Beverly Eckhardt
Beverly Hillmann Eckhardt, 96, of Lincoln and Wayland died peacefully on May 6, 2025. Her loving husband Homer predeceased her by two years after their recent move to the Residence at Paine Estate in Wayland.
Beverly was born in Salisbury, Vt. to Phoebe Ladd Hillmann and William Ferdinand Hillmann. She attended Brandon High and then the University of Vermont, where she graduated cum laude in 1949 with elections to Sigma Xi and Phi Beta Kappa. Although she had an early interest in biology, she was steered toward psychology, which led to a productive career in engineering psychology.
After leaving UVM, she attended Brown University and completed a Master of Science in Psychology. She began her career as a research psychologist at the U.S. Submarine Base Medical Research Laboratory in New London, Conn., where she worked on visual studies pertaining to Navy personnel requirements and submarine interior design. During this period she spent a one-year Fulbright scholarship as a research associate with the Center Nationale de Recherches Scientifique in Paris, France. She moved to work for RCA in Burlington, Mass., in the Aerospace Systems Division, where she worked in human factors research. Much of her work was on visual display systems and design, and included work on the Apollo space missions. RCA paid for her to complete a Ph.D. in human factors engineering from Tufts University, which she completed in 1968.
Beverly met the love of her life, Homer, while they both were working at RCA. He was a recently divorced man with four children, so despite her mother’s caution, she quickly became a stepmother. When she became pregnant with her daughter Anneliese in 1969, she left work and became a full time-mother.
While living in Lincoln, she enjoyed gardening at Codman Farm, where she had a time as a board member, reading in both English and French, keeping Old English Sheepdogs, swimming at Valley Pond, writing for the Lincoln Journal, leading a Girl Scout troop, and being a loving mother and wife. She became involved in the Council on Aging, which led to a second career as the director of the Ombudsman Program for Eliot Community Human Services and Minuteman Homecare.
Beverly kept her family home in Vermont for many years, renting it to local families. In the early 2000s she sold it, along with a property she had purchased while at RCA, and purchased a couple of properties in Edgecomb, Maine, near her daughter’s family. She and Homer converted one into a part-time home where they could enjoy being with their grandchildren.
She said she was fortunate to have been able to work for so many years as well as be a mother. She was a compassionate person, seeking to be kind to others, chiding herself when she thought or said something unkind. She had an infectious smile that put people at ease. Beverly loved learning and was always interested in understanding people. Nature discoveries excited her, which she often would share with her daughter, showing her animals, pointing out bird calls, and expressing nurture for wild plants.
She is survived by her daughter Anneliese Pugh of Alna, Maine; stepdaughters Margaretha Eckhardt of Lincoln and Juliana Huljack of Stockton, N.J.; stepsons Jason Eckhardt of New Bedford, Mass., and Kris Eckhardt of Westbrook, Maine; two grandchildren, four step-grandchildren, and four step-great-grandchildren.
A private graveside service will be held for the immediate family at Lincoln Cemetery. A memorial for residents and friends at the Paine Estate will be forthcoming.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Beverly Eckhardt’s memory may be made to University of Vermont Foundation, Codman Community Farm, Buddy Dog Humane Society or Midcoast Conservancy.
Arrangements are entrusted to Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord, which provided this obituary. To share a remembrance or to offer a condolence in Beverly’s online guestbook, click here.