Valentine Chamberlain Hart II

A Life of Curiosity, Connection, and Courage: The Story of Val Hart
Valentine (Val) Chamberlain Hart, educator, writer, and worldwide traveler, passed away Nov 11, 2025 at the age of 83. In the peaceful enclave of Gosnell Memorial Hospice House, Val was surrounded by his wife Grace, daughters Kirsten and Elizabeth, and other family and friends as his spirit left his body. Val lived a full, curious, and purposeful life-anchored in compassion, humor, and an unwavering belief in the power of democratic values. He will be remembered for his gentle wisdom, his goofy humor, his generosity of spirit, and his ability to see the best in others.
Val was born to Reata and Jerrems Hart in New Britain, Connecticut on September 14, 1942, and spent most of his early formative years in East Morris. From the start, Val was curious, kind-hearted, and a little mischievous. He grew up alongside his older brother Kim and first cousin Sam Low, both lifelong companions in imagination and adventure. Summers were spent with his grandparents in Harthaven on Martha's Vineyard, a place that was a hub of family gatherings and restful retreats, and remained sacred to him throughout his life.
With origins in Connecticut and ties to Martha's Vineyard, Val was a New Englander through and through. He attended Holderness boarding school and Mowglis summer camp in New Hampshire. He spent some years in Vermont, graduating from Middlebury College, frequenting various ski areas such as Stowe and Mt. Snow, and earning a Master's degree from the School for International Training in Brattleboro. He worked at a childcare center in Cambridge, Massachusetts for a few years. In the 1970s, Val's path wound through Belfast, Maine, where he worked as a cider press operator, a member of a carpentry crew that built multistory chicken houses and as a Head Start consultant evaluating programs in the New England region. He co-founded the Belfast Area Children's Center, which thrives to this day. Eventually, Maine became his long-term home, with Val settling first on Peaks Island, then in Portland, and finally in Cumberland.
At Middlebury College, Val majored in U.S. History. He graduated in 1964 after a whirlwind road trip that landed him at Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech-a defining moment that deepened his lifelong commitment to justice, liberty, and equality. That commitment guided the next decade of his life: from working with children in a settlement house in Cleveland, Ohio, and rebuilding a civil rights camp burned down by the KKK in Knoxville, Tennessee, to serving as a VISTA volunteer teaching English and math to children in a Yupik village on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, and later working in an alternative high school in Hartford, Connecticut. Along the way, Val lived in France, harvested grapes in Champagne, helped build community centers, and even worked on earthquake relief in Sicily. Wherever he went, he listened deeply, made an impact, and left behind friendships as enduring as the causes he championed.
Starting in the 1980s, his professional career focused on teaching English to speakers of other languages. From 1981-1982, he taught ESL (English as a Second Language) at Portland Adult Education, working for the so-called "The Indochinese Project" to support refugees from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. The job perfectly merged his love for language and interest in people of all cultures and backgrounds. In 1983, at a TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) conference in Toronto, sparks flew when he met fellow educator and world traveler Grace Valenzuela. They married the following year, and were life partners until the end of his days.
After earning a Master of Arts in teaching ESL Val worked as a teacher supervisor at the Philippine Refugee Processing Center, a refugee camp for Southeast Asian refugees bound for the United States, Australia, and other countries in Europe. The camp honed his skills in language teaching, curriculum development, supervision, and language proficiency assessment, which he brought with him to Maine when he came back in 1986, first as an ESL Coordinator for Maine's Department of Education, then as an ESL teacher at Portland High School. Subsequently, he served for nine years as Portland's Multilingual Intake Coordinator, registering new multilingual students and assessing their English language proficiency to determine programs and services they may need to support their education. He was in this position until his retirement in 2005.
In retirement, Val embraced writing, teaching, lifelong learning, photography, and community activism. He published creative nonfiction and short stories, taught courses at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute on Mark Twain and Restorative Justice, volunteered at The Telling Room, and found joy in traveling to places as far-reaching as Australia, Cambodia, Egypt, Greece, Laos, Myanmar, New Zealand, and Vietnam. He also delighted in the company of the family dog, Luke, and in the music and life milestones of his daughters.
Val is survived by his wife, Grace Valenzuela; daughters Kirsten Hazler and Elizabeth Hart (and husband Jason Samuel); cousin Sam Low; nephew and niece Niklas and Kaja Hart; mother-in-law Luningning Valenzuela, his faithful dog Luke, and many extended family members and friends who cherished his wit, intellect, love for books and films, and kind heart. He was predeceased by his parents, brother Kim, and many loved ones whose memories he treasured.
A celebration of Val's life will be held on Saturday, November 15, 2025 at 3:00pm at East End Community School, 195 North Street, Portland, ME 04101. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP), Belfast Area Children's Center, The Parkinson's Foundation, The Telling Room, and to the Foundation for Portland Public Schools.