Robert “Bob” Porter Ball Jr.

WINTERPORT – Robert “Bob” Porter Ball Jr., formerly of South Portland and Old Orchard Beach, passed on Jan. 21, 2024 in his home in Winterport.

Bob was born on Aug. 17, 1953 in Fort Monmouth, N.J. He was the first of two sons, of Robert Porter Ball, Sr. and Pauline (Brudis) Ball of Belfast and Rockland.

Bob’s great passion was climbing mountains, and roving the sea as a fisherman. His passion for the outdoors grew from his family’s time in Andover while his father was working at AT&T’s Andover Earth Station which operated the Telstar 1 satellite. He always spoke fondly of his “Tom Sawyer like” childhood, fishing, hunting, and touring through the woods on skis.

He section hiked the Appalachian Trail in the 1970s before it was popular and well blazed—he would always talk with a smile about hiking in cut-off jeans and a tight knit wool sweater.

He was a gifted storyteller and would have you rolling with laughter about his stories going commercial fishing—He had to make (or repair?) a trawling net and he spent two weeks working alone on this net “… and the captain would come down once a day, sniff the air, and spit, and kick the net, and swear, and leave.” Or the time a crew member responsible for packing food for a long trip only brought “Doggies”. Or the time the crew had been working so long without food and the boat pitched on its side as the long-anticipated pot roast slipped out of the oven. It slid across the galley floor and the crew dove after it like a loose ball in a rugby scrum.

After having children, he went back to school and was able to integrate his love of the outdoors with a new career at S.W. Cole where he worked as a field technician on wetland delineation, soils, and geology projects. On large projects far afield, after working all day outside he would often camp out and save the hotel stipend, quipping, “They pay me to camp!”

He loved hiking and camping with his family, and exploring Maine’s coast by kayak. Later in life, he unexpectedly discovered a passion for ice climbing following his first knee surgery. He was an avid observer of nature and weather. Behind the manly veneer, he was a sensitive, generous, thoughtful, brilliant, and ingenuitive Yankee. He had a great thirst for life. He is missed tremendously by all that knew him.

He is survived by his daughter, Shannon (Ball) Konvicka of Warren, Vt., his son, Kyle Ball of Tamworth, N.H.; his grandkids Radek Porter Konvicka, Cedar Robert Behr, and Olabelle Rose Behr; his former wife, Maryanne Dunfey of Intervale, N.H.; his brother, Michael Ball of Monticello, Fla.; his nephew, Bill Ball of Alexandria, Va.; and his cousin, Kathy Ball of Camden.

Bob was predeceased by his parents; and his cousin, David Ball, formerly of Houlton.

A celebration of life was held for him on Aug., 18 on a boat off Spruce Head.