James N. Bodurtha, 81, navigator
James N. Bodurtha of Ridgefield, whose multifaceted career ranged from piloting Navy blimps and navigating airliners to teaching farming techniques and searching land titles, died Friday, Nov. 21. He was 81 years old and the husband of Norma Lobdell Bodurtha.
Starting out a farmer in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts, Mr. Bodurtha had a life of wide-ranging occupations include playing piano, hunting submarines in the South Pacific, surveying land, and teaching. Some of his jobs, such as picking apples at an orchard in Newtown, were to help provide income during difficult times.
“He lived to provide for his family,” said his son, Professor James Bodurtha.
James Norton Bodurtha was born in Westfield, Mass., on May 1, 1922, a son of Frank T. and Annie Marie Fallon Bodurtha. He grew up on his parents’ dairy farm in Russellville, Mass., where he not only milked the cows, but also delivered the milk, and had probably envisioned for himself a life as a farmer. As a young man, he also played the piano solo and with bands in western Massachusetts.
When World War II broke out, Mr. Bodurtha joined the U.S. Navy. He was sent to the Pacific, and became a navigator on aircraft patrolling the South Pacific for Japanese submarines. He was later trained as a pilot of Navy blimps, and patrolled the South Atlantic from a base in Brazil.
After the war, he remained in the Navy Reserve, serving stints in Korea and Vietnam, rising to the rank of commander.
While he was away in the war, the Bodurtha barn burned to the ground, ending the family’s dairy business. After he returned home, he entered the University of Massachusetts, where he earned a bachelor’s degree and where he eventually taught animal husbandry.
Later, he became managing editor of The Rural New Yorker. Although the monthly magazine was aimed at farmers in New York and New England, it was published in New York City. He and Norma, who were married in 1950, moved to Long Island and he commuted to the city. He later joined Wildrick and Miller, an advertising agency, specializing in agricultural accounts.
In 1964, Mr. Bodurtha was diagnosed with cancer, a disease he subsequently overcame and which led to a change of career.
Since the war, Mr. Bodurtha had remained active in the Naval Reserve, spending many weekends and vacations at Floyd Bennett Field in New Jersey and switching his specialty from blimps to aircraft navigation. He was a well-respected navigator and flew on a number of important missions, including the 1979 flight on which the Shah of Iran fled to exile in Egypt.
Using the training he had acquired in the Naval Reserve, Mr. Bodurtha joined Lufthansa, the German airline, serving as a navigator on international flights. He later navigated for Flying Tiger and Evergreen Airlines until computers took over the job on most commercial airlines.
The Bodurthas had moved from Long Island to Hayes Lane in Ridgefield in 1956. In the 1980s, after he left flying, Mr. Bodurtha took advantage of the federal Comprehensive Employment Training Act to learn the profession of title searching. He did a great deal of work for the Town of Ridgefield and for law firms in Fairfield County during the 1980s. He had also worked as a surveyor.
In the late 1950s and 1960s, Mr. Bodurtha served as a volunteer in town government. “He once got two write-in votes for first selectman, of which he was very proud at the time,” recalled his daughter, Dr. Joann Bodurtha.
He had belonged to the Knights of Columbus, and had volunteered with FISH, an organization that provides transportation for the elderly.
Besides his wife, who was the secretary of Veterans Park School for many years, Mr. Bodurtha is survived by three children, Dr. Joann Bodurtha and her husband, Dr. Tom Smith, of Ashland, Va., Dr. James N. Bodurtha Jr. and his wife, Kelly Flaherty, of Bethesda, Md., and Stephen Bodurtha and his wife Alison Cowan of Stamford; seven grandchildren, Anna Smith, Abby and Aidan Bodurtha of Bethesda, and Phoebe, Molly, Valerie, and Liam Bodurtha of Stamford; a brother, Frank T. Bodurtha Jr. of New London, N.H.; a niece, and a nephew.
His family said it was “deeply grateful to those in Ridgefield who helped him complete his life as the gentleman he was; especially Christine Barry, Rob Creamer, Danbury Hospital, Lee Goldenberg, the Girolamettis, Dale McKenzie, Laurel Ridge, Dr. David A. Pazer, his staff, the Ridgefield VNA, and Dr. Peter Yanity.”
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Tuesday in St. Mary’s Church. Burial was in Westfield, Mass.
Contributions in his memory may be made to the Visiting Nurse Association, 90 East Ridge, Ridgefield, CT 06877.
The Kane Funeral Home, 25 Catoonah Street, was in charge of arrangements.