Born on June 5, 1914 in St. Louis, Missouri, Kenneth (Ken) was the second son of Merrell Packard and Bess Niederlander Walbridge. He went to Deerfield Academy (1933) and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Amherst College in 1937. He met his future wife Jean Palmer in 1939 when both were on the faculty at the Bement School, Deerfield, Massachusetts. They were married in Madison, New Jersey, on June 22, 1940 and spent that summer and several subsequent summers in their cottage on Monhegan Island.

After Bement, Ken taught history and mathematics and coached soccer, skiing and diving at Berkshire School, Sheffield, Massachusetts, and later at Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, Massachusetts.

In 1948, Ken and his brother Robert (Bob) moved their families to Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor. They bought Cliff Reny’s plumbing and heating business, which they renamed Walbridge Bros. Plumbing & Heating. Initially, they ran the business out of the basement of Bob’s house on Union Street, Boothbay Harbor. In 1951 they bought land on the meadow on Route 27 and built their new facility in the location now owned (and greatly expanded) by Hammond Lumber. Walbridge Bros. grew over the years. When they sold the business in 1968, the brothers proudly advertised a well-respected operation that boasted “five trucks with two-way radios” as well as sales and service of appliances.   

Ken and Jean were avid boaters and spent many happy days cruising the Maine coast. Ken was commodore of the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club from 1963-64 and for several years until his death had the distinction of being “the oldest past commodore of BHYC.”

Ken and Jean lived on Hodgdon Island until 1969 when they retired to Boca Raton, Florida. During the next 40 years, they moved from Boca Raton to Boynton Beach, then to Delray Beach, and in 2009, moved to their home in The Villages to be near their daughter, Palmer. They were interested and enthusiastic travelers who visited many places in the world during their retirement years, but they made sure to spend part of every summer in Boothbay as long as they were able. They were last here together in the summer of 2010. 

Kenneth was predeceased by Jean, his wife of nearly 72 years; his brother Robert Walbridge; his sister Peggy Walbridge Van Etten Hutchins; and his grandson Alexander Constantine Walbridge. 

He is survived by his three children, (Susan) Palmer Davies of The Villages, Sara (Sally) Walbridge of Hodgdon Island, and Hoyt Walbridge (Stephanie Bacon) of East Boothbay and Cape Elizabeth. Also surviving are five grandchildren: Spencer Bailey (Kathleen) New Bern, North Carolina; Julie Davies Gaete (Andres) Cherry Hill, New Jersey; Ted Moore, Bethlehem, Connecticut; Alexis Moore O’Connolly (Alexander) Essen, Germany; and Nicholas Walbridge, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; eight great-grandchildren: Amanda and Cierra Bailey; Eliza and Isabella Gaete; Cyrus, Fergus and Úna O’Connolly; and Jackson Walbridge.

In accordance with his wishes, there will not be a formal service. There will be a family gathering in memory of Ken and Jean later this summer.