BASS HARBOR – Lyford Lev-erett Stanley, 82, respected boat builder and local mariner, died Nov. 30, 2007, after a short battle with cancer at a Bangor hospital. He was accompanied by family and close friends. Lyford spent his life in boating, building boats on shore and plying the waters of the bays and harbors around Mount Desert Island, in various boats that he himself built. He was a part-time lobsterman, scalloper, purse seiner and halibut fisherman, as well as a full-time boat builder. He also found time to get his 50-ton Coast Guard certified captain’s license so that he could run excursion boats for Frenchman Bay Boating Co., and later for Acadia Excursions 45-pass-enger vessel, Vagabond, out of Bass Harbor. Lyford, his wife, Norma, and the children spent the summer months on Gotts Island. While they made daily trips back and forth, Lyford was called upon to ferry residents to and from the island. During the last three years of his life, he was carrying the mail and freight to and from Gotts Island. Lyford will be re-membered for his lobster boat designs, particularly the Stanley 36 and Stanley 44. Well more than 100 Stanley 36s and 58 Stanley 44s were built and launched since their inception in the early to mid-1970s. Two Stanley 44s were built for the State of Maine Department of Marine Resources and have been used as warden patrol boats. In 1998 Lyford was inducted into the Maine Boat Builders Hall of Fame. Lyford was predeceased by his parents, Leverett and Albra Stanley; and his brother, Perley Stanley. He is survived by his sisters, Charlotte Black and Maxine Clark; his wife of 59 years, Norma (Sprague) Stanley; daughters, Emma Mitchell, Roxanne Lewis and Melinda Stanley; grandchildren, Anne Lee, Jamey Lee Lewis, Norma Jean Thompson and Michael Gillespie; great-grandchildren, Justin and Colby Lee, Matthew and Joey Gillespie, Billy, Ashley and Georgia Connell; many nieces, nephews; great-nieces and great-nephews. A memorial service will be held in early July 2008, on Gotts Island. Details will be published at that time. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to West-side Food Pantry, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Main Street, Southwest Harbor, ME 04679.
LYFORD LEVERETT STANLEY
