Concord Graduate Who Earned Purple Heart in World War II Dies at 95

Mr. Henry Taft Eaton, Jr, age 95 passed away Friday, June 27, 2014. Mr. Eaton was born in New York City, New York on August 29, 1918, to Henry Taft Eaton and Ina Kissel Eaton.

A 1937 graduate of Middlesex School (Concord, MA), Eaton attended Harvard University before serving in the United States Army. During WW II, he was commissioned from 1st Lt. to Captain and was transferred to Southern France where he was decorated with a Purple Heart for being wounded in combat. He was honorably discharged in 1945.

An International Forest Products executive and serial entrepreneur, Eaton was also competitively pursued as a consultant for companies worldwide. Beyond his profession, Eaton was an author, and inventor (The Time Wheel). In his leisure time, he loved skiing, tennis, and world travel (circumnavigating the world many times in his life - often piloting portions of such travel himself - in his own aircraft with his wife, family, and friends. Eaton also enjoyed Service-To-Others. He is remembered for making renowned contributions to the Boy Scouts of America, as well as forwarding numerous other economic development, social, historical, and human service initiatives.

Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by his first wife (of over 50 years), Gladys Foote Eaton (1989); two daughters, Penelope Eaton Onstott, and Barbara Gay Eaton; two brothers, Frederick William Eaton, and Peter Kissel Eaton; and sister, Eleonora Eaton Brooks.

He is survived by his second wife (of nearly 25 years) Phyllis Eaton; his daughter, Wendy King; grandchildren, Ame Eaton, Rusty Remick, Dan Groening, and Kimberly McNie; step-children, Vaile Thompson, Terry Thompson, Daniel Thompson and Theresa Rose; seven step-grandchildren; twenty step-great-grandchildren; and one step-great-great-grandson.

Mr. Eaton will be laid to rest in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii. A private ceremony will be held in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, near where he spent many delightful years with family and friends.