CASTINE – Camillo Frederick Petri, died Saturday, May 20, 2006, of heart failure and old age, surrounded by all his children, other family members and his devoted care taker, one week after his 90th birthday and two weeks after his family and friends had gathered to celebrate his life. He will be deeply missed by his family, the community and his garden. Camillo was born May 13, 1916, in Brookline, Mass., to Gertrude Bement and Karl Hector Petri. Since moving to Maine in 1986 from Weston, Mass., Cam was an active member of the Castine community, the Episcopal Church, the Castine Golf Club, the Historical Society, and the Wilson Museum. What drew him to Maine and kept him there were the generous, friendly people and the constantly changing sea and landscapes that surrounded him. Often Cam would stop mid-thought, on the phone or in his living room, to describe the size and lines of a boat coming or going, the competence or incompetence of the skipper, the activities of a seal, the changing mists over Penobscot Bay, or the blossoming of some gently tended flower in his garden. An accomplished watercolor painter, Camillo recorded many of the delicate and lovely scenes of his life on the coast and the flowers from his garden. Cam first studied painting under the late Henry Davenport, Loring Coleman and attended classes at the De Cordova Museum in Lincoln, Mass., in the 1950’s, where he focused on water-colors. Cam’s work was exhibited in Massachusetts at One Boston Place, the Robert Brigham Hospital, the Waltham Hospital, General Medical Associates, the Andover Library and the Weston Library. More recently his work was included in many local Castine exhibitions. Cam completed his last painting, a Maine scene, in 2003 at the age of 87. He lived in Brookline with three siblings, Henry, Ellanor Petri Robbins, and Hector. Cam attended the Park School and the Belmont Hill School. After graduating from Hamilton College in 1939, Cam began working for John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company, where he continued working until retirement. In 1942, after a loving courtship during the lead up to World War II, Cam married Barbara Grinnell of New Bedford, Mass. She was his beloved Guinevere. She died after a long illness in 1989. During all their years together they were rarely apart, except when he would go off to work, garden, paint or ski. Painter, gardener, skier, athlete and admirer of beautiful things, Cam leaves one brother, Hector and his spouse, Debbie, of Framing-ham, Mass.; four children, Mark of Rochester, Mass., Frederick of American Samoa, Daphne of Newton, Mass., and Matthew of Larkspur, Calif.; their spouses and 11 grandchildren, Jeffrey, Joshua, Ianeta, Natalie, Rebecca, Eliza, Rachel, Molly, Hector, Chase, and Valasi. Cam’s cremated remains were buried in Newton, Mass., in a graveside service May 24. He will also be buried in the Castine Cemetery this summer. Donations can be made to the Castine Historical Society in his honor. Arrangements by Mitchell-Tweedie Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 28 Elm St., Bucksport.
CAMILLO FREDERICK PETRI
