BANGOR, Maine — A retired Bangor High School principal was remembered Monday as a lifelong educator who wanted the best for city students.
Known to many as “Doc,” John J. Fahey, Ph.D, 84, died Saturday after a period of declining health, according to his obituary.
“He was just a huge supporter of the Bangor School Department, I think, given his years of leadership in the school department ” Superintendent Betsy Webb said of Fahey on Monday.
“I often saw him at baseball games because his son, Jeff, coached the [Bangor High School Rams] baseball team,” she said. Jeff Fahey stepped down from his head coaching post earlier this year after a successful 16-year run.
“Doc was always at the baseball games and he was just a huge supporter and when I would see him at events he would often share words of encouragement about the school system and how things were going,” Webb said. “In my mind he was a lifelong educator who was concerned about young people having positive experiences.”
Bangor High School Principal Paul Butler said Monday that the school’s library was named after Fahey in 1991 in recognition of his 31 years of service to the Bangor School Department, more that half of them as Bangor High’s principal.
During a testimonial at that time that drew nearly 200 friends and colleagues, former Bangor High English teacher Carol Farthing recalled several poignant images of Fahey that stayed with her and that, she said, helped her to define Fahey beyond the context of a high school principal.
One of those images was how Fahey one day put all of his telephone calls on hold during Handicap Awareness Day so that he could participate in wheelchair races in one of the high school’s wings. It was an example of how Fahey would try to see the world through the eyes of all children, she said.
Martha Newman, chairman of the Bangor School Committee at the time, recalled how Fahey had repaired a broken Bangor High in the 1970s and sent it on its way to improving its level of education, prominence, and state recognition.
“Bangor was blessed when John Fahey stepped forward and became the man for the moment of crisis,” she said. “We honor John Fahey’s courageous leadership this evening, because his professional efforts have touched the lives of thousands of Bangor citizens and enhanced them.”
According to his obituary, Fahey attended John Bapst Memorial High School and graduated from Wiscasset Academy in 1950. He then went on to Farmington State Teachers’ College and graduated in 1954.
After that, he served in the Counterintelligence Corps for the US Army overseas. Upon his return, he earned his master’s from the University of Maine and then his doctorate from the University of Michigan.
Fahey began his career at a one-room school in Bradley. In addition to Bangor High, he also was principal at Fourteenth Street, Downeast School and Fifth Street Middle School, now known as James F. Doughty School, and served as interim superintendent.
Fahey is survived by his wife, Rita, five children and their spouses and several grandchildren, among others.
A funeral mass is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. Paul the Apostle Parish, St. Mary’s Catholic Church.
Fahey’s family prefers that those wishing to remember him in a special way make donations to the Dr. John J. Fahey Memorial Scholarship Fund, C/O Bangor School Department, 73 Harlow St., Bangor, ME 04401.