Lucius Schurman

PORTLAND — Lucius M. Schurman, 88, passed away on Friday, Aug. 14, 2015. He suffered a massive brain injury and passed surrounded by his loving family.

He was born in Cutler, the oldest of eight children of Ira Bliss and Juanita Ackley Schurman. He attended school in Cutler and the University of Maine at Gorham. Shortly after the death of his father in 1944, Lu enlisted in the United States Navy at the age of 17. After basic training at Simpson Naval Training Center, Geneva, N.Y., he was assigned to the light cruiser USS Amsterdam. His tour of duty took him to Trinadad, Panama, and Hawaii. In the final months of World War II, he was with the Seventh Fleet in Tokyo Bay. At the close of the war, he was transferred to the destroyer, the Clarence K. Bronson, where he finished his enlistment.

He settled in South Portland, where he studied store management and meat cutting under the G.I. Bill of Rights. For nearly 25 years, he was the meat department manager for Goodwins Red and White (the new Shop ‘n Save). For two years, in the late 1960s, he was employed by Service Master of Boston as housekeeping Coordinator at Mercy Hospital. He was disabled due to service-related post-traumatic stress disorder, which forced an early retirement. However, at age 56, he was able to return to work in the funeral industry. After two years at Hay and Peabody Funeral Home, he was hired by the Hobbs Funeral Home in South Portland, where he worked into his late seventies. Lu said his one regret was that he didn't get into this work as a young man. He found it a wonderful way to serve the community he loved.

He was a good listener and had a knack for making people feel comfortable. One of Lu’s favorite pastimes was traveling with his wife, Marjorie, along the Maine coast and spending time in Bar Harbor, Boothbay Harbor and Canada. When traveling through a Portland, Oregon salvage yard, he found a piece of teakwood decking from the USS Amsterdam. Lu enjoyed regaling his family and friends with Downeast humor and was a household name in South Portland.

Lu was a member of the South Portland Church of the Nazarene, where he served in many areas, including: N.Y.I. president, Sunday school teacher, assistant superintendent, trustee, steward on the church board, choir member, soloist and greeter.

He longed to be reunited with his beloved wife, Marjorie (Libby) Schurman, who passed away from breast cancer on July 14, 2011.

Lu is survived by his two sons, Paul M. Schurman of Oklahoma City and David H. Schurman of South Portland; two daughters, Beth L. Schurman of Portland and Heather D. Schurman Grass of Sebago; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; two sisters, Janice Santillo of Meriden, Conn. and Virginia McGuire of Cutler.

Visiting hours will be from 4 to 7 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 20, 2015 at Hobbs Funeral Home, 230 Cottage Road, South Portland. A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m., Friday, Aug. 21, 2015 at the South Portland Church of the Nazarene, Highland Avenue, South Portland. Interment will be at Black Point Cemetery, Scarborough.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Parkinson’s Disease Association or the Susan B. Komen Foundation.