Herbert S. Poole

Captain Herbert Cudjoe Key - Poole S. Poole Captain Herbert S. Poole, 95, of Cudjoe Key, Florida, passed away on November 3, 2024, peacefully, under his step-daughter's loving care.

Herbert was an honorable man. Born on July 9, 1929, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the son of the late Herbert Slade Poole and Dorothy "Dord" Todd Poole of Wellesley, Massachusetts, and Ogunquit, Maine. Herbert attended Kingsbury School in Wellesley, the Fessenden School (class of 1943) in Newton, Massachusetts, and graduated from St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire in 1947.

He went on to graduate from Williams College in 1951 and did post-grad at Boston University. Herb played football and lacrosse and rowed shells, but his passion was ice hockey, and at Williams College he served as the Varsity goalie all four years.

Herbert and his first wife, Mary Lynn Hart, resided in Beverly, Massachusetts, and York, Maine, where they had two children, Jennifer Poole and Herbert Poole III. As a lifelong learner, Herbert took flying lessons and soloed a single-engine Piper plane. He was an avid skier at Sugarloaf and loved animals, especially dogs.

In 1979 Herb married his second wife, Lizzy Lester Beane, and they split their time between Maine and Cudjoe Key, Florida, enjoying deep sea fishing, bicycling, swimming, and Key West. Herb loved all things Maine and the sea and was known for his daily fresh-caught fish. He was a consummate learner and tinkerer and adored reading everything, often out loud.

He loved speaking Spanish and had a playful sense of humor. Along with Lizzy, he was involved in peace and environmental activism in the Keys. He was affectionately known to his family and friends as "The Font" of knowledge, G-pa, Pops, and Pudge.

Herbert's professional life included working for Young & Ramsdell baiting trawlers, setting long lines, and selling fish. He was part of the "youngest crew on the Maine coast" on a mackerel purse seiner fishing boat run out of Ogunquit, Maine. He worked at Farm Fresh Packing & Canning Company in New Jersey, where he learned everything about asparagus. He worked on shrimp boats out of Key West, Florida and Brownsville, Texas.

Herb became a Food Broker at the family's J.R. Poole Co. in Boston and travelled to Japan many times while developing the Three Diamonds brand with the Mitsubishi Corporation. He visited over 25 countries and always claimed Portugal was his favorite because of the seafood.

Due to Herbert's love of fishing, he became a charter boat Captain. While still working and after he retired, he ran charters out of York, Maine on his boats The Marian and The Blackback. He also served on the York Harbor Board, the Maine Association of Charterboat Captains, and was a Registered Maine Guide. He won the Bailey Island Tuna Tournament (Casco Bay Tuna Club) in 1976 for the largest rod & reel tuna caught. He was proficient at harpooning and was also a lobsterman at times.

He is preceded in death by his wives, Mary Lynn Poole and Elizabeth "Lizzy" Poole, step-son Charles E. Beane, brother Todd Forrester Poole, and sister-in-law Mary Lou Poole.

He is survived by his daughter Jennifer Poole of California; son Herbert Poole III of Maine; step-daughter Nancy Beane Kolligian and husband, Mark, of Massachusetts; step-granddaughter Bailey Kolligian and husband, Shane Moorehead, of Massachusetts; step-grandson Max Kolligian and wife, Haley, of South Carolina; nephew Todd Poole and wife, Lisa, of Vermont; and niece Catherine Poole and Anne McClintock and their daughter Miriam of Massachusetts.

In his honor, please do some of the things he loved most: Go deep sea fishing, pet a dog, keep reading (especially out loud), eat baked haddock, strawberry ice cream and key lime pie, go swimming or skiing, have a beer, be kind to all, and spread peace and laughter wherever you go!

The Charles F. Oteri and Son Franklin Funeral Home 33 Cottage St. is honored to assist the Poole family. Guestbook www.franklinfuneral.com