Stephen H. Burdick

Stonington - Stephen H. Burdick, of Stonington passed away Nov. 23, 2025, in Stonington. He was born in 1945, to Rutherford H. Burdick and Eleanor Denison Burdick. He was descended from all four founding families of the Town of Stonington, as well as from Captain George Denison.

He joined the Marine Corps in 1966 for four years, attaining the rank of Sergeant, and did two tours of duty to Vietnam. He became interested in carpentry while stationed at Camp Lejeune and assigned to a cabinet shop. He worked for local builders upon discharge from the Marine Corp until 1978 when he started his own business. He remained self-employed until his retirement in 2018.

Besides carpentry, he enjoyed building stone walls, as evidenced by the many stone walls he constructed around his property. He also enjoyed working on vehicles and was especially proud of the 1967 truck that he obtained by bargaining to install a new front door in exchange for the truck. He spent a year working on it and getting it road worthy.

He also spent many happy hours with his cousin, Fred Burdick, locating, cleaning, and repairing gravestones of their ancestors.

In 1994 he took down an old barn in Groton by himself and moved it on his pickup truck to his property in Stonington where he rebuilt it.

He married Linda L. Shea in 1970. She survives him. They have two children, Stephen H. Burdick Jr. of Stonington, and Aimee Burdick Merkle (Eric Merkle) of Windham; two granddaughters, Christina Scussel (Joseph Kotfer) of Groton, and Kacie Merkle of Windham; one great-granddaughter, Isla Kotfer of Groton. He also leaves one sister, Ruth Gordon of Exeter, R.I., two sisters-in-law, Barbara Delicato of Wallace, Nova Scotia, and Patti Demars (William Demars) of Stonington. He was predeceased by his parents and two brothers, Carlisle and Peter Burdick.

His family will receive relatives and friends from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 28, at the Mystic Funeral Home located on Route 1 in Mystic. A service will immediately follow the calling hours at 1 p.m. at the funeral home. Following his service, he will be buried with military honors at Stonington Cemetery.