Obituaries
Richard Glass: From Belmont to Belfast, Combat Engineer to Attorney
Served as a combat engineer in Europe before becoming an attorney and judge in Maine.
Richard W. Glass, who left his Belmont home at 18 in 1942 to become a combat engineer who cleared mines and built bridges from Normandy to Germany and then returned to marry his Belmont sweetheart before moving to Belfast, Maine to practice law, died on Friday, July 5 in Waldo, Maine.
Glass was 88 years old.
Glass was born in Cambridge on Nov. 13, 1924, to Bert and Pauline (Kimball) Glass. He attended schools in Belmont and graduated from Belmont High School in 1941, at 17. He attended Northeastern University where he studied business administration and commercial law, until he and three high school buddies volunteered together in 1942 for the draft.
He served in the U.S. Army, 296th Combat Engineer Battalion, First Infantry Division – and all New England unit – during World War II and landed on Normandy on “D plus 6." His unit cleared mine fields, built "Bailey" Bridges and constructed roads, from the Normandy beachhead through France, the Ardennes Forest – including being on the northern edge of the Battle of the Bulge – and into Germany where they were one of the first Americans to enter Berlin and also entered Buchenwald, the concentration camp, the day after its liberation.
One of his comrades in the battalion was Ted Knight, who would gain fame playing Ted Baxter in the popular "Mary Tyler Moore" television series.
Glass returned home to Boston in December 1945 and entered Boston University Law School on the G.I. Bill. While still a law student, Glass married Cynthia Elizabeth Morey of Belmont on June 26, 1948.
Glass graduated from law school in 1950 and then practiced law in Boston for two years before moving to Belfast, Maine, in 1952 to begin a long, rewarding and successful legal career in Belfast. In 1956, Richard founded the law firm of Eaton & Glass in partnership with the late Lorimer K. Eaton. From 1994 to 2000, Glass was a member of Glass & Dawson, P.A., in partnership with William L. Dawson, Jr., Esq., in Belfast.
In October 1955, Richard was appointed as judge of the Waldo County Municipal Court, making him the youngest municipal judge in the State of Maine at the time.
After serving two years as Waldo County Municipal Judge, he then spent five years as Waldo County Attorney from 1957 to 1962. He served two terms in the Maine Senate, representing Waldo County, from 1964 to 1972.
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Richard was well known as a trial lawyer with a sharp legal intellect and a baritone voice that was readily heard in the courtroom. His clients included numerous citizens of midcoast Maine, school districts, towns, banks, and businesses over a career that spanned more than 50 years in Belfast.
Richard loved the comfort of a good book and a warm fire, but his love for the great outdoors came first. He loved hunting and fishing, cutting and splitting firewood, gardening, and “going to camp.” He especially enjoyed the wilderness of northern Maine and his many trips up north where he would often charter a plane to a long lost fishing pond.
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Glass was a past member of the Board of Directors of the University of Maine Foundation, a member of the University of Maine Foundation Charles F. Allen Society, a corporator of Bangor Savings Bank, and a past member of the Board of Directors of Waldo County General Hospital.
He was raised a master mason in freemasonry and also a member of Anah Shriners of Bangor.
Richard and his wife Cynthia became proud parents of twin daughters, Melinda and Cynthia, on Nov. 8, 1953.
He was predeceased by his parents, his brothers Donald H. Glass and Alan H. Glass, and a beloved grandson, Jared Enos. He is survived by his wife, Cynthia E. Glass, his daughter Melinda J. Pomelow, and husband Bruce, of Bucksport, his daughter Cynthia E. Enos, and husband William, of Belmont, three grandchildren, a great granddaughter, and his brother Dr. Robert L. Glass of New Hampshire.
Online condolences may be offered at www.ripostafh.com
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