Longboat Key: Obituaries

+ Tom Burgum

Tom Burgum, 80, of Sarasota, died March 18.

Born to Leslie and Blanche Burgum June 12, 1935, in Bismarck, N.D., as a young man, he served in the U.S. Army infantry from 1955 to 1957, in peacetime Berlin.

He graduated from Jamestown College and the University of North Dakota School of Law. He moved to Washington, D.C. in 1972 to work for U.S. Sen. Quentin Burdick, D-ND. He was staff director for the Bankruptcy Reform Committee. He also served on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee and on the staff of Sen. Burdick. In 1980, he was appointed Deputy Undersecretary of Agriculture for Rural Development during the Carter administration. Subsequently, he formed a lobbying firm with several other colleagues.

In 2002, he retired to Sarasota and had a wonderful time for 14 years. He was an active member of the Longboat Key Public Tennis Center, where he had many dear friends, and he tutored students at Emma E. Booker Elementary School.

Years of reading, politics and from-the-street anecdotes swirled in, around and through him while he smiled, cracked jokes and took life hand-in-hand with his favorite Punch cigar.

He loved baseball, especially the Cleveland Indians. He fell in love with the team in 1948, when the team won the World Series and remained loyal through tears, travail and despair.

Mr. Burgum is survived by his wife of 41 years, Mary Cohen; sons, John, James and Thomas, and their wives; six grandchildren; and his faithful companion, Maggie the cockapoo.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. April 9, at Toale Brothers Funeral Home in Sarasota. A final memorial service and interment will be held in May, in Washburn, N.D.

+ Gene Carr

Lt. Col. H.E. “Gene” Carr, a 30-year winter resident of Longboat Key, died March 22.

Mr. Carr was raised in Union Springs, N.Y. He was a child of the Depression and grew up a fighter. He had many battles, including extreme poverty, a near fatal illness, a near fatal accident, a broken home, the death of a brother and the stigma of a father in prison. 

He attended Hobart College at 16 with a basketball scholarship near the end of World War II. He took with him an incredible will to win, an enormous chip on his shoulder and a deeply held sense of morality and justice. He soon left school to join the Navy and served in the Pacific. 

Soon after the end of the war, he joined the Army Air Corps, seeking to enter pilot training to join his brother, Bruce, as a fighter pilot.  As boys, the brothers had taken their pennies, nickels and dimes and persuaded an evangelical biplane pilot, "Sky Pilot Robby," to take them for a ride. The boys sat together in the front seat of the biplane during the flight, and when they landed, they shook hands and vowed to become fighter pilots. 

Gene entered the newly formed Air Force at the very beginning of what was to become known as the "second heroic era of flight." He became the first aviation cadet to solo in a jet. It seemed new speed records were set on a weekly basis. The technology was new, and there were many problems with training. Approximately 50% of the cadets in his class eventually died in plane crashes. He expected to die while flying, and the fact he reached old age came as a surprise to him.

Although he had found his true calling, the chip on his shoulder made him resist military discipline. In latter years, he believed he had been a second lieutenant longer than anyone else in the Air Force. Despite his problems with authority, he was recognized as a very able pilot. A World War II ace had taken him under his wing, literally and figuratively, and helped him become an exceptional pilot. He became the first pilot who was not a World War II ace to be charged with evaluating American fighter squadrons in Europe.

During the Vietnam War, he flew secret missions for the CIA, served as a forward air controller and a base commander in Thailand, and while with South Korean forces in Vietnam, he was severely wounded. With special approval by Congress, he received the Korean equivalent of the Medal of Honor.

Lt. Col. ended his career in the Air Force as a squadron commander, receiving the highest evaluation reports for a squadron commander in the Air Defense Command.  Unfortunately for him, he chose the status of reserve officer. This had some benefits at the time, however, at the end of the Vietnam War, all reserve officers serving on active duty were retired as a group.

After a difficult adjustment to an unexpected civilian status, he became a selectman in the town of Sandwich, Mass., where he served his community for 15 years. He believed in working for the common good and was a strong believer in democracy. He endowed a fund in the town of Sandwich that awards outstanding public service. He also awarded an annual scholarship to a graduate of Union Springs High School.

He was a man of many parts. He had an excellent singing voice and once appeared in a performance of "1776" at the Kennedy Center, in Washington D.C. His favorite song, his theme song, was "My Way.” 

Lt. Col. Carr was an excellent bridge player and a fine athlete. He won a number of golf tournaments. He and his son Craig were town tennis champions in Sandwich. He was European Armed Forces and New England table tennis champion. On a dart team with his son, David, he won three state championships.

He is survived by Marcia Sexton, his companion of more than 50 years; his first wife, Connie Crocker Carr; children, David, Craig, Debra, Steven and stepdaughter, Kimberly; seven grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

+ Isabelle Gammon

Isabelle Gammon, of Longboat Key, died March 15.

Born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, she immigrated with her family to Toronto, Ontario in 1952. She relocated to the U.S. shortly after marrying Lewis Gammon Jr. in 1972 and went on to reside in Dunkirk, N.Y. and Marcellus, N.Y. and retired to Fort Erie, Canada and Longboat Key.

She was an adored presence in any community she touched. Her friends and family will forever remember her passion for life and its many adventures, the twinkle in her eyes, her quick wit and her infectious laughter. 

Mrs. Gammon was preceded in death by her husband, Lewis, in 2010; parents, David and Anne Graham; and brother, Bill Graham. She is survived by her children, Scott and Jenna Gammon; daughter-in-law Caroline; one granddaughter; and sister, Janice Daughton.

The family asks donations in her memory be made to Save Our Seabirds, 1708 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota, FL 34236.

+ Pauline Schaum Schroeder

Pauline Schaum Schroeder, 87, of Shell Point Retirement Community in Fort Myers and formerly of Longboat Key, died March 19.

She was born to loving parents, William Schaum and Elizabeth Howell, on Sept. 27, 1928.

Her joys in life were many and included teaching, horseback riding and being a private pilot. She was baptized at the age of 86 at Fort Myers Beach.

She is survived by her younger sister, Amy Owen, of Eden Prairie, Minn.; three sons, Trevor Elmquist of Fort Myers, Bill Elmquist of St Paul, Minn., and Fletcher McLean, of Anacortes, Wash.; six grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren

A memorial service will be held at 1:15 p.m. Friday, April 15, at the Shell Point Chapel in Fort Myers.

Memorial donations may be made through the following contact: Vancia Logan, Schepens Eye Research Institute, 243 Charles Street, Boston, MA 02114, or [email protected].