Deceased November 21, 2016
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In Memory
Douglas Hawkins of Parsonsfield, Maine, died on Nov. 21, 2016, after a long illness. Military honors took place Dec. 5 of that year at the Southern Maine Veterans Cemetery in Springvale.
He was born in Kansas City, Mo., Dec. 27, 1933, to Frank and Margaret Hawkins. Doug came to Amherst from Winchester (Mass.) High. After graduating from the College in 1956, he received a master’s in education from the University of Southern California.
He served 24 years in the USAF, retiring as a colonel. In Vietnam he was an air commando, flying combat.
After the Air Force, he moved to Parsonsfield in 1980 and commuted to work for 15 years at the Mitre Corporation in Bedford, Mass., where he was a project head for R&D. Doug always enjoyed flying and even had a flight simulator in his home.
Surviving him are his wife of almost 50 years, Joan Hawkins of Parsonsfield; three sons: Stephen Hawkins and wife Kristina, of Sugarland, Texas; Gregory Hawkins and wife Bernadette, of Rocklin, Calif.; and Robert Jeffrey Hawkins (retired Marine Corps) and girlfriend Erin Washburn, of South Portland; and four grandchildren.
He was well-informed on world issues and town politics, as well as on the Celtics, Patriots and Red Sox.
A Theta Delt at Amherst, Doug will be remembered as a very crisp USAF ROTC commander on the parade grounds and as (at maybe a towering 6 feet, 6 inches) the center and captain of the Lord Jeff basketball team. A check of the College’s website reveals that 61 years later Doug amazingly still holds three Amherst all-time rebounding records. Details are in ’56 class notes in this issue.
Peter Levison ’56