2022 -- H 8046

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LC005477

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

EXPRESSING DEEPEST CONDOLENCES ON THE PASSING OF DONALD ARTHUR

LITTLEFIELD

     Introduced By: Representatives Filippi, Blazejewski, and McLaughlin

     Date Introduced: March 24, 2022

     Referred To: House read and passed

     WHEREAS, It is with deep sadness that this House has learned of the passing of Donald

Arthur Littlefield, born in Wakefield to Captain Oswald and Isobel Littlefield. He was a 10th

generation Block Islander, and the devoted husband of Lydia Rathbun Littlefield for 63 years;

and

     WHEREAS, As a youngster, Mr. Littlefield spent his summers at the tip of Sandy Point

in the Commander of the U.S. Saving Service cottage, and later at his grandfather Captain

Amazon Littlefield’s home on Corn Neck Road; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Littlefield graduated from Old Lyme High School in Connecticut, and

received a Bachelor's degree from the University of Connecticut. After graduation, he served with

distinction as a Lieutenant in the United States Army, where he was stationed in France and

served as a comptroller at an aerial re-support center during the Korean War; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Littlefield was employed for most of his life within the insurance

industry. He began his distinguished professional career with the Aetna Insurance Company in

Hartford, before transferring to Boston. In 1959, he joined the J.R. Tallman Insurance Company,

serving as Vice President and General Manager; and

     WHEREAS, For his entire life, Mr. Littlefield was a very civic-minded person who

strived daily to make the community around him a better place to reside within. He served as the

President of Morton Hospital, President of Rotary International, and as a Paul A. Fellow. He was

also a member of the Taunton Savings Bank Board of Directors, Pilgrim Congregational Church

Board of Managers, a United Way Business Division Chairman, Commissioner of the Old

Colony Historical Society and as a Lifetime Member of the Block Island Historical Society.

While living in Old Lyme, Mr. Littlefield joined the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons,

Pythagoras Lodge #45, and was later a member of the King David Lodge in Taunton; and

     WHEREAS, While residing in Raynham, Mr. Littlefield served as the President of the

Edgewood Swim and Tennis Club, on the Board of Directors of the Raynham Public Library, and

as President of the Attleboro Ski Club; and

     WHEREAS, Upon retiring in 1994, Mr. Littlefield and his wife moved to their summer

home on Block Island. He served on the Original North Light Commission for twenty years, on

the Block Island Conservancy Board of Directors, Harbor Church Board of Directors, Town of

New Shoreham Conservation Commission, and on the Double Ender Committee. He was honored

as Grand Marshal of the Block Island Fourth of July Parade for his twenty years of enthusiastic

participation, as Vice Commander of American Legion Post 36, where he was known for his

expertise on flag etiquette, and as a member of the Block Island Gardeners. He also enjoyed

sailing his Pearson day-sailor, Eagle, in Great Salt Pond; and

     WHEREAS, In addition to his wife Lydia, Mr. Littlefield leaves his children, Laura

Bourne, Pamela Gasner and her husband, John, Lynn Lucier and her husband, Rob, and Betsy

Littlefield, as well as nine grandchildren, William, Noah, and Julia Gasner, Kelsey and Jonathan

Bourne, and Nancy, David, Keith and Kimberly Lucier. He was predeceased by his brothers,

James, William, Richard and Bradford Littlefield, and is survived by his sister, Isobel Shapleigh

and her husband, Donald, and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby

expresses its condolences on the passing of Donald Arthur Littlefield; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Mrs. Lydia Rathbun Littlefield.

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LC005477

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