James Burton Aplington…April 9, 1950 - July 31, 2022

James has been a longtime resident of Gardners, PA.  As a child of the 1960s, he spent many years in service towards others, and used his creative side as a fine woodworker, carpenter and in construction.

He was born in Bethesda, MD and lived most of his life in Washington, DC.  The Aplingtons lived briefly in Norfolk, VA (early 1950s) and Frankfurt, Germany (1959 - 1962), traveling throughout Western Europe.  Thinking back to pre air-conditioning DC, his mother and sister spent summer in The Homestead, a Nelson family home built in Derby Line, VT in 1857.  James spent some of those summers at Camp Winape in West Charleston, VT, operated by Ed and Sass Kolar, long-time family friends.

A graduate of Stockbridge School, James attended both the University of Vermont and Gettysburg College, As a VISTA Volunteer, he worked as the Farm Labor Servers Director with the South Central Community Action Agency in Gettysburg. In Washington, DC, he was a trainer at the Community Nutrition Institute.  Then, returning to Pennsylvania, he had several appointments with Pennsylvania State Advisory groups - State Employment and Training Council, Governor's Interdepartmental Work Group, and the Governor's WIC Advisory Committee.

His longtime love of creativity moved James into several forms of woodworking near Harrisburg and Carlisle.  His engineering skills and artistic talents went to work building magnificent fireplace mantels and bars and backbars while working at Cumberland Woodcrafter.  He used to say that the economy also occasionally moved him into carpentry.  While working with Gingerbreadman Restaurants, he also helped supervise construction at several communities in Pennsylvania.

In testing his independent skills, James was a registered (licensed) home improvement contractor in Pennsylvania.  A friendly man of great giving, his bulldozer worked all around town digging everything from garden ponds to clearing winter roads and driveways.  He was an avid reader and gardener.

James is survived by his sister Judy Crocker of Los Alamos, NM and so many close friends, especially Georgi Anderson and Mike Wholey, Dr. Mike and Julie Daniels, Katie Daniels, Heather O'Donnell, and Melissa Foreman.

Remembrances and Celebration in memory of James will be private.