James N. Tamposi 104, Aviation Pioneer, Founder of Daniel Webster College, Army WWII Veteran
Beloved husband, father, grandfather and friend, James N. Tamposi, age 104, passed away peacefully on January 6, after a short decline. Born June 26, 1919, Jim was the second of Nasi and Aspasia Tamposi’s five children. He attended Nashua High School and would discover his life-long love of all things aviation while working the family farm on Pine Hill Road in Nashua and for Goldsmith Flying Service. A favorite memory was of helping to clear the land for the first runway at the Nashua Airport with his brother, Nick, in 1935.
He served during World War II with the Army Air Forces as a flight engineer and crew chief on a B-25, protecting the California coast. Upon his return to New Hampshire, he started Nashua Aviation & Supply and served as a Captain in the Civil Air Patrol.
Along with close friends, future Senator Warren Rudman and Harry Sheffield, Jim founded New England Aeronautical Institute in 1965, later becoming Daniel Webster College, which became a nationally-recognized leader in pilot training. He received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the college in 1987.
Jim forged many strong friendships both on the airport and off. He enjoyed people from all walks of life. He kept in touch with most of his former employees, often meeting for breakfast at his favorite Midfield Café.
When receiving his Citizen of the Year Award in 1986, Senator Rudman referred to Jim and his brother, Sam, as “the two brothers I never had”. Former Governor Hugh Gregg wrote to Jim that “without your pioneering, we’d have no Boire Field, nor would Nashua be the busiest airport in the state. I well remember those early days when you were Mr. Aviation”.
While aviation fueled Jim’s professional life, his love of family and friends fueled his whole life. Jim met his one true love, Shirley Clarke from Somerville, MA and after a long courtship, they married in 1953. To their four sons, he was a hero, a man’s man who never faltered. They revered him and he loved them deeply. To Shirley, he was her rock, as she was his. Copilots for life they were. After 69 years of a beautiful marriage, Jim lost Shirley in 2022. Private services were held earlier for both and they now rest together at Edgewood Cemetery.
Jim was predeceased by this brothers, Nick and Sam, and his sisters, Pepper and Zoe. He is survived by his four sons, James Jr. and his wife, Meredith, of Temple, NH, Douglas and his wife Annie of Nashua, Jon and his wife, Mary, of Sunapee, NH and Bob and Michelle of Nashua, along with 9 grandchildren and one great-grandchild and many, many wonderful nieces and nephews.
A special thanks goes to nieces Carol Studley and Martha Lancourt of Hollis, for helping him to live in his home through the end. Carol said it best, “he was a loving and generous husband, father, uncle, brother, friend – loved, respected and admired by all who knew him. His was truly a life well-lived”.
The family hopes that those wishing to honor Jim, do so by making a donation to the NH Aviation Museum, whose mission to honor aviation’s past and ensure its future, he wholeheartedly embraced. The Museum’s address is 27 Navigator Road, Londonderry, NH 03053.
The Farwell Funeral Service was in charge of arrangements. The family is planning a celebration of life for both Jim and Shirley, at a later date.
