STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Burl J. Withers, 87, of Eltingville, a retired banker who served in the U.S. military for many years, died Monday in St. Elizabeth Ann’s Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, Stapleton.
Born and raised in Baker City, Ore., he lived all over the world as a career military man before settling in Eltingville in 1977.
After several years as a lumberjack, he joined the U.S. Army in 1943 and saw action in the Pacific theater. Over the course of a 26-year career, he served multiple tours in Korea, Germany, France and Vietnam as well as Washington, D.C., Fort Tilden and Governors Island; Fort Dix, N.J.; Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort. Leonardwood, Mo.
While stationed at Fort Tilden, he met and married his wife, the former Rosemary Michalski, a widow with two small children. He retired from the service in 1969, after a tour with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam.
Afterwards, he went to work for Bankers Trust, and later for Manufacturers Hanover in their Manhattan headquarters. He retired in the early-1980s.
He enjoyed bowling and founded the Golden Oldies senior league at Rab’s Country Lanes, Dongan Hills. As a volunteer at the former Bayley Seton Hospital in Clifton, he established an annual bowl-a-thon to raise funds for scholarships.
The hospital recognized these efforts in 1994 and awarded him the Dr. Richard Bayley Humanitarian Award. He won gold, silver and bronze medals bowling in the Empire State Senior Olympics, and was inducted into the Staten Island Bowling Hall of Fame.
“When I think of my dad, I think about someone who loved everything about life,” said his daughter, Mary Anne Voutour.
In addition to his daughter, Mary Anne, and his wife of 52 years, Rosemary, surviving are a son, Richard Sherman, and one granddaughter.
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