WINTERPORT – Alaric “Ric” Faulkner, 66, died peacefully March 18, 2011, in Bangor. He was born Jan. 12, 1945, in Peterborough, N.H., the son of Lois G. (Appleton) and William E. Faulkner Jr.
He graduated from Milton Academy in 1963 and from Harvard University in 1967. He received a doctorate in anthropology from Washington State University in 1972. From 1970 to 1978, he taught anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. In 1978 he came to the University of Maine to establish a program in historical archaeology. In Maine he conducted archaeological excavations on Damariscove Island and in Castine at Fort Pentagoet and Castin’s Habitation, mapped the Canada Road, and coordinated numerous projects around the state. He was a member of Maine Historic Preservation Commission and Jamestown Rediscovery Advisory Board and received a state of Maine Historic Preservation Award. He published his research on Fort Pentagoet in The French at Pentagoet, 1635-1674: An Archaeological Portrait of the Acadian Frontier. Throughout the years he trained students who carry on archaeological fieldwork in Maine, New England and beyond. He retired as emeritus professor of anthropology from the University of Maine in 2008.
He is survived by his wife, Gretchen (Fearon) Faulkner; a son, James Fearon Faulkner; two brothers, Peter Dunn and his wife, Polly, of Chickville, N.H., and William E. Faulkner III of Nashua, N.H.; numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
A memorial service to celebrate and remember Ric will be held 1 p.m. Sunday, May 15, at Wells Conference Center, University of Maine, Orono. Memorial gifts in his memory may be made to the University of Maine Foundation, 2 Alumni Place, Orono, ME 04473.