Edwin B. Cobb, 99
April 3, 2007
Edwin Blaine Cobb, formerly of Rockport, died
April 3, 2007, in Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital, Goleta, California, 26
days before his 100th birthday. He died from complications following
surgery to repair a broken hip suffered in a fall March 28, 2007.
Edwin was born April 29, 1907, in Newport, R.I. to
the former Emily Frances Blaine and William Andrew Cobb, the second of
four children.
He graduated in 1925 from Norwood High School,
Norwood and in 1929 from Northeastern University with a Bachelor of
Civil Engineering degree.
Following graduation from NU, he held several
short term engineering positions before working for the engineering firm
of Weston and Sampson from 1931 to 1939. He joined the engineering
consulting firm of Metcalf and Eddy in Boston in 1940. He became a
partner in 1953 and retired as senior vice-president in 1969. His
professional expertise was in the design of water supply, distribution
and treatment and in waste water treatment systems. His career with M&E
was interrupted for three years during World War II. He served in the
Pacific war theater as a lieutenant with the Civil Engineering Corps of
the U.S. Naval Reserve.
He was an active member of several professional
societies. He served as president of the Boston Society of Civil
Engineers in 1955-56, and the New England Water Works Association in
1972-73, and was elected a life member of the American Water Works
Association in 1979. He received several prestigious awards including
the George Warren Fuller Award in 1971 from the AWWA and the Dexter
Bracket Memorial Medal in 1956 and 1965 from the NEWWA. At the time of
his retirement from M&E, he was registered as a professional engineer in
16 states.
In 1989, he volunteered his services to the Town
of Rockport as an engineer to aid in any area of technical need, and was
appointed to the Ad Hoc Water Committee. He made a major contribution to
the town assisting town officials to provide a complete water program
for future years.
He was a licensed amateur radio operator, and a
member of the Cape Ann Amateur Radio Club, and the Santa Barbara Radio
Club. He was a member of the Sandy Bay Yacht Club in Rockport and a
member of the Orthodox Congregational Church in Lanesville.
In 1934, he married Mildred Laing Gibb with whom
he had a daughter, Priscilla. After Mildred's death in 1936, he married
Evelyn Belle Lawson in 1941. Evelyn died in 1992 after 51 years of
marriage.
He moved to Goleta, California in 1994 to live
with Priscilla and her husband Stanton Peale, who survive him. Edwin in
survived by grandsons, Robert Edwin Peale and his wife Melinda A. Wright
of Oviedo, Florida, Douglas Andrew Peale of San Jose; and by
great-grandson, Christian Alexander Peale of Oviedo, Florida.
Arrangements: Burial of ashes will be April
28, 2007, at 1 p.m. at Beechbrook Cemetery, 401 Essex Ave., West
Gloucester and a memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. at the
Lanesville Orthodox Congregational Church, 1120 Washington St.,
Gloucester. Family and friends are cordially invited to attend. Funeral
arrangements are being conducted by the James C. Greely Funeral Home,
212 Washington St., Gloucester.
