Gerald W. Burpee Sr.

former owner, retired funeral director and father of funeral director Gerald Burpee Jr., Albert & Burpee Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Lewiston, Maine, died July 31, 2025, at age 86.

Burpee served in the U.S. Army as an ambulance driver in France. When he returned to Lewiston, he was hired as an ambulance driver and funeral attendant. After attending the New England Institute of Mortuary Science, he bought Albert Funeral Home. He then relocated the business and renamed it Albert & Burpee Funeral Home.

He was very active in local civic organizations and his church, St. Patrick’s, where he served as a Eucharistic minister and lector for many years. In addition, he served on the Lewiston School Committee upon his appointment by Mayor Alfred Plourde and on the St. Dominic’s School Board as president.

Burpee sold the funeral home to his son in the 1990s, and he and his wife moved to Florida, where they were “snowbirds” for 20 years. Eventually, they returned to Lewiston to be closer to their children, grandchildren and friends. 

Burpee is survived by wife Kathleen; daughters Karen, Andrea and Mary; son Gerald Jr.; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.