Obituary of Burt Lacklen Talcott

Burt was surrounded by his family and friends, laughing, singing and praying as he went home to be with the Lord on July 29, 2016 in Tacoma Washington. Burt Lacklen Talcott was born on February 22, 1920 in Billings, Montana to Burt Breckenridge Talcott and Hester Virginia (Lacklen) Talcott. In the next few years, the family moved to Newcastle, Wyoming where Burt’s sister Ann was born and then Shelby, Montana where Burt’s brother Jim was born. The family moved to Great Falls, Montana in 1923 and remained there where Burt’s younger sister Lois and younger brother Don were born. Burt was an excellent athlete and was the captain of his football and basketball team at Great Falls High School where he graduated in 1938. Before graduation, both the football and basketball teams won state championships. Burt took his academic and athletic abilities to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. He started on the freshman football team that was lead by quarterback Frankie Albert. The team went undefeated in 1938. As a sophomore, Burt was accepted into the Sigma Chi fraternity and became its leader at Stanford. He wore his Sigma Chi ring to the moment he died. During his senior year at Stanford in 1941, he entered the Civilian Pilot’s License course with a number of classmates. They could not fly on December 7, 1941 because of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The next day, they all signed up to join the Army Air Corps. Burt graduated from Stanford in 1942, but did not stay for the ceremony. He went home to Montana and worked all summer to save what he needed to marry his 4th grade sweetheart, Lee Taylor. They were married on September 6, 1942 and Burt entered the Army Air Corps in October. Burt trained to fly like thousands of other young men, mostly just boys and a few women (WASPs) too. He was assigned to fly the B-24, a four engine, heavy bomber and shipped out for Cerignola, Italy in December 1943. His crew arrived in Italy in January 1944 and began to fly bombing missions, first in Italy and later into Germany and Austria. On March 19, 1944, Burt’s airplane, the Paper Doll, was shot down after dropping its bomb load. Of the ten men on the crew, only four made it out alive. Burt was captured when he landed and became a Prisoner of War (POW) in Stalag Luft 3 in Sagen, Poland. The POWs were moved to Stalag Luft 7a in Mooseburg, Germany in December 1944 until liberated by General Patton’s division in May of 1945. Lee gave birth to their son, Ronald Taylor Talcott, on June 28, 1944 while Burt was still listed as missing in action. When Burt returned to Great Falls in June 1945, he met his one year-old son, Ron, for the first time. The family moved to Palo Alto, California that fall and Burt entered the Stanford Law School. He graduated in 1947 and the family moved to Salinas, California where Burt was a young member of a long time law firm, Rosendale, Thomas and Muller. Burt and Lee were grateful that Burt had come home alive and well and they agreed to dedicate 50% of their “disposable” time to helping others. Burt became the local chairman of the Red Cross, dedicated to the organization that had provided the only food and help from home while he was a POW. He led the Community Chest, a forerunner of United Way. He coached boys in the local recreational basketball league. He helped establish Little League in Salinas. He helped some local business people and athletes establish the Salinas Golf and Country Club. He was chairman of the Coast Counties Athletic League where he hired and trained officials for the high schools in a three county area. Burt was a leader in the Salinas Chamber of Commerce and when he was 34 he was honored as the Junior Chamber “Outstanding Man of the Year.” Lee was his teammate in many of these activities, especially the Red Cross where she volunteered for decades. Because of his involvement in the community, Burt was asked to run for County Supervisor in 1954. He was elected to be one of five leaders of Monterey County, California. In 1962 just after he was elected to his third term as a Supervisor, the local Republican Party asked Burt to replace the Republican candidate for the US House of Representatives. The previous candidate had died suddenly. With about eight weeks to the general election, Burt campaigned and won a seat in the US Congress representing Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Luis and San Benito counties. He won reelection six times, serving from January 1963 until January 1977. It was a tumultuous time in the country with the assassinations of President Kennedy; his brother Robert, the US Attorney General and the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King. The Great Society and the Civil Rights Act went through Congress while Burt was there. He voted for the Civil Rights Act along with a majority of Republicans. After Congress, Burt worked in Washington DC with a friend, Tom McCabe. They championed many bills and programs as lobbyists. In the later part of the Reagan administration Burt worked with POWs in the Veterans Administration. In 1988, Burt retired and he and Lee moved to Gig Harbor, Washington to be near Ron and Gigi and his two grandsons, Scott and Burt. There he teamed up with Tom McCabe again to work on bills and programs in the Washington State Legislature. Burt was involved in many community programs like incorporation of new areas into the City of Gig Harbor. He served on the Pierce County Charter Review Commission to which he was elected at age 75 and again at 85. He was a member of the county Ethics Commission and took part in many activities such as the Tacoma Athletic Club and local Sigma Chi organizations. Burt and Lee were very involved in their growing family, including their great grandchildren. They were leaders in their Gig Harbor church, Harbor Covenant Church. Burt was elected as an elder by the congregation. Following Lee’s death in August 2010, Burt continued to live in the assisted living facility where they had moved to provide the assistance Lee needed. For two and a half years, he served as the president of the residents association and advocated for improvements for his fellow residents. The 50% of his “disposable” time paid off in service to hundreds of people. In 2013, Burt moved to live with his son and daughter-in-law, Ron and Gigi. Gigi’s cooking and care kept him from requiring kidney dialysis. Until two weeks of his death, Burt started his day reading the Wall Street Journal and the News Tribune, completing Sudoku puzzles and composing letters on his computer on a wide range of contemporary issues. He traveled frequently with Ron and Gigi, even in his last month of life on earth, he celebrated his great granddaughter Sierra’s high school graduation in Idaho and vacationed at Ron and Gigi’s log cabin that he helped build in Seeley Lake, Montana. Burt is survived by his sister, Lois Virginia Lloyd (Talcott) Huddlestone (Dick); his sister-in-law, Ruth Maxine (Kinney) Talcott (Don); his son, Ronald Taylor Talcott; his daughter-in-law, Georganne Gigi (Green) Talcott; his grandsons Scott Green Talcott (Marie) and Burt Taylor Talcott (Mary) and four great granddaughters, Taylor, Nicole, Sierra and Natalie and two great grandsons, Ben and Seth. A memorial service was held on Sunday, August 7th at 2 pm at Harbor Covenant Church, 5601 Gustafson Drive NW, Gig Harbor, Washington 98335, (253) 851-8450. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Burt’s name to Harbor Covenant Church and its many missions.