at the time. When an opportunity presented itself like repainting the mail boxes in Augusta from drab green to the present blue and installing the cement slabs under them he was right there for the challenge, dragging his little brother Ray along to help. He read the Wall Street Journal religiously and made his own financial decisions to the end. ln retirement he bought a villa in Bella Medina, Spain as well as a home in Edgewater, Fla. and always included his mother-in-law, Lucy, on vacations.

He was sadly predeceased by his children, Stephen and Becky; his parents, Klemens and Helena; his brothers Richard and Norman and his mother-in-law, Lucy Lucier.

He is survived by his wife Patricia, his sister Emiley Sobus and husband Stan, his brother Raymond, his sisters-in-Iaw, Shirley and Irene; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Klem spent his last year at Bedside Manor in Oakland along with Pat. It was not home but with the loving, kind care they provided it was as close as it gets. They never forgot his favorites, moxie and black licorice.

A committal service will be held in the chapel of Maine Veterans Cemetery,163 Mount Vernon Road in Augusta on Wednesday May 8, 2019 at 1 p.m.

Arrangements are in the care of Knowlton and Hewins Funeral Home, One Church Street, Augusta. Memories, condolences, photos, and videos may be shared with the family on the obituary page of our website at www.familyfirstfuneralhomes.com