Francis Marion 'Put" Putnam

 

SARASOTA, Fla - Francis Marion "Put" Putnam, 90, died Wednesday in Portland, Maine, after a brief illness.

A resident of Sarasota and a summer resident of Chebeague Island, Maine, Mr. Putnam formerly lived in Malden, Mass., and Seal Beach, Calif.

He was a son of Lela Scholfield and Marion Gordon Putnam, and graduated in 1924 from Deering High School. In 1929 he graduated from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and joined Potter Drug and Chemical Co., manufacturers of Cuticura products, in Malden, Mass.

He became president of the company and arranged its sale to Purex International in 1961. He moved to California where he was manager of international sales and manufacturing for Purex until his retirement in 1982 at the age of 76.

In that job he traveled extensively, visiting offices and plants in South America, Asia, Africa and the South Pacific.

Mr. Putnam became an avid skier in the early 1930s. He joined the Boston Wildcats, one of the early New England ski clubs, at a time when rope tows and a few T-bar lifts were the major means of uphill transport. He summered on Chebeague Island for most of his life and was a member of the island Golf Club and the Library, a past president of Kiwanis International in Seal Beach, and life member of the First Congregational Church and Mount Vernon Lodge of Masons, both in Malden.

His first wife, Kathryn Hill, died in 1983, shortly after a celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary.

Surviving are his wife, Gertrude Baker Putnam; a son, Shelby W. of Scarborough, Maine; a brother, Shelby G. of Portland and Long Island, Maine; a sister, Mary Andersen of Jacksonville; three grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Oct. 12 in Chebeague Island United Methodist Church.

 

 


(Copied from the Portland Press Herald, October 4, 1997 )