Newton C. “Newt” Garland, 99, an avid outdoorsman, has climbed
his final mountain. He died on Thursday, at the Residence at Quarry
Hill in South Burlington, after a short illness.
He was born in 1924
in Lowell, Mass. His parents owned a large dairy farm in Pelham,
N.H., and he and his two brothers and sister were expected to help
out. His lifelong attachment to the land and his ability to fix
things served him well.
He attended Cornell
University, joined the Navy and graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At RPI he
was a lacrosse standout and in his senior year was selected as a
midfielder on the North Squad in the 1946 annual North/South All Star
Game. Newt received a master’s in mechanical engineering from MIT,
with specialized postgraduate work in optics.
He spent most of his
career as an engineer at General Electric in Schenectady, N.Y.;
Pittsfield, Mass.; and Burlington, Vt. He worked on missile guidance
systems and held several patents for his work on the Vulcan gun.
Newt raised two
sons, and, in 1966, he and their late mother, Margaret “Peg”
Garland, bought land in Fairfax, Vt. In 1971, he designed and built
an A-frame house on the land. He fabricated the rafters at his house
in Burlington and enlisted his sons, friends and neighbors to erect
the cabin.
While well into his
eighties, he spent many happy hours on the land — clearing brush,
cutting firewood and building trails — which he wanted the public
to enjoy. He hiked, skied, bicycled and kayaked. As a volunteer, he
worked on many trail-improvement projects in Vermont, New Mexico,
Alaska and Hawaii.
After retiring from
GE, Newt bought a house in Albuquerque and split his time between
Vermont and New Mexico. A few years ago, tiring of his twice-yearly
drives between the two states, he returned full-time to Vermont. He
granted a conservation easement on most of his Fairfax property to
the Vermont Land Trust to protect it and ensure public access, and in
2023 donated the 63 acres to the town.
He is survived by
his longtime companion, Nancy Smith, of South Burlington; his sons
Russell and his wife, Gayle, of Santa Fe, N.M., and James and his
wife, Sooyeon, of Danbury, Conn.; and three grandchildren, Stacy,
Jason and Arin.
Burial will be
private. In lieu of flowers, please send donations in his memory to
the Green Mountain Club or your favorite charity.
This article appears in Apr 17-23, 2024.