Roy R. Wheeler, Jr.
August 21, 2005
Roy R. Wheeler Jr., 74, of Bath, Maine, died suddenly
August 21, 2005, at the Maine Medical Center with family at his side.
Roy was born in Boston, the son of Roy R. Wheeler Sr.
and Mildred Brown Wheeler. He was raised in Wellesley, Mass. and Rockport,
Mass., then graduated from Proctor Academy in Andover, N.H.
He was a U.S. Navy veteran of the Korean Conflict,
serving on the U.S.S. Allagash. He studied plumbing and pipe-fitting while
serving in the Navy and held a master plumbing license.
He owned and operated his own plumbing and heating
business in Rockport for 20 years. After years of vacationing in the
mid-coast area, he and his family moved to Bath, Maine in the late 1970s. He
worked first for Eliot Winslow Tugboat Service, Southport, then later for
Hogdon Yachts, East Boothbay.
He lived his life on the water and was an accomplished
sailor and yachtsman. He served as commodore at the Sandy Bay Yacht Club,
and as the assistant harbormaster in Rockport. He kept boats in the water
all his life, sailing out of Rockport Harbor, and sailing and motoring the
mid-coast area from Linekin Bay to the Kennebec River.
He was a self-educated scholar of local maritime
history and was an avid craftsman and model builder. He built highly
detailed ship models, depicting the working ships of the East Coast. His
work has been exhibited in the communities in which he lived and at the
Maine Maritime Museum.
He was a devoted volunteer at the Maine Maritime
Museum and was especially interested in his work on the Grand Banks
Schooner, the Sherman Zwicker, and in the curatorial department.
He participated in and was grateful for the Running
Start program at Mid-Coast Hospital, Brunswick.
He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Nancy S.
Wheeler of Bath; two daughters, Gigi R. Laberge of Henniker, N.H. and
Phippsburg, Maine and Barbara F. Stallard of Virginia and Alice Springs,
Australia; a granddaughter, Maxine R. Laberge; two grandsons, Noah and Jonah
Stallard; a sister, Rosamond Thorp of Fresno, California; and a brother,
Walker Wheeler of Durham, N.H.
ARRANGEMENTS: A celebration of Roy's life will be held
this Saturday evening at 5:30 p.m. at the Maine Maritime Museum, Washington
Street, Bath, ME 04530. Arrangements by Mayo, Curtis & Hill Funeral Home,
819 High St., Bath, ME.
