Herbert Bremser Jr.

Herbert Bremser, Jr., 90, of Orleans, MA, passed away peacefully at home February 14th, 2019, surrounded by family. Herb was the son of the late Herbert Bremser Sr and Lillian (McFadden) Bremser. He was predeceased by his beloved wife of 59 years Dorothy (Daniels). Herb is survived by his brother, John (Jack) of Windsor, CT; son Dan and his wife Ann of Franklin, MA; son Jim and his wife Karen of Chatham, MA and South Lake Tahoe, CA, and son Paul of Truro MA. He also leaves five grandchildren, Brendan and AJ of Franklin, MA; Erin, Jennifer and Joshua of Kennebunk, ME; two nephews and a niece.

Born in 1929 in Hartford, CT, Herb’s first job was at the age of six as a soda jerk in a local drug store (formerly Trinity Drug). Fourteen years later when they met, Dot eventually found out that Herb was the tall boy Dot remembered from the drug store two blocks from her house growing up. Through middle school and high school, he worked restaurant jobs and in construction after school. A Mensa level IQ, Herb graduated from Buckley High School a year early in 1946. He took a job at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft as a tracer while starting work on a Mechanical Engineering degree nights at UConn-Hartford. In his twenties for fun, herb built a car for the dirt tracks that he used to race up in Springfield. In 1957 with help from his brother, Herb bought a 60 year old survey instrument and some tools, and designed and built a house on Minnechaug Mountain, at what was then the cul-de-sac of Cedar Ridge Drive with a view of the Connecticut River valley and the Hartford skyline.

A jack of all trades, in the late 60’s Herb took a second job teaching a night course in small appliance repair at Manchester Community College. He would pick out discarded appliances at the dump and spend the semester disassembling and teaching the students how to fix and re-assemble them. Herb was also a part-time professional photographer. He taught his sons how to take photos as well as develop them in the dark room he built in his basement.

In 1971, with the waiting list at Glastonbury’s four swim and tennis clubs as long as 7 years, he got together with three other neighbors with a plan to purchase 7 acres of land in East Glastonbury. With his oldest son, then 13, he did a topographic survey of the land and built an architectural 3D scale model of the proposed Minnechaug Swim and Tennis Club that was used to bring in several hundred families and the money to build the member-owned club. He spent all his free time in the next 2 years overseeing the construction of the facility. At the opening, the members gave him a golden hammer award (a hammer painted gold) that he proudly hung in his basement. In the mid 70’s, Herb helped a couple friends build summer cottages, taking his sons to teach them construction. In the mid 70’s, he became the adviser to his two oldest sons’ Explorer Post. The boys named the group “Herbies Heroes”. They delivered the town phone books to raise money for winter ski trips and summer biking and camping trips. Herb never took his cars to a mechanic, always fixing them himself. In 1975, he built his own jigs to remove the V-8 engine from his Chevy station wagon, disassembling it and replacing the piston rings, and putting it back together to run like new- while again trying to teach his now teenage boys. Herb bought a couple of boats over the years to take the family fishing and waterskiing. He jokingly named them after his wife’s nickname- calling them the “Jolly Dolly”, something Dorothy rarely felt while in a boat. His love of fishing definitely influenced his two younger sons into the commercial fishing trade.

In 1978, he took one summer’s leave of absence from Pratt & Whitney to purchase Fleming’s Restaurant, a seasonal seafood restaurant in Chatham, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They renamed it the Chatham Seafood House. The plan was to teach his sons how to run the business, run it until he retired, and pay their way through college. Over the next 28 years, he expanded it three times, doing all the construction with his two oldest sons. Herb also baked all the homemade breads at the restaurant while running the books. In 1987, Herb retired after 40 years at Pratt & Whitney at the age of 58. With the help of his sons, he designed and built a 3,000 s.f. retirement house on the back of the three acres the restaurant sat on. In the early 90’s, he helped his youngest son build a house overlooking two ponds in Chatham for his young family.

Herb was a voracious reader- reading thousands of novels and mechanical journals. When the weather allowed, Herb rode his bicycle to Pratt & Whitney in his 40’s and 50’s, and skied into his 70’s. After retiring from Pratt, he and Dot did about 20 cross-country drives to Lake Tahoe in the winter to visit Jim and Karen.

A remembrance of Herb’s life will be at Nickerson Funeral Home, 77 Eldredge Parkway, Orleans MA, on Saturday February 23, from 2-4 PM. The family would like to thank Broad Reach Hospice for their loving help in Herb’s last few weeks. Herb donated 10 gallons of blood in his life time. In memory of Herb, think of donating a pint of blood if you can, or of asking someone who can.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Broad Reach Hospice, 390 Orleans Road, North Chatham, MA 02650.