BATH, Maine — Arthur Mayo III, who died Tuesday after a fierce but rapid battle with cancer, epitomized the notion that if a man lives his life the right way, his greatest accomplishments are those that happen within the home, regardless of his good deeds in the community.
On the homefront, Mayo had the odds stacked against him on the day he married Martha Farrington Huotari Mayo in February 1984. Her first husband had died just a couple of years earlier, and for her and her two daughters, the void was still dark and painful. Not everything went smoothly at first.
“It must have been hard to come into a home with two pre-teen girls,” said Mari Martha Eosco, Arthur Mayo’s stepdaughter. “We adapted, but it took a while. I remember just being happy that my mom had a companion to share her adult life with.”
By the time he met his wife, Mayo was the last known branch on his own family tree.
“He really loved our family,” Martha Farrington Huotari Mayo said Friday, brushing aside a tear in the family parlor where she and her husband enjoyed innumerable hours together. “He was the last one in his family. They’re all gone. He loved being part of our family. He was a part of our family.”
Arthur Mayo, the director of his family’s funeral home, was always heavily involved in the Bath-area community. His thirst to help was something he instilled in his new family throughout their years together.
Today, Martha Farrington Huotari Mayo is deeply involved in community organizations. Eosco is chairwoman of the Bath City Council, and Mayo’s other daughter, Kirsti Huotari Ryder, is the founding director of the Children’s Schoolhouse, a prominent Bath preschool for which Arthur Mayo was a long-time board member.
“He inspired me to be more involved with the community,” said Mayo’s wife. “He was very proud of the Children’s Schoolhouse. That was Kirsti’s dream, and he helped her fulfill that ambition.”
Eosco agreed about Mayo’s impact on her life.
“If not for him, I’m not sure I would have any interest in public service,” she said.
Mayo was born to Louise and Arthur F. Mayo Jr. in 1936 in Bath. After earning degrees from the University of Maine and Cincinnati Mortuary Science College and a master’s in education from the University of Southern Maine, he joined the family funeral homes in Bath and Wiscasset, which he ran for 23 years.
His community service resume is lengthy. He was heavily involved in Grace Episcopal Church; a member of the Rotary, Lions and Elks clubs; a board member for the United Way of Mid Coast Maine and the Bath Area Family YMCA; chairman of the Center for Higher Education and a trustee for Bath Savings Institution.
After retiring from the funeral business, Arthur Mayo won election to the Maine House of Representatives in 1994. He served there and in the Senate until 2006.
He sponsored legislation that created the Mid-Coast Center for Higher Education, a community college in Bath, but it was his party affiliation for which some remember him best. After winning re-election to the Senate in 2004, he switched his party registration from Republican to Democrat.
He endured some criticism for that change, including a proliferation of “Hold the Mayo” bumper stickers in the Bath area, and he lost his Senate re-election bid in 2006.
“The Republicans pushed him out because he was so willing to work across the aisle,” said Martha Farrington Huotari Mayo. “He [switched parties] because he wanted to get things done, and it really didn’t matter to him which party he was in.”
After his legislative service, Arthur Mayo joined the Brunswick Local Redevelopment Authority and later chaired the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority. In those roles, he is credited with being an early leader of the civilian redevelopment of Brunswick Naval Air Station after it closed, an effort which has gained national prominence for its efficiency.
But mostly, his passion lay in spending time hunting and boating with his friends and taking trips to the family cottage on Squirrel Island in Boothbay Harbor. His son-in-law, Daniel Eosco, said he was always ready to lend a hand to anyone.
“One of the things Art always said, all the time, was, ‘Is there anything I can do?’” said Eosco. “The thing is, he was always sincere when he said it.”
Mayo’s gifts to his family continued into his final days.
“One of the biggest gifts Art gave to us at the end was saying, ‘I had a great life, and I’m ready to go,’” Martha Farrington Huotari Mayo said. “That has been so comforting.”
For Arthur Mayo’s obituary, visit daiglefuneralhome.com/book-of-memories/2280658/Mayo-Arthur/obituary.php. Visiting hours will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, at Daigle Funeral Home at 819 High Street in Bath. A memorial service will be held at 10 am. Saturday, Nov. 14, at Grace Episcopal Church at 1100 Washington Street in Bath.
