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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