E. FARNHAM BUTLER

MOUNT DESERT – E. Farnham Butler, 96, born Aug. 19, 1909, in York, died April 25, 2006, at the Mount Desert Island Hospital after a brief illness. He was the son of the late Arthur Pierce and Lydia Raguet (Farnham) Butler, formerly of Southwest Harbor, and the husband of Gladys (Whitmore) Butler. Mr. Butler grew up in Morristown, N.J., where his father was headmaster of Morristown Boys’ School, although “home” was always Southwest Harbor, where his family spent summers on Fernald Point. As a child he spent nearly every waking moment on the water in rowboats or sailboats. Mr. Butler earned his A.B. in economics from Harvard University, Class of 1931, after taking more than a year off to work in the Bethlehem Steel Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Mass. After working for Capt. Bill Black for a couple of summers at what is now the Mount Desert Yacht Yard, Butler bought the boatyard in 1934. Boats brought Butler his wife of 67 years, the former Gladys Whitmore of Wahiawa, Oahu, Hawaii and Southwest Harbor, when she came looking to buy a boat. They were married Sept. 3, 1938, in Southwest Harbor. Mount Desert Yacht Yard began as a yacht storage and repair business, but became a design and building yard, particularly during the late 1940’s and 1950’s as Butler and associates, Ted Earl and Cy Hamlin developed the Controversys, a line of light displacement, reverse sheer cruising boats 22-36 feet long. Farnham and Gladys’s black Controversy 36 yawl, Constellation, flying her Cruising Club of America pennant, was a familiar sight to fishermen and yachtsmen alike along the Maine coast from Monhegan to Roque Island. Butler served on the Mount Desert planning board for decades and worked actively for many years to create an all-island high school. As one of the governor’s appointees on the Acadia National Park Advisory Committee, he was a liason between local communities and the park. As recently as last week, Butler was involved in the Island Housing Trust and their Ripples Pond Workforce Housing Project. In addition to his wife, Gladys (Whitmore) Butler, he is survived by four children, Lydia Goetze of Southwest Harbor, E.F. “Ned” Butler Jr. of Southwest Harbor, Elizabeth Beardsley of Bangor, and John Butler of Mount Desert; nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Services will be private at a later date. People wishing to make a contribution to the Island Housing Trust in Butler’s memory should send it to the Island Housing Trust, P.O. Box 851, Mount Desert, ME 04660 marked for the Ripples Pond project. Arrangements by Jordan-Fernald.