FREEPORT — On Jan. 22, 2015, Donald Isaiah Phinney, age 90, passed away peacefully with his family at his side. He was born on May 4, 1924, in Steuben, Maine, the ninth of ten children of Isaiah and Winnifred Colson Phinney.

He grew up in a large Depression Era fishing family in a small coastal town in Washington County where helping to seine the weir or bringing home a game bag full of ducks or a bushel of sweet clams was as important as earning a few dollars. He left public school at 15 to work seasonally as a wood cutter and planter, then enrolled in a National Youth Administration school in Quoddy Village, Eastport, ME, to study aviation sheet metal work before entering the Army just before his 19th birthday in 1943.

Don trained as part of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, completing only three of five required practice jumps before being shipped overseas to Sicily. As a member of a rifle company, he saw action in Sicily and Italy including Naples, Foggia, Rome and Arno. He contracted malaria and was removed from active duty for the remainder of the war, he was honorably discharged as a Private First Class in early 1946. For many years when Don was hunting or fishing with his sons and brothers, while the rest of us cursed and swatted at mosquitoes, he would sit calmly smoking or talking. When we asked him why the bugs didn’t bother him he would say that a mosquito had saved his life by giving him malaria, that if you look at what the 504th went on to do in the war he probably wouldn’t have made it back.

After the war he made his way to Freeport where several of his brothers and sisters had located. He attended a vocational school in Lewiston for refrigeration and worked at Freeport Shoe. He began his lifelong relationship with Ella Phillips during this time and they were married in Freeport on June 18, 1950. They lived on South Street in a cottage just down the street from the home they would buy many years later and live in for 46 years.

Their first son, Douglas, was born in Freeport in 1953. Seeking better opportunities than the shoe shops could provide, they moved to Philadelphia in 1954 where Don’s eldest sister and her husband lived, putting his refrigeration skills to work at Sealtest Ice Cream. Their second son, David, was born in Philadelphia in 1956.

Five years later, with concerns growing about raising kids in the city, the family moved back to Freeport. He was hired by L.L. Bean as a shoe cutter and life settled into raising a family, enjoying all that Maine had to offer in the great outdoors, visiting his family Downeast and becoming a well known and well liked member of the community.

He was a member of the Freeport Lodge # 23 AF & AM and was raised to the Degree of a Master Mason in May of 1952, serving as Tyler for the years he lived next to the Masonic Hall on Mechanic Street. As his sons came of age they joined the Bath Chapter Order of DeMolay, a Masonic related service organization that included young men from Freeport, Brunswick and Bath. Don was active as a Dad Advisor during the years his sons participated and beyond.

While the combination of the three towns created a good sized chapter, he felt there was enough interest in Freeport to have its own chapter and he was instrumental in the creation of the Freeport Chapter Order of DeMolay in 1976. He served on the DeMolay State Staff as Southern Region District Deputy #2 for several years and received the DeMolay Honorary Legion of Honor Award in 1973.

After his mother passed away in his mid fifties, Don acquired the property in Steuben where he was born and raised through agreements with his eight brothers and sisters. He tore down the old “Community” house with no running water or septic, saving only his mother’s Queen Atlantic cook stove and, with the help of his sons and local laborors, erected his beloved camp on Dyer Bay that came to be known as the “cottage” with his mother’s refinished stove as its centerpiece.

From this point forward, Don worked at Eastland Shoe and Ella worked at L.L. Bean and time was split between 19 South Street in Freeport and the cottage in Steuben. This continued for many years after they both retired, enjoying their growing family as grandchildren arrived and everybody spent time in Freeport and Steuben with Grampy and Grammy. Don continued to work well into his eighties at Bow Street Market where he enjoyed seeing all his friends that came to the store, meeting new people and having fun with his coworkers.

His lifelong interests included fresh water fishing, especially fly fishing; hunting, especially duck hunting; collecting state and federal Migratory Bird Stamps; golf, hockey, baseball, football and gardening. He loved all dogs and they loved him. He was dedicated to his entire family and was involved with each of his brothers and sisters throughout their lives.

He was predeceased by Natalie Stevens, Margaret Phinney (infant), Mary Ashe, Calvert Phinney, Victor Phinney, Carmen Jordan, Sarah Haraden, Frederick (John) Phinney and Harold Phinney.

Don is survived by his beloved wife of 64 years, Ella of Freeport; two sons, Douglas Phinney and his partner Lynn Longley of Topsham, and David Phinney of Boothbay Harbor; and four grandchildren, Jonathon Hewitt and his wife Margrett of Topsham, Christopher Phinney and his wife Megan of Milford, Megan Phinney and fiance Joseph Noyes of Madison and Danielle Phinney and partner Steven May of Brunswick.

The family wishes to express their thanks to the staffs at Bodwell Rehabilitation Facility for helping to get Don home after his stroke, Aging Excellence and CHANS Home Health Care in Brunswick for helping us keep him at home for a year and Hill House Nursing Home in Bath where he resided for the final two months.

Funeral services will be held at Brackett Funeral Home on Federal Street in Brunswick with visiting hours from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 29 and service at 11 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 30. A Celebration of Life will be held immediately following the service at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Brunswick. Interment will be in the spring at Grove Cemetery in Freeport. Memorial contributions of Don may be made to the Freeport Rescue Service.