Charles Corwin

New Port Richey, Fla. — Charles W. “Bill” Corwin, of 4210 Hampton Drive, New Port Richey, Fla., passed away peacefully in his sleep on Friday, Sept. 14, 2018, following a brief battle with cancer. He was 90 years old.

Born in Montreal, Canada, as Charles William Lister on Dec. 11, 1927, to Yvonne Albertine David and Alan Robertson Lister, Bill was moved around as a child, not uncommon for children whose early years were formed by the Great Depression. He was raised by relatives in New York, attended public schools in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and eventually relocated to North Stonington, where he lived with his mother and stepfather, Stanley Corwin, whose surname he adopted. Bill attended Wheeler High School from 1943 to 1945. The following year he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served for one year in occupied Japan. He married his high school sweetheart, Mimi Benson, in 1948, and together they raised four children, Diane, James, Karen and Linnea, in North Stonington.

While working as a machinist at C.B. Cottrell, and later, a salesman and manager at Singer Sewing Machine Company, Bill attended Mitchell College earning an associate degree in business administration in 1951.

In 1953 he joined General Dynamics, Electric Boat Division, and began a successful 36-year career as an engineering supervisor in the Polaris, Poseidon and Trident submarine programs. In 1964, in what was a highlight in his career, Bill and his family moved to Grange-Over-Sands, England, where he completed a three-year assignment as weapons system supervisor, acting as liaison between the British Navy, Vickers Shipbuilding and Electric Boat in the construction of the first British Polaris submarine. His review in 1966 chronicled the success he enjoyed on this project:

“Corwin is assigned to Vickers in Barrow, England as senior man. He is doing an excellent job in an almost impossible position. He has been asked to stay for another year (by the UK) which is an indication of the high esteem of the British.”

Bill’s talent for building didn’t end at work. With the help of his father-in-law, Leonard Benson, he built the first family home on Reutemann Road in North Stonington, and later, after returning from the UK, spent weekends and vacations over many years restoring what became the second family home: a pre-Revolutionary colonial house that sits at the end of Babcock Road in North Stonington. After retiring from Electric Boat in 1989, Bill moved to Randolph, Vt., where he built his third home.

For over 35 years, Bill was a sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous, a community he valued deeply for the positive change it brought to his own life and the fellowship it offered with many wonderful people. He enjoyed travel and was an avid reader of philosophy, social and political science. In 2002, Bill met Emma McGinley in Vermont. They spent many happy years together traveling and making friends. He and Emma enjoyed their summers in Vermont and Connecticut with Emma’s family, Martin Majtenyi, Miklos Majtenyi and Judy Short. They spent their winters in Florida in the company of many friends.

Bill was a lifelong supporter of the North Stonington Congregational Church.

Bill is survived by his children, Diane Seltzer of Westerly, R.I., James Corwin of Cranston, R.I,, Karen Mook of Newcastle, Maine, and Linnea Elrington of Surrey, England, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

A gravesite memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 22, at the Veteran’s Cemetery in Randolph Center, Vt. Additional information is available at www.dayfunerals.com.