John Charles Serrage M.D.

CAPE ELIZABETH – On Oct. 21, 2022, John Serrage, physician, archaeologist, teacher, music lover, died peacefully at home. He was surrounded by his family and listening to the music of Wagner’s opera “Parsifal”.

John Serrage was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of John and Dorothy Serrage. He attended Cincinnati public schools and the University of Cincinnati, from which he received an M.D. degree in 1962. Following an internship in Buffalo, N.Y. where he met his future wife, Dr. Elizabeth Goering Serrage, he served two years in the Indian Health Service in Sisseton, S.D.

During Pediatric Residency training at the Denver General Hospital, he became very interested in the new field of Neonatology, which was fortunate for the newborn babies of the state of Maine. John and Elizabeth came to Maine to practice medicine in 1969, he in Pediatrics, she in Ophthalmology. John created the Newborn Intensive Care Center at the Maine Medical Center, and with the help of Allison Tito, a pediatric nurse practitioner, developed a regional neonatal care program for the state. This program was so successful that after one year, Maine’s neonatal death rate, which had been one of the highest in the nation, fell to the very lowest. John received awards from both the Maine Medical Center and the State of Maine for these accomplishments.

When he determined that the technology had outgrown his skills, John turned his beloved nursery over to those more recently trained and accepted the position of Maine’s Director of Maternal and Child Health, in order to continue to work for the benefit of the children of Maine.

John retired from medical practice in 1988 to pursue a lifelong interest in archeology. He earned another B.A. from USM and an M.A. from Harvard University. For 10 summers he worked on archeological excavations, mostly at Sepphoris in Israel with the University of South Florida. He even learned to speak and write in Hebrew, which he taught along with Middle Eastern archeology at USM’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. He loved teaching and in recent years presented OLLI courses about foreign movies. John was an active member of Greater Portland Landmarks and enjoyed developing and leading walking tours of many Portland neighborhoods

From the age of 6, when he first attended an opera in Cincinnati with his mother, John’s greatest passion was for Opera and Musical Theater. As an integral part of Opera Maine (originally PORT Opera) from its founding in 1994-1995, John served as a volunteer organizer, event planner and “road manager” for the company’s young artists’ program which performed throughout the state. He even appeared on stage twice (not singing!); his most memorable role that of the deceased Buoso Donati in Puccini’s Gianni Schichi. John was an active Trustee of Opera Maine up until the time of his death. In 2018, in honor of his many years of leadership service to Opera Maine, he was the recipient of the National Trustee Recognition Award from Opera America, the national service organization for opera. John was also a longtime Patron of the Metropolitan Opera.

John loved to travel and was an enthusiastic trip planner. He was also a serious collector. As a child he began collecting matchbooks and restaurant sugar packets. His collections included books on history of Maine, Cincinnati and archeology; antique zoo animals, castles, a variety of toys including trains and telephone trucks; pop-up books; Native American Pottery; opera and musical theater recordings. There is an entire room in his home devoted to his collections.

John is survived by Elizabeth, his wife of 58 years; children Natalie Serrage and Christine Ramos; Mexican “daughters” Edurne Esponda and Yhone Gonzales; grandchildren Melissa and Justin Gross; siblings Kenneth Frey, Gerald Frey, Susan Martin, and Shirley Fischvogt.

Funeral arrangements will be through Hobbs Funeral Home. On Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 10:30 a.m., his funeral service and Mass will be at St Paul’s Anglican Church, 279 Congress St., where for many years he was organist. Burial will follow at Riverside Cemetery in Cape Elizabeth. A memorial celebration of his life will be held at Williston-Immanuel United Church, 156 High St., Portland, on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 1:30 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to

Opera Maine,

P.O. Box 7733,

Portland, ME 04112