Vernon S Lunt

Navy

Captain Vernon S. Lunt, USN Ret., passed away at Norwich, CT on 1 April, 2020 at 89 years of age. He was born at Bar Harbor, Maine on 20 November, 1930. He was predeceased by his parents, Vernon Somes Lunt and Beatrice Rucker Lunt, and his brother, Neil R. Lunt. He is survived by his wife Elaine Levering Lunt and their three children Timothy W. (Laurie Lewis), William Scott (Sachiko) and Kimberly H. Dugas (Michael). He is also survived by four children from a previous marriage Elizabeth A. Lunt, Vernon S. Lunt (Betsy), Melissa L. Carbonella (Steve), and Cynthia J. Burzynski (Mark), and numerous Grandchildren and Great-Grandchildren.

Following graduation from Bar Harbor High School, Vernon entered and was graduated from Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Maine. He sailed aboard the military cargo ship SS Steel Flyer, but because of the continuing Korean War and a strong desire to serve his country, he elected to shift careers and enter the Navy. He entered Surface Warfare School in San Diego in preparation for the Korean War. During that time, he served aboard his first Navy ship, the USS Pollux, as Navigator. He subsequently served aboard four other surface ships. He then attended Submarine School and entered the Submarine Force. He served in six Submarines, operating in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. His final Sea assignment was as Chief of Staff for Plans and Operations Submarine Force Eastern Atlantic NATO, headquartered at Portsmouth, England.

By far, his most enjoyable sea assignment was having command of the Submarine USS Becuna (SS/AGSS-319) and being deployed to many ocean regions. One such deployment, and one of his fondest recollections, was receiving a request by the Governor of the State of Maine to bring Becuna into his hometown of Bar Harbor, where they commenced the Fourth of July festivities by shooting a Submarine flare high into the sky.

Upon retiring from the Navy, Captain Lunt and his family moved to Mount Desert Island, Maine. They settled in the old “Gilley House” in Southwest Harbor. During this time, he studied and earned his MBA from Husson College and became active in Church and community affairs. He was a member of the Mount Desert Masonic Lodge 140 and also Past Master and a Royal Arch Mason Washington Chapter Number 10 Machias, Maine. He also was a member of the Scottish Rite Body Anah Temple Bangor Maine. He was a member of the Retired Officer's Association, Navy League, Naval Institute, National Geographic Society and the Navy Submarine League. He enjoyed spending time outdoors playing golf, tennis, hiking and sailing, and he especially enjoyed spending as much time as possible with his family at their cottage on his beloved Clark's Cove in Town Hill, Bar Harbor, where he fished, dug for clams, bird-watched and enjoyed the serenity and beauty of the Maine coastline.

Vernon was an avid reader; therefore, in lieu of flowers, donations to the Jesup Memorial Library, Bar Harbor, Maine, would be greatly appreciated. His funeral arrangements will be announced at a later date, with burial anticipated at Arlington National Cemetery.