Benjamin Tucker Jr.

AUGUSTA -- Benjamin Tucker Jr., a sixth-generation Norway, Maine, native, died April 2, 2006, at MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta.

Ben was born in Norway on May 25, 1925, the eldest child of Benjamin Tucker and Hazel Kimball Tucker. His boyhood was spent in Norway, where he attended school and graduated in the class of 1943 at Norway High School.

For several years during summer vacation, he was a caddy at the Norway Country Club and was proud of the fact that he was chosen by professional golfer Jim Browning to be his caddie. Mr. Browning became the winning golfer in the 1938 Maine Open at Poland Spring Golf Course.

During his high school years, he was active in drama club and the school newspaper, and also was known for his wit and humor. He spent many happy days with his two childhood friends, Winfield Partridge and Bill Jellison, and lifelong friend Merle Glines.

Upon graduation, Mr. Tucker entered the V-12 naval officer training program at Bates College in Lewiston. He later did basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center on the north side of Chicago. Ben served as gunnery mate on several Liberty ships including the S.S. John H. Hammond, the Tusculum Victory, the Sea Hydra and the USS Helena in the Atlantic theater, visiting Cuba, England, Wales, France, Holland, Belgium, Spain and Gibraltar during his World War II service. He was discharged in 1946.

Mr. Tucker returned home to Norway and later entered the University of Maine, at Orono. On Sept. 7, 1951, he married Waterford native Marion Allen. In January 1952, Mr. Tucker graduated from Maine with a degree in journalism.

At the university Ben was a member of Phi Mu Delta fraternity and worked as an editor and reporter for the university newspaper, The Maine Campus. During his working career, Mr. Tucker worked as associated and advertising editor for the Presque Isle Star Herald, The Boothbay Register and eventually returned to Norway to work at his hometown weekly, the Advertiser Democrat, where he eventually became the managing editor.

In 1964, he began work as public information director for the Maine Department of Agriculture and later on did similar work for the Department of Sea and Shore Fisheries, the Department of Commerce and Industry, and the Department of Human Services.

He also taught journalism at the University of Maine at Farmington in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

He retired from the Maine Department of Human Services in 1991 and resided in Readfield until the death of his wife of 48 years in 1999.

Ben was a member of the Norway Universalist Church and the Norway Fish and Game Association, and a charter member of the Norway Jaycees. He served on several boards and committees during his lifetime.

He loved his hometown and was always proud to tell others that he was "just a Norway boy." Ben was always an avid sports fan and thoroughly enjoyed high school and college athletics and the Boston Red Sox. He had an amazing recollection for baseball statistics from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

He was a wonderful photographer and excellent sketch artist.

He enjoyed local and Civil War history and was particularly proud of his service in the Navy.

He was an outstanding resource of Maine places, history, geography and its people. There was scarcely a town or city in the state in which he did not have an acquaintance.

He is survived by his children, Ben III, Steven, Mark, Roxanne and Robert; son-in-law Dan Wight; daughters-in-law Geli Knaus-Tucker and Lisa Tucker; grandchildren Ben IV and Katherine Tucker, Stephanie and Justin Knaus-Tucker, Danielle and Steven Wight and William and Trevor Tucker; great-grandson Benjamin Tucker V; two loving sisters, Sally Bradley of Norway and Betty Angell of Kennebunk; and several nieces and nephews.

Ben was predeceased by his wife, Marion, in 1999; his only brother, Allison Eugene Tucker, in 1988; and a sister, Norma, in 1932.

A memorial service will be held 2 p.m. Saturday, April 8, at Norway Unitarian Universalist Church on Main Street, Norway.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Marion Allen Tucker Memorial Scholarship for the Healing Arts, c/o Maranacook Community High School, 45 Millard Harrison Drive, Readfield, ME 04355.

Arrangements are in the care of Knowlton & Hewins Funeral Home, 1 Church St., Augusta.

www.khrfuneralhomes.com