Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home

I was lighting my wood stove the other day with one of those free newspapers that comes in your mail box and spotted a name on the back page that I recognized. Then to my horror I saw what column it was in. I’m sorry to have missed the gathering of friends and family for storytelling. I met Ron back in the late 80's when he would frequent the Rockport Apprenticeshop to shed light on a project we were working on and generally spread his wisdom. Don't know how many have heard the story of Ron's sailing adventure but one fall, after starting my own boatyard, I needed crew to deliver a Marshall 22 catboat from Duxbury to Camden. Ron was up for the experience. It started with the drive down where we needed to stop at a couple of junk yards in his old stomping grounds near Andover to pick up some piece of junk from a buddy of his to fix some other piece of junk Ron was working on at home. Before getting on board we did the food shopping and Ron collected up enough food to cover three of us for the next four days. You would think we were headed out on a 'Love Boat' cruise of wining and dining. We had just enough wind to keep the boat moving, but not too fast. The trip took about 36 hours, sailing through the night. To keep us from falling asleep at the wheel, Ron kept up his usual storyline. I can't remember if it was just one story or 36 stories all linked together with some common thread. The only thing that interrupted the stream was his occasional heave over the side in response to the rolling seas. He would pick up the story, right where he left off, without a hitch. We arrived in Camden, off loaded nearly all the food we had put on the boat, and got back to life ashore. Ron headed for the only known cure for seasickness (to sit under a tree). I don't recall him ever asking to go sailing with me again. Over the years I would bump into Ron at a surprising number of odd places. One Halloween while trick or treating with our two sons we rang a doorbell and there was Ron handing out candy from a friend’s house. I'd stop for breakfast at one of the many diners in our area and Ron would be sitting at the counter finishing up, but would stick around and finish a story while I ate. He would come to Spruce Head to visit his friends Ben and Nancy and always stop by my shop to make sure we were still doing it right. I'll miss his surprise visits and the great advise that came with them.