Andrew W. Waugh
Ashburnham – Surrounded by members of his family, Andrew W. Waugh, 75, died on March 23, 2009 at UMass Memorial Hospital in Worcester. Mr. Waugh, known to most as “Drew,” had a brief illness and hospitalization, which included a heart attack and two strokes in the few days prior to his passing.
Born on January 5, 1934 in Letham, a tiny village outside of Falkirk, Scotland, Drew was the son of the late James Cowan and Helen Hoggan (Welsh) Waugh. He was the youngest of four boys, and was predeceased by his three older brothers: Harry, Jim, and Ian. Drew grew up in Scotland, where he attended Stow College for training in the lumber and band saw industry. From 1955-1957, he served in the British Royal Army, which included a tour of duty in Hong Kong.
Drew married Jean (Donaldson) in 1955, and they emigrated from Scotland to America in 1960, becoming U.S. citizens in 1971. Before her death, Drew was married to Jean for 52 years. He is survived by three children: daughter Sandra of Leominster and her former husband George Hudson of Lunenburg, daughter Heather and her husband David Bee of Groton, and son Donald and his wife Paula Waugh of Winchendon, and grandchildren Bethany and Jonathan Hudson, Jeffrey, Victoria and Catherine Bee, and Alexander and Hollie Waugh.
Drew worked for Ethier & Sons and Simonds Saw & Steel in Fitchburg before establishing Waugh Band Saw Service in the mid-1960s. His interests and hobbies included ballroom and Scottish country dancing, and farming. He was a member of the Ashburnham Community Church, South Ashburnham Evangelical Congregational Church Men’s Prayer Breakfast, the Ashburnham Grange, the Cast & Brass Association, and the Nashua Scottish Country Dancers. In addition, he was a Past Master and District Deputy of the Charles W. Moore Lodge of Masons, a member of the Shriners, the York Rite and the Scottish Rite, the Fraternal Order of Odd Fellows, and the Knight’s Templar.
In the months following his wife Jean’s death in 2008, Drew became a regular and frequent visitor to the Cathedral of the Pines, where her ashes, and now his, will be interred side-by-side. Their memorial plaques bear two halves of Matthew 5:9: “Blessed are the peacemakers…” hers begins, and his completes the verse: “…for they shall be called sons of God.”
In recognition of his affection for the Cathedral of the Pines, and that his life’s work involved trees though the saw business and lumber industry, the family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be made to the Cathedral of the Pines, 10 Hale Hill Road, Rindge, NH 03461. These contributions will be used for replanting of trees at the Cathedral following the devastating ice storm of last winter.
Friends and relatives are respectfully invited to a time of visitation from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. on Friday, April 3 at Bosk Funeral Home, 85 Blossom Street, Fitchburg. A memorial service and interment of ashes will take place at the Cathedral of the Pines in Rindge, NH in the spring.