1920 – 2014

AUBURN — Lloyd B. Crossland, of Mexico, died on Thursday, June 19, at Schooner Estates retirement home in Auburn.

He was born on Oct. 2, 1920, a son of Byron and Pearl McLennan Crossland. He grew up in Mexico, graduated valedictorian of the Class of 1938 from Mexico High School and later from the University of Maine, with honors, earning a degree in chemical engineering.

He immediately enlisted in the U.S. Air Force on June 4, 1942, with the rank of captain. He served as an air inspector in Tunis, Tunisia; Bari, Italy; and Cazes Air Base in Casablanca. It was in Casablanca where he met his wife to be, Suzanne Abitbol, whom he married in 1947; she died in Toms River, N.J., in 2013.

After his discharge on Christmas Day in 1946, he relocated to Norwalk, Conn., where he worked for Vanderbilt Food Laboratories, later moving to Wilton, Conn., while he pursued a career in real estate, retiring in 1999.

Surviving are two sons, Roger and his wife, Rosemary, of Fairfield, Conn., and Garry of Toms River, N.J.; two grandchildren, Amy and Bret and his wife, Moira; three sisters, Joyce Morgan of Mexico, Fern Stearns of Orland and Gail Parent of Hanover; and many loving nieces and nephews.

He was predeceased by a brother, Burton, in 2006.

Throughout his life, he was far in the forefront in his ardent pursuit of acquiring knowledge. He passed with flying colors every test, tangible and intangible, he encountered. Now, he’s enjoying a well-deserved, peaceful rest in Heaven.