From the Lewiston, Maine, Sun Journal
Thursday, March, 27, 2008
NORWAY – John B. Head, 75, of
Bethel , died in Norway on March 25
after a brief illness.
He was born in 1932, in Rumford, the
son of Paul B. and Olive Akers Head of
West Bethel, attended local schools
and graduated from Gould Academy in
1950.
After graduation from Burdett College
in Boston , he entered the U.S. Army
and served at Fort Dix and Camp
Kilmer in New Jersey , and the 8th
Army in the Far East . Upon separation
from active duty in 1955, he returned to
the Far East as a civilian employee of
the Department of Defense. During
the next 15 years, he served
in a variety of positions in Tokyo ,
Japan , and Naha , Okinawa . His final
assignment was with the staff of the U.
S. High Commissioner of the Ryukyu
Islands .
Upon his return to the United States ,
he formed a business dealing in the
philately and postal history of the Far
East, specializing in Japan and the
Ryukyus.
A charter member of the Bethel Rotary
club, he served as president,
secretary and treasurer of that Club.
He was the treasurer of the Bethel
Library for more than 25 years, during
which the endowment of the library
grew substantially. In addition, he
served as a Bethel Water District
trustee for more than 25
years, as well as a member of the
supervisory body overseeing the
Bethel Airport since the early 1980s.
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Long the finance officer of the Mundt-
Allen Post, No. 81, American Legion in
Bethel, he also was a past president
and board member of the Bethel
Family Health Center for many years.
He was a member of Pleasant Valley
Grange 136 in West Bethel and a
member of Oxford Pomona Grange 2,
as well as the West Bethel Union
Church. Since the early 1980s, he had
been very active in the Bethel
Historical Society as a trustee, annual
fund chair and head of the investment
committee. He was very involved in the
Bethel bicentennial celebration in
1996, serving as treasurer of the
Steering Committee.
He married the former Fumiko Ito in
1960, at the American Embassy in
Tokyo , who survives along with one
brother, David Head and his wife,
Fran, of Gilead; and one sister, Mary
Joyce Butler and her husband,
Howard, of Union.
He was predeceased by one brother,
Arthur L. Head.
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