PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – LaRoy Albert Derby, 97, passed away Aug. 17, 2011, at Portsmouth Regional Hospital. LaRoy was born May 6, 1914, at home on a 500-acre farm in Stetson, the eldest child of George L. and Celia (Fitts) Derby.
He was educated in Stetson and Newport schools, graduating from Newport High School, class of 1931. After employment at a variety of Newport businesses, LaRoy attended Maine School of Commerce, Bangor, now Husson University, and graduated with a teaching diploma in 1939. This education was recognized in 1995 when Husson awarded LaRoy an honorary Bachelor of Science degree. He began his career teaching business subjects in 1939 at Dennysville High School. This position was followed by positions at Merrill and Jonesport high schools, where he also coached baseball and basketball. While in Jonesport he met the love of his life, Virginia Barstow, who was also teaching at Jonesport High School. Like so many others of their generation, his career and their courtship were disrupted by World War II, when LaRoy joined the Navy in 1942. LaRoy was trained as a quartermaster and earned the rank of petty officer first class. His time in the Navy was spent in the Pacific theater on the aircraft carrier USS Essex, CV-9, and the 125-foot PGM-19.
Before the war ended, he and Virginia were married Jan. 23, 1944, in Brewer. After his discharge in 1945, LaRoy and Virginia settled in Millinocket, where LaRoy resumed his career at Stearns High School, and they started their family.
Son Peter was born in 1947 and son James in 1953. While teaching, LaRoy attended the University of Maine, Orono, during summer sessions. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in education in 1949 and a Master of Education in 1955. LaRoy taught business subjects at Stearns from 1947 until 1969, and was a department head and assistant principal. In 1969 the family moved to Greenville, where LaRoy took the position of principal at Greenville Consolidated School and also served as a deacon of
Greenville Congregational Church. He finished his teaching as an assistant professor at Beal and Husson colleges, Bangor, and retired in 1978 while living in Hampden. LaRoy had a lifelong involvement with Boy Scouts of America. As a boy, he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout with a Bronze Palm, and as an adult he was a Scoutmaster and later a troop committee member and neighborhood commissioner in the Penquis Area. After retirement, LaRoy and Virginia built a new home in his birthplace of Stetson. LaRoy did all of the finish work, and he and Virginia did all of the painting and staining. They moved into their new home in 1980 and lived there until 2002 when they moved to Kittery. LaRoy had a large garden and grew all of their vegetables while also preparing six cords of firewood a year and mowing more than an acre. He and Virginia enjoyed traveling extensively with their camping trailer. While in Stetson, LaRoy served as town meeting moderator and was a member of the board of trustees of Friends of Stetson Library, serving as their treasurer for 18 years. He also joined Stetson Historical Society and remained a member until his death. He provided the Society with a variety of memorabilia from his family’s time in Stetson in the late 1800s and early 1900s. After moving to Kittery in 2002, LaRoy resided first at Meeting House Village and later at Kittery Estates. He was most recently a resident of the Mark Wentworth Home, Portsmouth, N.H. He remained active and enjoyed Wii bowling and painting.
He is survived by his son, Peter and wife, Elizabeth, of Eliot; son, James and wife, Susan Nichols, of Arlington, Va., and Gettysburg, Pa.; several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his loving wife with whom he shared 64 years of marriage, Virginia, who died in 2008; by his parents; and by his brother, Arthur.
Friends are invited to attend a memorial service 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 22, at J.S. Pelkey Funeral Home, 125 Old Post Road, Kittery, where all are invited to remain after the service for a time of sharing and refreshment. Committal services in Newport will be scheduled at a later date. LaRoy was a very generous donor to numerous philanthropies and would wish that friends and family who wish to honor his memory make a gift to one of their own favorite charities. Care for the Derby family has been entrusted to J.S. Pelkey Funeral Home. Online condolences may be made by visiting
www.jspelkeyfuneralhome.com.