WEST GOULDSBORO – Lt. Col. Tedford M. “Ted” Blaisdell, husband of the late Margaret (Ashe) Blaisdell, died Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2005, at a Bangor hospital. He was born Feb. 19, 1918, in Newport, the son of C. Carroll Blaisdell and Edith (Bragdon) Blaisdell. When he was one year old he and his family moved to Franklin. Ted attended Franklin schools, and then was educated at Hebron Academy, graduating in the Class of 1935. He then attended the University of Maine. Ted had a passion for flying and obtained his pilot’s license at the age of 16. He then realized his ambition for the next 36 years by progressing to a commercial license with an instructor’s rating. On leaving college, he worked in Boston charter flying and instructing. After obtaining an unlimited instrument rating, he was accepted by Pan American Airlines to fly land base combat aircraft to the mid and Far East by way of South America and Africa. During this time, he flew several trips to China. Upon his return from one such trip, he was informed that he was now a first lieutenant in the Army Air Corps. Three days later he was flying to Cairo, Egypt in a different uniform. During World War II he ferried 13-24 and 13-17 bombers to the theaters of war where they were needed most from bases in Scotland, London, and various other locations in England. Following World War II, he stayed in the Air Force and was stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska; Thule, Greenland; and Japan, in addition to a number of stateside locations within New England. Ted retired as a lt. col. from the USAF in 1970, and returned to West Gouldsboro to live in the family homestead on the Taft Point Road. Ted remained very active in village affairs, serving as a trustee of the Eleanor Widener Dixon Memorial Clinic and serving the Village of West Gouldsboro as a member of the Village Improvement Association. Ted was a member of the Winter Harbor Masonic Lodge and he joined the Anah Temple Mystic Shrine Band and dance band in 1980. He was also band leader of the “Brow of the Hill” dance band for 20 years. Village residents have lost a good friend and a “pillar” of the village. Ted was always there when anyone needed him with sound advice and a helping hand. He will be greatly missed. Ted is survived by eight nieces and nephews, Barbara J. Harriman, Floyd Ashe, Allan Phillips, Richard Phillips, Elizabeth Howe, Westley Ashe, Mary Ashe-Hinote, Jane Folsom, and several other great-nieces and great-nephews. Memorial services will be held 10 a.m. Monday, Feb. 28, at the Bragdon-Kelley-Campbell Funeral Home, 47 Main St., Milbridge, with the Rev. Stephen Loan officiating. Graveside committal services will be held in May at Our Cemetery, Beach Hill, West Gouldsboro, at a date to be announced. Gifts in memory of Ted may be sent to the Eleanor Widener Dixon Memorial Clinic, Clinic Road, Gouldsboro, ME 04607.
TEDFORD M. BLAISDELL, LT. COL. USAF, RETIRED
