John Austin Amory

Born January 25, 1924 in Boston, Massachusetts to John A. Amory and Louise Lionberger, he was the youngest of four children by ten years and the only boy. He grew up in Dedham, Massachusetts attending Milton Academy and Harvard College. His childhood summers were spent in Marion, MA at a family community where he learned to sail, get along with cousins and to love the ways of the sea.

John served in the Merchant Marines during World War Two, supplying troops in both the Atlantic and Pacific. Once, during a storm at sea, some munitions had broken loose and were rolling from rail to rail on the deck of the supply ship. While trying to secure them, a wave washed over the deck and took him overboard. A moment later, another wave washed him back on deck. Injured and shaken by this experience, he was carried to his bunk and given a bottle to ease the pain and calm his nerves. After courageous self-medication he was able to walk himself to the wheelhouse and report his efforts and status to the Captain. Accumulating experiences like this, he returned to Boston after the war always willing to entertain people with stories and make them laugh.

Soon after his return John encountered Sally Thacher through close friends. This meeting happily evolved into a life long relationship. They married on October 5, 1947 and enjoyed being each other’s best friend, sharing many adventures, and raising three sons for sixty-five years.

For many years John worked for the Draper Corporation selling looms and replacement parts to textile mills and prisons throughout the North East and Canada. He lived with his wife and children in Massachusetts, South Carolina and Rhode Island before, in 1962, being lured to Maine by Harry Parker and the South Freeport Yacht Basin. He soon realized he was better off working on his own, and established a small rope distribution business based out of his barn at Porters Landing. Driving his red van, with the CB radio handle of “clothespin”, he visited hardware stores and boatyards across the state where he would make friends, tell stories, and sell “solar powered cloths dryers”, aka clothesline. He also had ventures in masking tape, meat hooks (for the backyard grille) and oars that were seconds, warped and of odd lengths that were best used for firewood. While he sold this business nearly thirty years ago, some inventory still remains available today. He is survived by his signature license plate “Rope”.

John loved the outdoors and sharing it with friends. He owned, sailed and maintained many sailboats. For many summers, well before the arrival of GPS and chart plotters, he cruised the Maine coast sailing through the fog with paper charts, parallel rules, and an egg timer. The late fall brought more friends together for frostbite sailing on the Harraseeket River. When the river froze, he and friend Harry Bliss would skate from Mast Landing to beyond Pound of Tea. Winters were also for skiing. It did not matter to him if it was a slog through the woods or the steeps of Vermont as long as it was with people who liked to laugh. In later years golf with the “fellahs” provided the reason to be outside. No matter what the adventure, it was always enhanced with a story, a laugh, and a drink.

John was always eager to test out the latest gadgets, including cameras. Over the years this yielded countless snapshots and videos of friends and family, highlights of his world travels and a chronicle of every barge, bridge and tugboat he came across along the way. As his eyesight began to fade, the I-pad gave him back his sight. He read voraciously, emailed with old friends and grand children and explored everything the Internet had to offer.

As a fifty year resident of South Freeport, he will be remembered by some for the Christmas tree he placed on his roof every year as well as for the seasonal merriment he brought to the local post office on Christmas Eve.

John was predeceased by his parents, his three sisters and eight of his dogs. He is survived by his wife, Sally Amory, his three sons, Austin of Clinton, MA, Tom and Mary of Camden, Maine, Roger and Laura Mazikowski of Falmouth, Maine, four granddaughters, Alice, Lucy, Rachel and Eliza and his beloved dog Jenny. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Coastal Maine Humane Society in Brunswick.

There are no visitation hours scheduled. A memorial service will be held at the South Freeport Church on August 18th at 2:00PM, and a reception will follow at the Freeport Old Town Hall. Interment will be at a later date. On-line condolences can be given to the family at www.jonesrichandhutchins.com.