PORTLAND – Earle Belmont Simpson Jr. died peacefully with two of his sons at his side on the evening of March 3, 2025, at the age of 88. Earle was born Oct. 6, 1936, in Wilmington, Del., to Earle Belmont Simpson Sr. and Elizabeth Williams Simpson. Earle had a lifelong enthusiasm for sports and athletics. In high school, he played baseball and football. At the University of Delaware, he ran cross country and was on the varsity wrestling team, an accomplishment he remained proud of for the rest of his life. His sons recall rug burns from friendly wrestling matches in the living room. Like the athlete he had been, Earle retained a quiet determination to be self-sufficient as he grew older.

Earle found his lifelong passion for service and a calling to share the love of God as a teenager when his childhood friend, Karl Hartman, invited him to Sunday school. After college, Earle attended seminary in Philadelphia and was ordained as a Lutheran minister. At a Lutheran Ashram in Minnesota in 1957, he met Mary Louise Van Gelder. They married in 1959 and Earle began his career working at Sleighton Farm School for Girls in Glen Mills, Pa. Their first son, John Pierre, was born there in 1961, followed by a second, David Charles in 1962. The family moved to South Paris, in 1965, where a third son, Joseph Bozeman, was born that year, and Earle became the minister at Trinity Lutheran Church for the next seven years. Earle shared his talent for and joy in singing hymns, and his strong voice buoyed the congregation.

In 1967, Earle and Mary Louise purchased “the farm” in Sumner. Earle enjoyed physical work and loved being outdoors, cutting firewood, and camping. This farmhouse and the woods, fields, and mountains around it became Earle’s favorite place, the place that for the rest of his life, he referred to as home. In 1970, the family was completed with the birth of daughter, Maria Joan. In 1980, Earle became the founding executive director of New Beginnings, a non-profit that continues to serve homeless and runaway youth and their families to this day. In his years as the executive director there, he touched the lives of countless young people, and it was the work he found most satisfying and of which he was most proud.

After divorcing in 1986, Earle married Susan Anderson in 1988. Earle finished his career in service working as a drug abuse prevention coordinator for the State of Maine and in 2012, moved with Susan to her hometown of Baraboo, Wis., to help care for her parents. In 2022, Earle made his final move back to Maine to be near his children, who cared for him during his final years with dementia.

Throughout his life, Earle remained passionate about serving people in need. Everywhere he lived, worked, or worshiped, people were moved by his kindness and his message of compassion and love. Earle “Monty” (Dad) was much loved and is very missed.

Earle is survived by his children, John Simpson, David Simpson (Carol Eisenberg), Joe Van Gelder (Maya), Maria Rehbach (David); and by his grandchildren, Luisa and Theodore Simpson; Maxine, Charlotte, and Elias Simpson Eisenberg; Sky and Frederic Van Gelder; Ethan Rehbach.

The family will gather to celebrate Earle’s life and spread his ashes privately later in the year.

Donations in his memory may be sent to

New Beginnings

(https://newbeginmaine.org/donations/give)