Obituary of Joseph Porter Brinton III

Joseph Porter Brinton III of Gulfport, Florida died peacefully on March 10, 2017 at Menorah Manor Nursing Home in St. Petersburg, Florida. Born in Mt. Kisco, New York on June 25, 1925, he was the son of Alice Madge Curnock Brinton Middleton and Joseph P. Brinton, Jr. Blessed with a warm and generous heart, as well as a prodigious memory and a keen intellect, Mr. Brinton was a writer, researcher, historian and philanthropist. He pursued such varied interests as archaeology, the ballet, the cinema, thoroughbred horse racing, and finance, and was a lifelong supporter of the Arts and of environmental groups. Joseph grew up in Bronxville, NY, and was a graduate of Bronxville High School, Class of 1942. From 1943 through 1945, he served in the American Field Service as an ambulance driver in the Italian Campaign of the Second World War, beginning at the long siege of Monte Cassino. During this campaign, Joe and his colleagues performed repeated acts of heroism rescuing wounded Allied soldiers from the broad valleys of central Italy, under high encircling enemy-held mountain peaks. After the breakout from Cassino, Joe's unit stayed with the Allied armies to the top of Italy, and reached into Austria just before V-E Day in May 1945. For his service, Joe was awarded the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with Two Bronze Stars, the WWII Victory Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp, and the Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII. Mr. Brinton attended Yale College, Class of 1945W and was a 1957 graduate of Baruch College in New York City. He also attended the University of Southern California Film School and Yale Business School. In 1947-48, he was employed as a civilian by US Army Intelligence in Korea and then served from 1950-52 in the Signal Corps of the US Army during the Korean War, first at Camp Gordon, Georgia and then in the Photo Center in Queens, New York. During this period, his articles appeared in numerous publications, including the New Republic and Hollywood Quarterly. After 1945, Mr. Brinton resided for long periods in Manhattan; Howard Beach, Queens; Saratoga Springs NY; and Coral Gables FL, before relocating to St. Petersburg in 1980. In 1986, he found his ideal retirement location in Gulfport, where he remained the rest of his life. Here he vigorously pursued his lifelong interest in the history and archaeology of Florida, in particular the study of Florida's Native Inhabitants. He paid countless visits to Indian mounds throughout the state and studied original documents from the colonial period, in both English and Spanish. His meticulous and thoughtful research has contributed to our understanding of the history of that time. Joe was an active member of the Florida Archaeological Society. During the 1980's, Mr. Brinton took it upon himself to prepare and file an application to the Army and Congress for official recognition of the personnel of the American Field Service as Veterans. This application involved years of research and volumes of documentation, and resulted in the granting of Veterans' benefits to hundreds of Joe's fellow AFS alumni, reaching back to World War I. He was also an ardent supporter of many musical and educational organizations, including the New York City Ballet, Sarasota Opera, the Florida Orchestra, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Curtis School of Music, Juilliard School, the Randell Research Center of Pineland FL, and the Bud House Calusa Canal Park Land Trust in Pine Island FL. He also supported such environmental groups as American Rivers, the Nature Conservancy, the Trust for Public Land, Saratoga PLAN, Lemon Bay Conservancy, and the Sierra Club. Joseph's survivors include cousins Charles Brinton Thorne of Marblehead MA, William Brinton of Bethany CT, David Curnock of Milford DE, James Sinnock of Gansevoort NY, Leslie Sinnock of Tolland CT, Norman Sinnock of West Hartford CT, and Herbert Sinnock of Burlington, Ontario. Joseph will be interred in the Brinton family plot in Lime Rock Cemetery, Connecticut, and a Remembrance ceremony will take place at a later date. Our family would like to express our deep gratitude to many of Joe's neighbors at Villa Roble in Gulfport, who provided so much support and comfort to him all through his time there, and in particular during his final months. We are also grateful to the staff at Menorah Manor for their devotion to his care and comfort. Funeral Home: Edward Lawrence Funeral Home 2119 Post Road Darien, CT USA 06820