Alfred Irving Lamb

ALFRED IRVING LAMB, 88, died peacefully Friday evening November 4, 2005, attended by his children and by the staff at Liberty Specialty Care Center in Colchester who had cared for him lovingly during a long illness. Born at home on Franklin Hill, January 9, 1917, he was the youngest of ten children of Honoria Agnes McNulty and William Samuel Lamb. Alfred attended Franklin grammar school, Windham High School, and Windham Technical School before working at Ralston Purina Feeds in Willimantic. From April 1942 until January 1946 he served in the US Army. He was an ambulance driver in North Africa and Italy, earning three battle stars in the Italian campaign. At the end of the war in Europe, he was sent to the South Pacific via Panama, but the Pacific war ended before he saw further combat. Stops in Manila and Papua New Guinea were part of the long journey home that preceded his honorable discharge. After the war Alfred moved to the dairy farm on Babcock Hill in Lebanon that he and his wife Anne Lord Lamb operated for more than three decades. From 1955-1965 he was a night shift millwright at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft in East Hartford, returning early each day for the morning milking on the farm. He was devoted to farming for the remainder of his life. He retired as a dairy farmer in 1982, but continued working until the age of 80, first at the Williams Farm in Lebanon, and then at the Southern New England Livestock Auction. Into his mid-80s, he traveled several days each week from his home in Montville to help his son Alan with chores on his beloved Babcock Hill farm. He was a member of the Franklin Grange and the American Legion in Lebanon and Montville. Alfred had a warm and generous nature. He was a good neighbor, loyal friend, and loving family member, a favorite uncle to his many nieces and nephews. His charm, bright smile, infectious laugh, and sparkling blue eyes will be missed by his friends and family. Alfred was predeceased by his parents and brothers, John Edward, William Henry, Joseph Emmett, and James Samuel, by his sisters Agnes Emily Sullivan, Mary Theresa Lamb, Sister Annie Veronica Lamb, Edna Josephine Henson, and Frances Catherine Daley, and by his special friend Lyndall Todd, of Montville. He is survived by his former wife Anne of Willimantic; his daughter Margaret Lamb and son-in-law Chris Clark of Storrs; his son Alan Lamb, daughter-in-law Alicia, and his grandchildren Katie and William of Lebanon; and by numerous nieces, nephews, their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. His family will receive friends at the Potter Funeral Home 456 Jackson St. (Rte. 195) Willimantic on Tuesday between 6:00pm and 8:00pm. His Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday at 11:00am at St. Francis of Assisi Church, West Town St., Lebanon with interment following in New Lebanon Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association, Connecticut Chapter, 279 New Britain Rd., Kensington, CT 06037 or at http://www.alzct.org/ . For online memorials, please visit at www.potterfh.com .