Simsbury, CT – Joseph Benedict Yuryan, 104, embarked on his final adventure on August 7, 2024. He was born to Albert and Monica Milasauskas-Yuryan of Hudson, MA and spoke Lithuanian until starting First Grade.
Born a natural engineering genius, Joe was happiest solving engineering problems in his profession and home. In High School he was the president of the local Amateur Ham Radio Club. He had a passion for flying and pursued Mechanical Engineering and Aviation at Northeastern University in Boston with post graduate work at Harvard and MIT. He was president of the Northeastern soaring club. Joe enlisted in the Army Air Corps during WWII and piloted B24’s in the European Theatre. He was shot down over Germany and taken prisoner in December of 1944.
In 1945 he married Norma Mary Brown-Yuryan, a Yoeman in the US Navy, also of Hudson, MA. Together they raised five children while caring for their own parents and grandparents.
After the war, he owned a small business at Hudson Wood Products. He then moved to Engineering work at Thomas Taylor & Sons, and Lapointe Machine Tool company of Hudson and was the Chief Engineer at Lapointe Machine. As engineering overseer, he managed projects for companies such as Ford Motor, NASA, Martin-Marietta, Electric Boat, Pratt Whitney, GE, Rolls Royce and others. After Lapointe, he and his wife moved to Simsbury, CT where he worked for HP Townsend in West Hartford, CT.
Joe was the oldest of four children and the only boy. He was adored by his sisters Helen, Katherine, and Mary. Joe is survived by his five children – Jean Yuryan-Luz; Anne Yuryan; Richard Yuryan; Mary Yuryan; and Susan Yuryan-Kinzelman. He has six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He has many nieces and nephews in the Massachusetts, California, and New York.
Joe was always at the ready to help family, neighbors and friends with projects and nothing seemed impossible. He instilled strong work ethics, persistence, a vigorous do-it-yourself quality, and family love to his children and cared little for social norms. Joe could tell wonderful stories of growing up in the Great Depression as a poor kid and son of a bootlegger. He is indeed, one of the last of the Greatest Generation and is greatly missed.
Funeral Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 AM on Friday, August 16th at St. Catherine of Siena Church, 265 Stratton Brook Road in West Simsbury, CT. Burial will follow in Simsbury Cemetery.
The Vincent Funeral Home of Simsbury, CT is caring for the arrangements. Please visit Joseph’s “Book of Memories” at www.vincentfuneralhome.com for online tributes.
