West Hartford, VT – Erwin J. Clifford, 94, died Friday September 29, 2017 at Hanover Terrace Healthcare in Hanover, NH.

He was born May 14, 1923 at home in North Pomfret, VT a son of Gerald E. and Maude (Kenyon) Clifford. Erwin grew up on a dairy farm in North Pomfret and attended the nearby Millbrook School through its eight grades, plus one day of high school. He worked in his youth on the family farm, for Dewey's Mills in Quechee, and on the Central Vermont Railroad as a fireman in the early 1940s.

After purchasing an old farm in West Hartford, Erwin established an automobile repair shop in a chicken house on the property. In 1944 he quit the railroad and went into business for himself repairing, buying, and selling automobiles. As the postwar years were lucrative, he expanded his business, renovating a cow barn on his property into a garage. In 1952 he expanded again when he acquired a Dodge franchise and began selling new Dodge automobiles and trucks. In the 1960s he again expanded, adding an new auto showroom.

Erwin also had a contract with a creamery to operate a milk route picking up milk from area farms during the 1950s. He also partnered with C.W. Gray & Sons, buying and selling farms, as well as operating Canaan Fair and also Hartland Fair into the latter 1960s. He also operated a dairy farm in West Hartford and when the construction of Interstate 89 bisected the farm, he tore down the barn and began Clifford's Loam & Gravel, an excavation and construction company, which he ran until 1976.

In 1980, Erwin gave up the Dodge franchise and continued buying and selling cars until retiring in 1985. He never really retired, but continued buying and selling property, automobiles, and tractors into his late 80s.

Erwin was married twice. His first wife was Selma Fogg. They later divorced. He then married Shirley Cardwell.

For twenty years Erwin and Shirley spent winters in Fort Meyers Beach, Florida, coming back to West Hartford for the summers. In 2016 he and Shirley moved to Hanover Terrace, in Hanover, New Hampshire, where they were residing at his death.

Erwin was an avid hunter and enjoyed fishing as well as golf, but most of all, making deals.

He was predeceased by a son E. James Clifford Jr. and a brother Paul W. Clifford.

He leaves his wife, Shirley; son Cameron and wife Evelyn of West Hartford; daughters Natalie Aimonetti and husband Jonathan of Theresa, NY and Sally Gallant and husband Jack of Hampton, NH; a stepson, Brooks Cardwell and wife Nancy of Oxford, MA; a stepdaughter, Pamela Cardwell of Burlington, VT; ten grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins.

The family would like to extend a special thank you to the staff at Hanover Terrace for the excellent care they provided Erwin and the staff at Bayada for helping to provide a peaceful ending accompanying his passing.

A memorial service will be held Thursday, October 5, 2017 1pm at the Greater Hartford United Church of Christ in Hartford Village with a time of fellowship to follow.

Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to Bayada or the American Cancer Society.