WILTON – Dr. William S. Lambert, 62, of Wilton, died early Wednesday, June 18, 2008, after a two year battle with leukemia. He died with his wife by his side, in his favorite room of the home he loved on Village View Road.
He was born on Oct. 25, 1945 in San Jose, CA a son of William E. and Beverly (Dugan) Lambert, who predeceased him. Raised in the Chicago area, he graduated from Hinsdale Township High School in 1963.
He went on to Beloit College in Wisconsin. Though not recruited for football, he was urged to tryout after starting as an intramural player, and he went on to start for the Beloit Buccaneers. He graduated in 1967 and went on to the Medical College of Wisconsin at Marquette University, graduating in 1971 and going on to specialize as an orthopedic surgeon.
He did his medical residency in Milwaukee, WI, where he was also a team doctor for the Green Bay Packers, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Milwaukee Brewers. He did a one-year internship in Portland, and vowed to return to Maine after his residency and service in the military.
He entered the United States Navy as a Lieutenant and performed his naval service caring for Marines at the Naval Hospital in Quantico, VA, which served many injured Vietnam War veterans. Following his honorable discharge in 1978, he came to Maine to stay. His practice here was mostly at Franklin Memorial Hospital and the Aroostook Medical Center. He also practiced at the Occupational Health Program at FMH, the Portland Foot and Ankle Clinic, and the health clinic at International Paper Company in Jay where he worked until his illness required that he retire earlier this year.
He lived long enough to meet his newest grandson, Theodore William Lambert Ritter, born on May 5, 2008, who came for a visit several weeks ago. He was adored by his older grandsons, Jake and Ethan Bennett, who called him “Papa Dude” and loved tractor rides and sledding during their visits to the house in Wilton.
He is survived by his wife of 24 years, Jeanne (Pomeroy); his daughter, Susan, her husband Matt Bennett and their sons, Jake and Ethan of Arlington, VA; daughter Jessica, and her husband Nathan Ritter and their son Theodore of Jersey City, NJ; his former wife and children’s mother Cynthia Osborne of Baltimore, MD; step-children, who he loved as his own, Lance Adams of Wilton and Bethany Cutler and her husband Rob and their children, Micaela Cutler, Cole Greenleaf, Jessica, MacKenzie, and Bryce Cutler of Eureka, NV.
In addition to his immediate family, he was as an only child, fascinated by the large extended “clan” that came with his wife, and he loved being adopted into it. Brothers-in-law Mark Pomeroy, Joel Pomeroy and his wife Wendy; sister-in-law Maureen and her husband Jeff Farrington, all of Wilton; eight nieces and nephews, their mates and children, and more aunts, uncles, and cousins than he could keep track of. He loved them all.
He overcame many personal medical issues in his lifetime, and though he couldn’t beat this one, he considered himself a very luck man to have earned the love and prayers of so many: family, patients, colleagues, friends old and new, as well as complete strangers.
Public memorial services will be held Saturday, June 28 at 1 p.m. from the Old South Congregational Church with Rev. C. Scott Planting, Officiating. Following services, a reception will be held in the Vestry of the Church. Dr. Lambert asked that in lieu of flowers, those who wish may send a tax-deductible contribution in his memory to: Oncology Department Renovation Fund for FMH through the Maine Community Foundation, 245 Main Street, Ellsworth, ME 04605 or www.mainecmf.org. Words of condolences may be sent to the family at wilesfuneralhomes@verizon.net. Cremation and memorial services are being cared for and provided by the Wiles Remembrance Center, 136 High Street, Wilton.
