WILLIAM J. DEIGHAN JR. DMD

HAMPDEN and STUART, FLA. – William J. Deighan Jr., DMD, 79, died unexpectedly Eas-ter morning, March 27, 2005, in Stuart, Fla. He was born June 3, 1925, in Boston, Mass., the son of William J. and Margaret (Gillis) Deighan. Bill attended Boston College and served his country with distinction in the U.S. Army during World War II. In 1948 he graduated cum laude from the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. He completed an internship in oral and maxillofacial surgery at Boston City Hospital in 1952 and his residency at the University of Alabama Medical Center in 1955. Bill practiced general dentistry for two years in New Haven, Conn., before moving to Maine in 1955 to open an oral surgery practice. He was board certified in oral surgery in 1957. He served as president of the New England Society of Oral Surgeons from 1964 to 1965 and in 1964 was elected a Life Fellow of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. He was president of the Maine Dental Association, Maine Oral and Maxillofacial Society, and Penobscot Valley Dental Society. He was a Fellow of the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology. He was a member of the House of Delegates of the American Dental Association and a retired life member of that organization. He chaired the ADA Council on Dental Materials, Instruments and Equipment. Bill was the first to perform many new surgical techniques and procedures in this region, including the first mandibular osteotomy in 1969. He later served as Chief of Service at EMMC and St. Joseph Hospital. Bill’s dedication to the dental and medical profession manifested itself in many ways. He remained committed throughout his career to the advancement of oral surgery in Maine as well as nationally. He worked closely with a number of oral surgeons who came to Bangor after he did, helping to instill in them the knowledge, discipline, ethical perspective, and patient care philosophy that were an integral part of his practice. He served for many years as an Examiner for the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. In equal parts, Bill was devoted to his community. He was a dedicated member of the Bangor Noontime Rotary, the Penobscot Valley Chapter of the American Cancer Society, the Bangor J.C.’s and the Bangor City Club. He supported the Warren Center for Communication and Learning, the University of Maine Museum of Art, the Bangor Museum and Center for History, United Way of Eastern Maine, and Maine Tree Foundation, among many others. With retirement Bill was able to expand upon a lifelong interest in art. He was an award-winning watercolorist. He had a particular affinity for Maine landscapes, creating images of fields covered with snow, ocean views, hardwood trees at their peak of autumn color, and the barns and buildings which to him represented a way of life central to his being. At his winter home in Florida, Bill was an active member of the Art Council of Martin County, Hidden Harbor Estates Art League, and Hobe Sound Fine Arts League among others. He donated works of art to the Boys and Girls Club of Port Salerno. He was a supporter of the Historical Society of Martin County and of community arts programs generally. Bill was an avid sailor and had many friends who could count as one of their great life experiences a multi-day sailboat race, with Bill at the helm, from Marblehead to Halifax, Marion to Bermuda, Newport to Bermuda, and places north, south, and east of there. He competed in and served as director of the Maine Retired Skippers Race. Aboard a series of boats beginning with the Janet K and extending to JK Too, Tradition, Sea Biscuit, and Reprieve, Bill explored the beauty of sailing and taught its secrets to family and friends. He had love in his heart but salt water in his veins. He was a long time member of the Bucks Harbor Yacht Club, Blue Water Sailing Club, Cruising Club of America, and Crossroads Yacht Club of Stuart, Fla. He was a founding member of the Penobscot Bay Power Squadron. Bill was an accomplished woodworker. He loved working with all kinds of wood, from the delight and labor of cutting down trees in his own woods and hauling them out, to reducing them to beams and boards with his own portable sawmill, turning them on a lathe and working with them at his workbench to produce items of great functional beauty. The air from garage to house was perfumed with the smell of wood. When the great old barn that had stood for more than a century on his property in Hampden was lost to fire, Bill harvested, cut, and planed the wood for its replacement. He was an avid woodlot owner, member of the Small Woodlot Owners Association of Maine, and recipient of the Tree Farmer of the Year award for 2003. A lover of music, Bill was a lifelong violin player who enjoyed few things more than getting together with friends to create an evening of music. He was a supporter of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and the Atlantic Classical Orchestra of Stuart, Fla. A devoted hunter and fisherman, Bill spent many a day with friends exploring the peace and tranquility of Maine’s woods and streams. A passionate skier, Bill, his wife Etta, and family were longtime Sugarloaf devotees. Bill also had a green thumb. Long hours spent pruning fruit trees and tending gardens on his property in Hampden were of a piece with his desire to recreate the natural world through his painting. Bill is survived by three children, daughter, Jean Deighan and her husband, Glen Porter, of Bangor, son, William A. Deighan, DMD, and his wife, Liliane, of Newburgh, and daughter, Mary Kay Deighan and her husband, Bill Devoe, of Hampden; his beloved fianc?e, Gloria Connelly of North Andover, Mass.; six grandchildren who were the apple of his eye, Angus, Katie, Patrick, Alex, Andrew, and Holly; his sister, Barbara Deighan of Philadelphia, Pa.; nephews, Alexander Minott of New York, N.Y., and Nicolas Minott and his wife, Tanya, and their daughter, Laurel, of Drexel Hill, Pa. He was predeceased by his wife and the love of his life, Janet K. “Etta” Deighan. Friends may call 6-8 p.m. Thursday, March 31, 2005, at Brookings-Smith, 133 Center St., Bangor. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 12 noon Friday, April 1, 2005, at St. Matthew’s Catholic Church, 70 Western Ave., Hampden, with the Rev. Robert Vaillancourt, pastor, celebrant. Friends and family may gather for refreshments after the service at Bill’s home, 704 Western Avenue, Hampden. Those who wish to remember Bill in a special way may make gifts in his memory to Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, One Kneeland St., Boston, MA 02111, or the Bangor Museum and Center for History, Six State St., Bangor, ME 04401.