Obituary of Christian Trowbridge

Christian “Chris” Trowbridge, a Senior Scientist, passed away unexpectedly at the Lahey Clinic Medical Center in Burlington on Wednesday morning, August 24, 2011. He was 69 years old. Chris was born in Riverside, RI, the son of the late Theodore and Madeleine Trowbridge. He grew up in Riverside, RI and Rehobeth, MA. He was a graduate of East Providence High School, Providence College, and received his Masters degree from Northeastern University. Since 1968, Chris worked as a Senior Scientist at Photometrics which later became Visidyne, Inc. He specialized in atmospheric sciences (theoretical modeling and laboratory and field measurements) and modeling optical and infrared nuclear weapons effects. He loved his work so much that, even after he retired, he would return to help his colleagues on projects. He was extremely well respected in his field. Chris had a number of interests and activities outside of work. He was always prepared to take on any project around his home. He had the craftsmanship skills and perseverance to restore a sailboat in his backyard. The project took several years to complete. In the end, his family did not know what gave him more satisfaction, sailing or restoring his prized “Naiad.” Chris’s other passion was hiking. Over the years, he hiked much of the North Eastern portions of the Appalachian Trail as well as most of New Hampshire’s 4,000+ foot peaks. Being outdoors in the woods or on the mountains gave him a sense of calmness and inner peace. He shared his passion with his children and grandchildren and those times they spent together will be cherished. Chris was devoted to his wife, Catherine. He was a wonderful role model and mentor to his children and an extremely proud grandfather. His unexpected passing leaves his family with heavy hearts, but his memory will be eternal. Chris was the beloved husband of Catherine M. (Martens) Trowbridge. He was the loving father of Christian, Jr. & his wife Elia of Landenberg, PA, Elizabeth of Burlington, Peter & his wife Maureen of Watertown, John & his wife Kathleen of Burlington, and Caitlin Soden & her husband Michael of Arlington. He was predeceased by his brother, Theodore. He was the proud grandfather of Christian III, Benjamin, Madeleine, John Jr., Peter II, and William. He leaves five nephews and one niece. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Malachy’s Church, 99 Bedford St., Burlington on Saturday, Aug. 27 at 11 a.m. Visiting hours will be held at the Edward V. Sullivan Funeral Home, 43 Winn St., BURLINGTON (exit 34 off Rt. 128, Woburn side) on Saturday from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited. Interment Pine Haven Cemetery, Burlington. Memorials in Christian’s name may be made to the American Diabetes Association, 330 Congress Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02210-1258. For directions, obituary & online guestbook see www.sullivanfuneralhome.net or www.saint-malachy.org Eulogy read by Elia Trowbridge Good morning. For those of you who may not know me, I'm Chris' daughter-in-law, Elia. I had the pleasure of having Chris be a part of my life for 23 years, and to call him “Dad” for the last 17. From the first time I met Mom and Dad, I could see they had a special relationship. They say opposites attract, and that was so true in their case. As you all know, Mom is what we would call a bit of a “talker.” And Dad? Well, I wouldn't call him an introvert but he definitely leaned toward the quiet side. I don't think that was because it was hard to get in a word edgewise with Mom, though. He just preferred to sit back and take it all in. When he felt strongly enough about inserting his opinion, he did – and if you didn't agree with him, you better be ready to explain why because he was always ready to explain why he thought his position made more sense. Mom wanted me to share a story with you that always makes her laugh. When Christian & I had been dating a couple of years, the family took a hike to Cardigan Mountain in New Hampshire. Now, this was my first time hiking and, as Mom likes to say, I was rather excited about it. I was wearing brand new hiking boots and running ahead with Caitlin, who was about 6 then. She went down this rocky slope to check out the creek and I followed. Well, she had the smarts to stop in time, but not me. The rocks were slippery and I slid right into the creek, new boots and all. They all had a good laugh at my predicament, Mom especially, and she always likes to remind me that Dad was the only one who didn't laugh at me – at least not out loud, she says. And that's what always made Mom and Dad good together. They complemented each other. They were definitely two peas in a pod even if they didn't always see eye to eye on everything. One thing they didn't always agree on was Dad's frugal Yankee ways. He saw no need to waste or use more of something than you really needed. Like heat. Christian has told me stories about getting dressed on winter mornings as a kid – he used to do it while curled up next to the heater in the dining room to try and stay warm. Because Dad's idea of keeping the house warm in January? Setting the thermostat at 62 degrees. And that's where it stayed until the past few years when he decided it needed to be warmer in the house – so he splurged and set it to 65 degrees. Dad also saw no need to buy – or wear – something new unless the old one had worn out first. There were times when he'd get a new sweater or clothes for Christmas and you wouldn't see them again until he finally started wearing them 5 years later when something else wore out. And for those of you who knew him well, I don't even think I need to talk about his corduroy pants. Dad started wearing them in the '70s and kept right on wearing them – even when they went out of style for a while. Thankfully, they came back in. Chris was a wonderful father. Christian, Beth, Peter, John and Caitlin all have great memories of Dad – whether it was helping Chris & Peter with Boy Scouts, traveling around the country taking John to his gymnastic meets, going to Caitlin's dance recitals and being a stagehand during shows, being Beth's personal handyman at her house, family vacations to Disney World, Chicago, the Outer Banks, Myrtle Beach. He was always a quiet, steady force in their lives. And I think Maureen, Kathleen, Mike & I can say he was the same as a father-in-law. Dad loved hiking and camping with them as kids, too, which they did a lot. And when he restored that sailboat about 20 years ago, sailing was added to the list of passions he shared with all of us, especially Peter and John. That sailboat sat in the side yard for about six years while he refurbished it. We --- well, maybe I should say Mom --- never thought it would move from that spot. But when he'd finished replacing all the teak and making other repairs and launched The Naiad, we had many fun years of sailing in Buzzard's Bay and other places while eating Cheez-Its and learning how to trim the sails and tack and duck when the boom changed direction. When the grandkids came along, they too got to share many a hike with Grandpa / Papa. The sailboat was gone at that point but almost all of them trekked up a mountain in a baby carrier with Grandpa. Papa was not a roll-on-the-ground kind of grandfather but he loved spending time with them. He would spend hours helping Christian and Benjamin put together Lego models, cheering JT and Madeleine on at their baseball games, taking Peter on hikes to Mt. Wachusett to see the windmills, and grabbing William from whomever might be holding him so that he could be the one to give him his bottle. He always loved reading to all of them and sharing his love of cats with them, and he was looking forward to meeting his newest grandchild in November. We will miss Dad a lot in the days and weeks ahead. But he's left us with a lifetime of memories and for that we are truly grateful.