Timothy Berdan Blancke

Timothy Berdan Blancke passed away peacefully in the early morning of May 16 at Life Care Center in Nashoba Valley less than two weeks before his 94th birthday. Tim was a very kind, loving and generous man who thought highly of both his family of origin and the family he went on to create. Through his final days he expressed nothing but gratitude for every aspect of his life.

Tim left his wife Shirley, to whom he was married for 64 years, his daughter Clare Burhoe, his son Brian, and Clare’s twins, Joshua and Raef. He was predeceased by his parents and his sisters, Cynthia Bartholow of Dallas, TX, and Jean Wenigmann of Dublin, N.H.

Born in Montclair, NJ, his childhood was in Davisville, RI, during World War II when his father, Leo Mulford Blancke, joined the Navy and was a Personnel Officer for the Seabees. Tim secretly learned to clean guns from the servicemen, but his love of guns came from his mother, Edith Berdan, who was a fine shot, a legacy of the celebrated Berdan Sharpshooters of the Civil War. Tim collected guns until having his first child at which time he surrendered them to the police and never bought another one.

At the war’s end, the family returned to Montclair but soon moved to Essex Fells, NJ. His high school years were spent mainly at the Hotchkiss School in CT, where he already knew he wanted to be an engineer. He went on to graduate in electrical engineering from Cornell University, the alma mater of his father and uncle.

After graduation Tim spent two years in the Army in the 25th Signal Battalion. At one point he was assigned to replace a Black Officer to help desegregate a platoon that was 50% Black men. He found the experience very meaningful.

Tim and Shirley met in Essex Fells through friends who invited Tim to entertain a “nice English girl,” causing Tim to pass up a weekend with his family on Chesapeake Bay. Shirley was about to return home on an ocean liner after a year of graduate study at Radcliffe knowing she had to break a long-standing marriage engagement. Thinking she would never see Tim again she ordered lobster for dinner two nights in a row. When she finally arrived on the liner on a weekday, there was Tim sitting on her bunk. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at work?” “I can’t let you go like this because I want to marry you!” Shirley wasn’t ready to hear that but after six months of correspondence Tim came to London and they got engaged.

In Tim’s first job at Curtiss-Wright, NJ, he acquired an interest in developing sensitive electronic measuring instruments that led to his career. Subsequently at Engelhard Industries he worked on precision instruments and cathodic protection, corrosion protection for ships. He told Shirley how nervous the latter made him. On one occasion he had to enter the deepest hull of an aircraft carrier to take measurements from an electrode. To enter the hull, he had to crawl through many small holes in the ship’s ribs, terrified that someone would close one or more of them behind him and he would never get out.

Tim moved his family to Concord, Massachusetts in 1966 to take a position with the Rotek company in Watertown, MA, where he worked on high-precision calibration instruments until that company had to close because everyone who needed such an instrument already had one. He went on to Hewlett-Packard where he spent most of his 22-year career as a product-development engineer in the Medical Products Division. He developed patient-monitoring systems for hospitals that were used in Operating Rooms, ICUs, coronary care units, and catheterization labs, a job that he loved. He also became a trouble shooter for other engineers’ designs and sometimes would come home talking about the witchcraft in the machine.

Shortly after retirement he took courses at Northeastern in computing and became a “computer nerd, ” teaching himself encryption and web site development. Perhaps his favorite activity was teaching GED math and computer skills for twenty years in Concord’s two prisons as a volunteer for Concord Prison Outreach, an organization that provides education and other services to prisoners in Massachusetts and elsewhere. He also became active in town affairs, where he joined the Town Planning Board for 5 years, eventually becoming Chair. He was on the Board of Belknap House, an assisted living house for the elderly. He was also proud of winning a vote in Town Meeting where he had proposed an article to create accountability for the school system, an article that was opposed by the Selectmen and School Committee but received a yes vote. He was involved in preserving a beautiful wooded area behind our home from developers, so that it has now become a town conservation area where we have enjoyed seeing people walk.

Tim always loved dogs and cared for several family dogs when young, including a St. Bernard and Springer Spaniels. Shirley’s family had Golden Retrievers as hunting dogs, and during their married life, Tim and Shirley had seven Goldens, the latest a real sweetie called Honey. Tim and Shirley enjoyed many trips across the world as well as water sports and music.

Family and friends will gather to honor and remember Tim at his memorial service on Saturday, June 7, 2025, at 11:00 am in Trinity Episcopal Church, 81 Elm Street, Concord, MA.

Donations may be made to:
Concord Prison Outreach
100 Main Street #130
Concord, MA 01742978-369-1430
www.concordprisionoutreach.org
or
Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue League
110 Chapin Road
Hudson, MA 01749978-568-9700
www.ygrr.org

Arrangements under the care of Concord Funeral Home, 74 Belknap Street, Concord, MA 01742 978-369-3388 www.concordfuneral.com