James Franklin Bartram

Middletown, RI - James F. Bartram, 88, died Saturday, October 18, 2014 at home in Middletown, RI, the beloved husband of Edna Bartram Born in Brooklyn, NY, on March 18, 1926, he was the son of the late Herbert and Grace (Shrumn) Bartram.Jim graduated from Bethel High School in Bethel, CT in 1943 and was valedictorian of his class. He enlisted in the US Navy in 1943, attending boot camp in Newport, RI. He served in the Pacific abroad the USS Shangri-La (CV-38) as a Radio Technician. He earned campaign ribbons for the battle of Okinawa and the Mainland of Japan. He was a plank owner of the USS Shangri-La and participated in the installation of radio and radar systems aboard the ship.Jim graduated from Yale University receiving a Bachelor's in 1950 and Master's Degree in 1951 in Electrical Engineering. During his career he worked for JC Dewy, Bell Labs, Westinghouse, ITT and Raytheon. He was employed for 31 years by Raytheon at the submarine Signal Division in Portsmouth, RI, rising to the position of Chief Technical Consultant and member of general managers staff, his area of experties was the acoustic signal processing. He was a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics and a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). He was an Associate Editor for the Journal of the ASA for many years and belonged to the RI Chapter of the ASA.After retiring from Raytheon, he worked as an adjunct professor at Salve Regina University teaching Mathematics. He also worked at the University of New Haven teaching Engineering courses when he was a graduate student at Yale.Jim was a radio amateur licensed for 68 years, call sign W1PDL, and a long standing member of the Newport County Radio Club. He also volunteered with the Red Cross and Civil Defense providing Amateur Radio coverage for both organizations. Jim held a commercial FCC First Class Radio Telephone license and during his years in college was Chief Engineer for WBIB the first commercial FM Station in New Haven, CT. Jim was a member of St. Columba's Chapel in Middletown, RI where he authored the newsletter for several years. Jim was a member of Sons of the Revolution as he had ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War.He is survived by his wife Edna, his son Peter, his daughter in law Lynn and his grand daughters' Chelsea and Chloe Bartram. His eldest son James F. Bartram, Jr. died in May of 2013.A memorial service will be held for him at 2:00pm in Saturday, October 25, 2014 at St. Columba's Chapel, 55 Vaucluse Avenue, Middletown, RI 02842.In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Alzheimer's Foundation of America, 322 Eighth Avenue, 7th Fl., New York, New York, 10001.