MAPLETON – Willard C. Doyen Jr., 75, died Dec. 29, 2003, at a local hospital. He was born Feb. 16, 1928, in Presque Isle, the son of Willard C. and Pearl (Sweatt) Doyen He graduated from Mapleton High School in 1945. Willard was well known locally as well as nationally as a potato grower. The farm was featured on the Walter Cronkite show, telling about harvesting with kids. He started with a 10-acre farm, which had grown to the 2800-acre farm that he and his son’s farm today. They were the recipient of the Farm Family of the Year in 1988. He was a member of and has supported the Mapleton United Methodist Church along with many other community clubs and organizations for many years. While farming he also sold fertilizer and chemicals for Eastern States which later became the Agway Co. His love of farming included raising Baby Beef, three time Grand Champion winner, as well as potatoes and other crops. He served on the Board of Directors of MPG, Inc. for 22 years, the Northern National Bank, 14 years as chairman of the Maine State Seed Board and associate Director of A.R. Gould Memorial Hospital. He also served on the Advisory Board of the Katahdin Trust Co. and the New York Mercantile Exchange. He was also a selectman for the town of Mapleton, and was a member of Trinity Lodge No. 130 AF & AM, Eureka Grange and a former member of the Young Farmers Association. Besides his love of farming it was his family that gave him great joy, along with an occasional fishing trip or two. Predeceasing him in addition to his parents, was his first wife, Martha (Shepard) Doyen; and later his second wife, Sharon (Wrobel) Doyen. Surviving him are his children, Diane E. Doyen and her husband, William R. Stokes, of Augusta, Willard C. Doyen III and his wife, Carolyn A., Ross S. Doyen and his wife, Susan M., and Keith E. Doyen and his wife, Beth L., all of Mapleton; grandchildren, Shawn and his wife, Christi, Martha Buck and her husband, Barry, Liza, Melissa, Elizabeth, Kristi, Alicia, Matthew, Paige and Liam; a sister, Alma Libby of Presque Isle; a brother-in-law, Ellery Libby of Melbourne, Fla.; nieces and nephews, Stewart Libby, Sandra Brewer, Brent Libby and Julie Libby; stepchildren, Debra Wrobel, Ronald J. Wrobel, Cynthia Wrobel Buswell and Rebecca Wrobel Woods. Friends may call 6-8 p.m. Tuesday at the Duncan-Graves Funeral Home, 30 Church St., Presque Isle. Funeral services will be conducted 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Mapleton United Methodist Church with the Rev. Lynne Josselyn and Rev. Scott Mower officiating. Interment will be in the Southside Cemetery in Mapleton. Those who wish may make donations in his memory to the Aroostook Valley 4 H Baby Beef Club, care of Bruce Buck, 1460 Main St., Mapleton, ME 04757 or to the Mapleton Lions Club, P.O. Box 175, Mapleton, ME 04757.
WILLARD C. DOYEN JR.
