Wilbur Coles Burroughs

On Wednesday, January 8, 2025, Wilbur Coles Burroughs, 92, of Hudgins, VA reunited with his family and friends who left this Earth before him. He was born to Holmes Bay and Ethelyn Burroughs in New Point, VA on January 29, 1932. Wilbur graduated from Mathews High School in 1950. After high school, he enlisted in the US Coast Guard (USCG) with his best friend. Following active duty, Wilbur continued as a reservist rising in rank to Lieutenant. 

Wilbur enrolled in a four-year apprenticeship at NASA Langley and was hired after completing the program. While at NASA Langley, he worked on Project Mercury and Project Gemini. He was later transferred to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in MD and was part of the team supporting the Apollo Space Program. He worked at Goddard until taking a job in sales with one of NASA’s contractors. He eventually left that company and founded W.C. Burroughs & Associates in 1979, a machine tool dealership serving the mid-Atlantic region.

During his 50+ years in the business, Wilbur helped many new salesmen and machinists get started, many of which became very successful. He also created and funded a community college scholarship in Maryland for prospective machinists. Today, Wilbur’s legacy lives on as Machine Tools USA and is owned by his son and daughter-in-law. A charming man, Wilbur never met a friend he could not make, and from Seoul to San Sebastián, and points in between, there are many who had the privilege of calling him friend.

Aside from business, Wilbur married his wife of 72 years, Dorothy Anne (nee Ailsworth), of Deltaville, on December 20, 1952, and together they raised three children. Wilbur loved fishing with his gill net and his yearly vegetable garden which, in his later years, his grandkids would help him tend. He loved the Chesapeake Bay and supporting the Mathews community most recently as a Ruritan.

Wilbur was preceded in death by his brother Glenn, his sister Rosalyn, and his daughter Deborah. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy, his daughter Cindy, his son Wilbur Coles Burroughs II (Bill), his daughter-in-law Marianne, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. 

A funeral service will be held at Faulkner Funeral Homes, Foster-Faulkner Chapel in Mathews on Monday, January 20, at 1:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to The Elzy Burroughs Fund for the Preservation of New Point Comfort Lighthouse, c/o The Community Foundation, PO Box 49044, Baltimore, MD 21297.