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Obituary for William L. Vinal Jr.

William L.  Vinal Jr.
EAST UNION – William L. Vinal, Jr., 86, died Thursday, September 29, 2011, at Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport, following a brief illness.
Born in Rockland, May 9, 1925, he was the son of William L., Sr. and Beulah Fowlie Vinal. He attended local schools and was a graduate of Rockland High School.
A World War II, United States Navy veteran, he served from 1943 to 1946, aboard the ‘USS Essex CV9’ which ultimately earned 13 Battle Stars and the nickname of the ‘ fightin’ist ship in the fleet’.
From 1950 to 1952, he served with the 703rd AAA (90MM) Gun Battalion of the Maine National Guard ultimately rising to the rank of Master Sergeant. In 1967, Mr. Vinal enlisted in the United States Coast Guard Reserve and retired as a Master Chief from that service in 1985.
September 18, 1948, he married Leola Tolman in Rockland. They made their home in Rockland, until moving to Portland where Mr. Vinal worked as an electronic technician with New England Telephone Company, which at the time of his retirement in 1985 had become NYNEX. They later built their retirement home in East Union.
Mr. Vinal was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 2499, Rockland, the Chief Petty Officers Association, Telephone Pioneers, Knox County Fish & Game Association, National Rifle Association and the Maine Mineralogical & Geological Society.
Other than his parents, Mr. Vinal was pre-deceased by one daughter, Joyce Esther Vinal in 1949, and three brothers, Wallace Vinal, Melvin Vinal, and Adelbert Vinal. He is survived by one son George A. Vinal and his wife Shelly of Vermont; a sister Melvinia Foster and her husband Alton of Thomaston; two granddaughters and their spouses, Kourtney and Deiter Ludwig, Kassie and Michael Soutiere; one great-grandson, Aidan Soutiere, all of Vermont; sisters- and brothers-in-law, Mildred Wiley of Owls Head, Barbara Widdecombe of Rockland, Arlene ‘Betty’ Paulsen and her husband Donald of South Thomaston, Geraldine Barker and her husband Ronald of Minnesota, Alfred Tolman and his wife Jeannette of Hope, Lloyd L. Tolman of Union, Maxine King of East Union, Ernest Tolman and his wife Patricia of California, Paul Tolman and his wife Florence of Warren, Richard Tolman and his wife Sandra of Pennsylvania; as well as many nieces and nephews.
Private burial arrangements are in the care of Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland.
To share a memory or story with Mr. Vinal’s family, please visit his guest book at www.bchfh.com.

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