SAMUEL A. FORTER a Hingham resident for many years died on Friday, Jan. 5th 2007 at the South Shore Hospital in Weymouth. He was 89. Mr. Forter was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on December 14, 1917, son of Lucille (Tavey) Forter and Samuel A. Forter, Sr. He graduated from Boise, Idaho High School, Boise Junior College, the US Naval Academy, class of 1940, the Naval Academy Post Graduate School, and received a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
At the time of Pearl Harbor he was on board the USS Boise, a light cruiser, stationed in the Philippines. He served in the defense of the Philippines and in the Guadalcanal and New Guinea campaigns. He also served aboard the USS Boise in the Mediterranean during the Sicily invasion and the landings at Taranto and Salerno.
After World War II, he commanded the destroyer, USS Harwood, based in Newport, Rhode Island, and a squadron of LST's based in Long Beach, California. He retired from the Navy in 1960 with the rank of Commander.
After retirement from the Navy, Mr. Forter became program manager at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Instrumentation Laboratory/Draper Laboratory for the design and development of guidance systems for the US Navy's Polaris, Poseidon and Trident submarines. He retired from the Lab in 1979.
He leaves his wife, Dorothy Jeanne (Van Tilburg) Forter; and was the father of Samuel A. Forter, III of Oaxaca, Mexico, Rodman K. Forter and his wife Elsa of Beverly and Deborah T. Forter and her husband Benjamin Hansbury of Mattapoisett. He is also survived by his two grandchildren, Alexandra A. Forter of Brooklyn, New York and Rodman K. Forter of Portland, Oregon.
A Funeral Service will be conducted on Wednesday, Jan. 10th at 11 AM at the Church of St. John the Evangelist, 172 Main St., Hingham, MA 02043.
In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to the Church of St. John the Evangelist.
The interment is to be private.