BAR HARBOR – William Fenton, 93, husband of the late Elizabeth M. Fenton, died peacefully July 24, 2006, at his residence,surrounded by his loving family. He was born Oct. 31, 1912, at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, the son of Col. Charles Wendell Fenton and Alice Fenton. After the death of Col. Fenton in 1918, the Fenton family moved from Washington, D.C. to settle in Vineyard Haven, Martha’s Vineyard. He graduated from Fay School and St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Mass. He received his bachelors degree from Yale University in 1934 and graduated from Yale Law School, Harvard Business School in 1938. After practicing law in New York City for several years, he joined the U.S. Army in 1941, married Elizabeth M. Griffin Dec. 27, 1941, and was very shortly thereafter returned to active duty. He served first in the Pacific theater and then in the Atlantic theater with XIX Corps Artillery, landing in Normandy on D-Day plus 10, and crossing France into Germany during the campaigns of 1944-1945. He was awarded the Bronze Star and the French Croix de Guerre for his actions during the war. He returned to practice law in New York City after the war. In order to have quality time with his family, he came to Maine in 1947 and joined Edwin Smith, forming the firm, Smith and Fenton. Since the dissolution of that partnership in 1964, he has been the senior partner of several successor firms including the present firm of Fenton, Chapman, Wheatley and Kane. He was elected and served as county attorney in Hancock County for two terms, from 1952 to 1956. His commitment to the community was paramount and he dedicated many hours to the following organizations: Mount Desert Island Lions, Bar Harbor town council, Mount Desert Island YMCA, Hancock County Red Cross, Hancock County Bar Association, past president of the Kebo Valley Golf Club, Bar Harbor Club, Edwin Kirk Post of the American Legion and the Pot and Kettle Club. For many years he led the Memorial Day Parade in his Army uniform, though it was snug, in remembrance of his fallen comrades. He enjoyed his law practice, sailing on SMINX, tennis, hunting, bridge games with family and friends and the camaraderie of golf at Kebo, and in his later years, being active in the Maine Senior Tour. With his wife, Betsy, he also loved square dancing with the Acadian Bells and Buoys and the YMCA bowling leagues. His life-long connection to St. Saviour’s sustained his deep but quiet spirituality. He was senior warden for several terms and worked tirelessly on the vestry for many years. As a life-long learner, he was fluent in five languages, traveled until he was 91 and mastered the computer despite impaired vision from macular degeneration. He was predeceased by his loving wife of more than 60 years, Elizabeth, and two of his children, Anna Townsend Fenson and Woodbury Langdon Fenton. He is survived by three sons, William Jr. and his wife, Donna, of South Portland, Hancock Griffin and his wife, Sandra, of Marlboro and Nathaniel Rochester and his wife, RuthAnn, of Bar Harbor; one daughter, Katharine Langdon Fenton-Hathaway and her partner, Jon Rosner; grandchildren, Kristyn Hawkins of South Portland, William Eric Fenton of Oconomowoc, Wis., Bethany McCauley of South Portland, Hancock Griffin Fenton II of Marlboro, Tobias Griffin Fenton of New York, N.Y., Anna Fenton-Hathaway of Chicago and William Fenton-Hathaway of Los Angeles; eight great-grandchildren, Brianna Hawkins, Eva and Zoe Mazur, Kylar, Treyson and Ashley Fenton and Riley and Emma McCauley. Funeral services will be held 2 p.m. Friday, July 28, at St. Saviour’s Episcopal Church, 41 Mount Desert St., Bar Harbor with Fr. Jonathan Appleyard officiating. Interment will be at Ledgelawn Cemetery, Bar Harbor. Contributions in William’s memory may be made to Mount Desert Island Lions Club, care of Dick Church, P.O. Box 180, Southwest Harbor, ME 04679 or to Hospice of Hancock County, 14 McKenzie Ave., Ellsworth, ME 04605. Arrangements by Jordan-Fernald Funeral Home, 48 Eden St., Bar Harbor.
WILLIAM FENTON
