Edmund Clark Platt II

Owned Platt’s Lumber Company

Edmund Clark Platt II, 84, better known as Ned, died April 24 after heart surgery at Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers, Fla. Mr Platt was born November 16, 1923, in New Britain, the son of Percival Camp Platt and Marion Todd Platt.

He attended Shuttle Meadow School in New Britain and then graduated in 1941 from Vermont Academy, a place very dear to his heart. After starting at Worcester Polytechnic in Massachusetts, he interrupted his college career to join the US Army. He served in Italy as a weather forecaster, then returned to New Britain and graduated in 1947 from Trinity College in Hartford, his father’s, and later his daughter’s and granddaughter’s, alma mater.

That September in Shaker Heights, Ohio, he married Lysbeth “Betty” Ann Walker, a family friend from New Britain with whom he had become reacquainted when he was at Trinity and she was at Connecticut College. They settled in Newtown where Ned started his career at Platt Lumber Company, which was founded in 1897 in Hawleyville by his grandfather and namesake. He built his first home on his grandfather’s farmland on Taunton Lane, where they lived for 37 years.

In addition to being president of Platt Lumber, he founded and operated Component Systems, Inc. His most fortunate project for Component Systems was the building of homes in the late 1960s in the Minister’s Lot and Sheep’s Meadow on Block Island, R.I., where in 1972 he and his wife built their summer home, which they and their family continued to use and cherish all his life. There he was able to enjoy his two favorite outdoor pastimes, boating and fishing. Following the sale of Platt Lumber Company, he moved Component Systems to Bellows Falls, Vt., in 1984 and worked there until his retirement in 1988.

With the relocation of his company, the Platts moved to Walpole where they enjoyed 15 years of new friendships and the “business on a handshake” way of life in New Hampshire. After his retirement, they divided their time between Walpole, Block Island, and Destin, Fla.

In Newtown, Mr Platt valued his volunteer work not only for the service it provided to the community, but also for the dear friendships formed with Jim Osborne, Bob Stokes, and Bob Munger. He was a member and later honorary member of Newtown Rotary Club, a board member of Newtown Building Committee for more than ten years, member of the Men’s Social and Literary Club of Newtown Main Street, trustee and then honorary trustee of Booth Library, and active member of the Lumber Dealers Association of Connecticut. In addition to his involvement with the Boy Scouts and Little League, his favorite volunteer activity was flipping pancakes at the annual Rotary breakfast.

Mr Platt was best known for the “improvements” he made to everyday life. His inventions ranged from designing a way to close his Vermont Academy window at 5 am so he could awaken to a warmer room; to adding hot water, electricity, and music to his Italian army tent; to installing a “hot tub” at their Walpole home made from an unused toxic waste drum with warm water heated from coils on the roof. His love of gadgets was legendary. He had one of the first microwave ovens, waterbeds, and TV remote controls in Newtown. The microwave, on sale at the lumberyard, was “on display” in his kitchen. All who knew and loved him will remember his curiosity and indefatigable spirit.

Betty Platt passed away in 1998 after 50 years of marriage, and he married Carolyn “Lynn” Atwater Critton in May 2000. She had been a Newtown friend from their early days there. They lived in her home in Suffield, and on Block Island and Fort Myers, Fla., until her passing in 2006.

Later, Mr Platt moved back to Fort Myers, where he happily spent the last 16 months with Rebecca “Becky” Weston, a childhood friend of Lynn’s. Mr Platt felt unbelievably fortunate to have the love of three wonderful women.

He is survived by Ms Weston; and his daughters, Deborah Platt Rucci and her husband, Peter, of Bethesda, Md., and their children, Amanda, Carolyn, and Edmund; and Helen Platt Booty and her husband, Geoffrey, of Andover, Mass., and their children, Jillian and Christopher; a sister, Jean Platt Young of Kensington, Conn.; a brother-in-law, John Edward Walker and his wife, Lois; nieces and nephews; and Lynn’s son and daughter, Benjamin and Susan Critton.

Mr Platt was predeceased by his wife, Lysbeth Walker Platt, and by his second wife, Carolyn Atwater Critton and her son, Kenneth “Jerry” Critton; and by his brother-in-law, Geoffrey Young.

A graveside service will be held on Memorial Day, May 26, at 10 am, at Newtown Village Cemetery, on Elm Street in Newtown.

In lieu of flowers, please make contributions in Mr Platt’s memory to the Block Island Medical Center, 6 Payne Road, PO Box 919, Block Island RI 02807.

The Newtown Bee        May 9, 2008