Douglas M. Spaulding, 66 of Lyndonville, VT passed away on January 30, 2015 with his family close by. Born at Montpelier, VT on February 1, 1948 he was the son of Lucille (Colby) Spaulding and the late John Cleveland Spaulding. He graduated from Montpelier High School in 1966 and, in 1968, after a stint at Lyndon State College, he enlisted into the United States Navy where his first assignment was onboard the USS Luce DLG-7, a Guided Missle Frigate homeported in Mayport, FL. After experiencing many a new, exciting, and timely adventure at numerous ports of call in South America, Africa, Pakistan, India, Ethiopia and other locations throughout the Middle East region the ship was returned to Philadelphia where it was eventually decommisioned. Doug then attended A School at the Naval War College in Newport, RI and upon graduation was assigned to duty with the Fifth Fleet's Commander of Middle East Forces at Manama, on the Island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. While serving here he availed himself of every opportunity to accompany the Admiral's Aviation Unit to the cities of Basrah, Iraq; Tehran and Isfahan in Iran; Beirut, Lebanon and other mysterious and oftentimes exotic destinations as deemed necessary by the COMIDEASTFOR. In 1972 after an honorable discharge Doug hobnobbed throughout Europe and Scandanavia making friends and memories that would last his lifetime. In 1973 he settled in the Burlington, VT area and in October of that year he married his long time crush and confidant, Christine E. Redmond also of Montpelier, VT. Throughout the 70's and into the early 80's Doug was employed with Nate's Mens Clothiers in Burlington and in 1981 he assumed a sales position with Poulos Insurance in Saint Johnsbury, VT and moved with his wife and their young family to Lyndonville, VT. In 1984 he joined Northern Gas Transport, a relatively new long haul trucking company operating out of Lyndonville, VT and engaged primarily in the bulk transport of Liquified Petroleum Gas throughout New England and the Province of Quebec. Throughout the 1980's and all of the 1990's, as their Transport Manager and, while working jointly with other company personnel, oversaw all facets of the company, which included a flatbed division as well as a branch that specialized in the fabrication of bobtail transports, experience periods of great sales growth. In 1987 Doug co-founded Private Coach Tours, a charter tour bus company operating custom motor coaches throughout New England, along the Eastern Seaboard and into the Great Lakes vacation and recreational areas. In 1999 after 12 years of solid growth the coach business was sold and in that same year Doug also left Northern Gas Transport to become US Director of Business Development for Sound Footings. LLC, a newly established construction related manufacturing firm based in Williston, VT. So, in 2005, with the Square Foot footing form that they manufacture fast becoming the premier go to concrete form for contractors of all size, when the opportunity came for Doug to get back into the personal and commercial insurance business, this time with Kinney Pike Insurance which would also put him back home and working right out of Saint Johnsbury, he grabbed at the chance. Looking back over Doug's time on earth one would see a life sprinkled with doing some pretty neat and different things that interested him and, oftentimes his wife, but always his children! Some of those would include the 16 years that he and his wife owned and operated the "Belly Up" food booth which was located in the agricultural area of the Orleans County Fair. Here Doug had the opportunity to meet and befriend some of the Northeast Kingdom's finest farmers and their families. After selling a million hamburgers and hot dogs and an easy 10,000 pounds of french fries with cheese and gravy, they passed the booth on to their children. Doug was also a certified pyrotechnician and professional fireworks shooter and over the years he took great pleasure in putting on countless firework displays throughout Vermont but especially enjoyed the shows that, with the help of his family and friends, were fired off from their hillside home in Lyndonville for the viewing pleasure and enjoyment of all within miles of the display site. He always said there was a special rush, like no other rush, when a shell came ripping, pounding and screaming out of it's mortar and, better yet, when a hundred would fire all at once. In 2003, after years of driving past VT road signs that had been riddled, blasted, or otherwise shot thru from all kinds of gunfire, Doug checked another item off his to do list when, after photographing literally hundreds of these plastered signs, he layed the best ones out in a whimsical manner and then had a poster professionally produced and printed. Controversial from the start, it is entitled "Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, A Hunters Paradise," copies of which now adorn many a deer camp and man cave wall all over this country. And while Doug was not a hunter he thoroughly enjoyed catch and release fishing and especially enjoyed a lazy afternoon spent with Chris and Captain Webster drifting slowly over the waters of Moore Dam in search of that trophy bass, which, of course, they caught over and over again. Then there was the pickled egg business and the Willoughby Lake Crawfish business venture, both of which were very well received by many clubs, restaurants, and gin mills throughout the Northeast Kingdom. In 2009, after many years of thinking about it, he purchased the "cadillac" of dirty dog hot dog carts, established NEK Sausage & Dogs, and set up weekend shop in West Danville, VT just yards from the shores of Joe's Pond. After a successful and enjoyable first year and, with eyes on his retirement, he had just started his second when, after a period of ignoring some pretty obvious and serious symptoms that something was amiss, Doug had his first bouts with colon and rectal cancer and then in 2011 he was diagnosed with larynx and lung cancers and in 2013 cancer was again diagnosed in his throat area. He battled them all with the excellant surgical skills of Dr. Chris Danielson and Dr. Joseph Paydarfar and repeated rounds of chemotherapy treatment from Dr. Kubica and radiation treatments from Dr. Fariss and the wonderful care of all the staff at Norris Cotton North, and with periods of remission in between which gave him the opportunity to prepare for battle for the new discoveries that would lie ahead, as they surely did. Doug had a very kind and generous heart and many an earthquake, hurricane, tsunami, or local charity benefited from it. He served as a Director on the Lyndon Area Youth Hockey Association, the Fenton Chester Ice Arena, and the Lyndon Village Improvement Society boards and held prior memberships with the Saint Johnsbury Elks Club and the Lyndonville American Legion and had served on the Prudential Board of the First Conregational Church in Lyndonville. He took pleasure in a good pick up game of horseshoes and most days was tough to beat. He appreciated a successful round of poker and the occasional junket to Vegas. He also enjoyed digging in the dirt and in his younger years was a pretty good gardner, meticulous in nature with weed free, well defined, perfectly straight and usually quite productive rows of vegetables. Looking back, he probably should have eaten a lot more of what he grew. He was a lover of all God's creatures, big and small, and believed and taught that all life was sacred and a gift and not something to be taken by anybody. He especially loved his kitten Maggie and expects now to meet up with his big dog Scotch and march on over the hill together barking, in unison, at the moon. Besides his mother Lucille and his mother-in-law Maria Redmond, both of Montpelier, VT he is survived by his wife, Christine of 41 years , his son John Benjamin, and his wife Sarah and their children, and Doug's much loved grandchildren, Lucille and Reina of Milton, VT; his daughter Stephanie Dwyer and husband Michael and their children and Doug's much loved grandchildren, Cameron and Jillian of Sutton, VT; and sons Samuel of Bolton, VT and Alexander of Lyndonville, VT. Also by his sister Sherry Carver and husband Dennis of East Montpelier, VT and their children Karen, Kathy and Danny; his brother David and wife Leslie of Montpelier, VT and their children Matthew and Bradley; and sister Barbara and her husband Anthony Ellis of Punta Gorda, FL. He also leaves his brother-in-law Mark Redmond and wife Dorothy of Montpelier, VT and their children Mark and David, and a sister-in-law Jennifer Gile and her husband David of Barnet, VT. He also leaves fellow friends and members of the TAI (think about it) Club which was established in the late 1980's as a stock investment club but turned out to be anything but that. Those old friends and bookends include Diane and the late Scott Mackay, David and Patty Webster, Dave Pingree, Bruce Hill and Chrissie Cano, Danny and Sharon Martin, Stephen and Jan Lea Bertrand and Don and Karen Wells. He was predeceased by his father John, his father-in-law Mickey Redmond, and by his young nephew Brian Redmond. At Doug's request there will be no calling hours and a gathering of family and friends will be held the Trinity United Methodist Church in Montpelier, VT on Saturday February 7th at 1pm. Arrangements are under the care of Guare and Sons Funeral Home of Montpelier. Should one desire to give a gift in Doug's memory contributions may be made to either the Lyndon Dog Pound (Scotch's home away from home), P.O. Box 167, Lyndonville, VT 05851, c/o Cindy Cady, or the Kingdom Animal Shelter, P.O. Box 462, Saint Johnsbury, VT 05819. At Doug's request there will be no calling hours and a gathering of family ands friends will be held at a later date and will be announced in the local newspapers. Arrangements are under the care of Guare and Sons Funeral Home of Montpelier , VT