TWIN FALLS – Joseph Burton Berlin, a longtime resident of Mercer Island, Washington, and recently of Twin Falls, Idaho, passed away Friday, August 23, 2024, at St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center in Twin Falls, with nieces at his side.
Burt was born on March 16, 1923, at the homestead in Rupert, Idaho, to Lavinia Mary Paskett Black Berlin and Joseph Edwin Berlin. He joined a large family.
His mother’s first husband, Daniel Black, died during the Flu Epidemic in 1919, along with a son. The family at this time consisted of six living children. His mother married Joseph Edwin Berlin in 1920. The family consisted of three brothers and three sisters. In the years that followed four more children came to this union. Burt’s mother passed away in 1930, at the age of 50, when he was seven years old, leaving six children still at home. Burt’s half-sister, Leone Black, assumed the responsibilities of these children. While Leone was teaching at Pioneer School she met and married Boone Pyle – the contractor in charge of building the school. Boone and Leone had agreed that the family was to stay together and committed their lives to making that happen.
Burt grew up on the homestead then moved to Rupert during the Great Depression and excelled at sports and academics. He graduated from high school in 1941, and then work took the family to Hermiston, Oregon. Burt, along with Keith and Kathryn, went to build the Ammunition Depot for the Military. Their brother, Ted, had passed away from a short illness. Burt worked at the Depot for six months. The war broke out at Pearl Harbor with Japan and Burt enrolled in college at Idaho State University in Pocatello, transferring to the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, for the second semester. During the summer of 1942, he worked with the family at the Edgemont, South Dakota Munitions Depot. He returned to the University in the fall of 1942, and remained until his graduation, working summers with the family construction company in Hanford, Washington. He attended summer school in 1946, and subsequently joined the Boeing Company in Seattle, Washington, as a Mechanical Engineer in September 1947.
A long successful career followed with Boeing. He worked on the first jet ever built – the XB-47. His responsibility was Flight Control Design and everything it entailed – from trouble shooting to test flights. The United States Pentagon placed the first order for the XB-47. As time went on more orders came for planes with bigger engines and design improvements. From 1946-1951 Burt worked on the drafting of the mechanical control systems of the XB-47, B-47A and B47-B Airplanes. Over 2,000 planes were built and Burt worked on them all. In 1951, the planes were pushed to 40,000 feet.
In 1952, Burt was assigned the preliminary design of the control cabin “the co*ckpit of the future” on the first commercial jet airplane-to-be, the 367-80, the prototype of the 707. With the success of this plane came Boeing’s success of jet- powered commercial air travel followed by the 727, 737,747, 757 and 767 – all of which Burt worked on. Throughout these years he also worked on the first space program, the Apollo Missions.
Burt never chose to get married but instead was “married to his job.” He, however, “loved the women” having had many “encounters.”
He became an avid fisherman on the great steelhead rivers in Washington and Canada. He climbed mountains, hiked and snow skied with his friends (some being the founders of REI and Eddie Bauer). He loved upland bird hunting and his Brittany Spaniels. In the summers he would travel back to Idaho in his VW Vans. He was the one special uncle to numerous nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews in the Black/Berlin family. Summer and fall vacations were always filled with deer hunts and pheasant hunts. He was the “teacher” of all things interesting.
Burt retired from Boeing in 1976, after thirty years. He took six months’ leave of absence at first and failed miserably. He went back to work for Boeing for seven more years during which he prepared himself for retirement with a hobby in 1983. His photography became his new profession and in the next 40-plus years of his long life he attained “professional” status. Numerous photographs hang on walls in Seattle businesses, homes and in art museums. His nieces and nephews, if they have one, cherish it. Photography probably saved his life as it occupied a lot of his every moment.
Burt loved the Pacific Northwest and embraced its cultural and religious ethnic diversity. A student of all religious beliefs, many Jehovah’s Witnesses and Latter- day Saints missionaries visited Burt throughout the years and were welcomed into his tiny home on Mercer Island. After a one-and-a-half to two-hour conversation they left with a knowledge of world religions and many questions. Burt made another life decision and moved back to Idaho at the age of 93, and has resided at Bridgeview Estates in Twin Falls, starting out in Independent Living and moving to Assisted Living two years ago. We would like to thank all his friends and caregivers there.
Burt made many friendships throughout his life and as life passed people by he remained close with their children. His Seattle friends still regularly checked in: the Cindy and Dean Peterson family, Jim and Alice Rutherford and Sara, Cindy Ballestrasse, Edith and John Ogden, Polly and Alan Reed, along with Chuck and Nancy Collins. He had long friendships with “His Brokers,” Tom Barr, Rich Buchan, and his accountant, Scott Rogers. He left a lasting legacy of education for students at the University of Idaho with his endowments in engineering and the humanities.
He was preceded in death by his parents; and all of his ten siblings, Nilace Perry, Garnet Black, Faye Hymas, Leone Pyle, Lane Black, Spencer Black and Farrell Black; his brother, Ted Berlin, and twins, Kathryn Erickson and Keith Berlin. He has four generations of nieces and nephews whom “Uncle Burt” touched deeply with several still alive. He had very faithful nieces and nephews with him daily and often: Penny Earl (Gary), Jo Mason, Paulette Bridger, Dennis Erickson (Pauline), Cyndy Berlin Lantz (Bob), Scott Erickson (Sherrie), Carl Erickson (Joan), Todd Erickson (Anita).
He has had a wonderful, active, and eventful 101 years of life!
A celebration of Burt’s life will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, September 5, at Rasmussen-Wilson Funeral Home, located at 1350 E. 16th Street, in Burley, where family and friends will be received from 10 until 10:45 a.m. Burial will follow at Rupert Cemetery. A webcast of the funeral service will be available and maintained at rasmussenwilson.com.
