Robert Witherill, 94

Belfast, Maine

Former Penobscot Bay Compass Adjuster, Robert “Bob” Witherill died on Oct. 31 at Waldo County Hospital in Belfast. He was born on March 22, 1925 in Waterville, Maine. He attended Colby College, the Navy V-12 program at Bates, then U.S. Naval Reserve Midshipmen School at Columbia University and served as an Ensign in the Navy in WW II in the Pacific. Returning home in 1946, he graduated from Colby in 1947 and later earned two masters degrees from University of Maine.

In 1947, Bob met Jean Thompson of Bedford, Mass., in the summer community of Bayside in Northport, Maine, and they married on Dec. 26, 1950. It was also in Bayside that he developed a love of sailing and boating of all types. He was a charter member of the Northport Yacht Club (at age 14!), and in 1953 served as commodore. He cruised and raced for many years including the Retired Skippers Race out of Castine with a crew of sons and grandsons. In 2014 he was named Commodore Emeritus of the Yacht Club for his years of dedicated service.

For most of his life Bob was a college professor of business and economics. He taught at New England College in Henniker, N.H., Nasson College in Springvale, Maine, and the University of Southern Maine in Portland and Gorham. He served as Boy Scout Committee Chairman in Sanford and was a Mason in Springvale Lodge No. 190. While in Springvale he and Jean raised two sons.

Cruises with family aboard his sailboat were highlights in the ’70s, with one trip up the St. John River in New Brunswick and another down the Intracoastal Waterway to Sarasota, Fla. In the early ’80s he retired from teaching and moved to Northport with Jean. He established Penobscot Compass Service, and adjusted compasses on vessels all over Penobscot Bay. One of his proudest accomplishments was the direction of “Steamboat Fever” in 1998, a historical review of the steamboats that called at Northport and other Penobscot Bay ports. This was followed by publication in 2015 of “Steamboat Memories.” Bob and Jean moved to Penobscot Shores in Belfast in 2005 and enjoyed the camaraderie and friendship that it offers, including the opportunity for Bob to share his love of a good joke.

Throughout the years, Bob’s greatest joy was spending time with family. Bob is survived by Jean, his loving wife of 69 years, son David and wife Gail of Cumberland, Maine, and son Donald and wife Donna of Readfield, Maine, as well as four grandchildren and two great grandchildren.