Phil O. Wentworth Jr.

DURHAM — Phil Orin Wentworth Jr., 86, formerly of Somersworth, died peacefully on Thursday, May 8, 2008, at the Inn at Sprucewood, where he has lived with his wife, Irene, for the past two years.

He was born on Feb. 19, 1922, in Somersworth, the son of Phil Orin Wentworth and Annie (Hall) Wentworth. He was educated in Somersworth schools and attended one year at MacIntosh College in Dover. Following school, he joined the U.S. Army, where he served in the quartermaster corps stationed in North Africa during World War II.

Survivors include his wife, Irene, of the Inn at Sprucewood in Durham; his son, Phil O. Wentworth III of York, Maine; his daughter, Martha Cooper and her husband, Rick, of Rochester; his three grandchildren, Jennifer Hancock and her fiance, Mitch Hartford, of Rochester, Annie Hancock of Rochester and Orin Wentworth of York, Maine. He also leaves several nieces and nephews.

He was predeceased by two sisters, Katherine Kennedy and Elizabeth Cooper.

WE REMEMBER: Following the war, Phil trained as an apprentice under Larry Prentice at the Prentice Funeral Home in Berwick, Maine (now Laing-Bibber Funeral Chapel). Ultimately deciding the funeral profession was not for him, he worked for many years in the office of the Great Falls Bleachery and Dye Works in Somersworth. In the early 1960s, he assumed a sales management position with Hirshburg Co. in Haverhill, Mass., ultimately retiring from there at age 65.

On Aug. 19, 1946, he married the love of his life, Irene Crossett Reynolds, with whom he spent more than 61 wonderful years. In their younger days, they traveled to Europe and South Africa, where they were taken on safari by a long-time friend, whom Phil met while stationed in Africa during the war. In more recent years, they enjoyed spending two weeks every February on Sanibel Island, Fla., but their first love was spending as much time as possible every summer on the shore of Frenchman's Bay in Hancock, Maine, in the cottage Phil built in the early 1960s.

Phil was an active member of the First Parish Church United Church of Christ in Somersworth. Over his years there, he served as a deacon, sang in the choir and served on numerous committees. He had been a member of the Somersworth Police Commission, a founding member of the Somersworth Historical Society, a longstanding member of the American Legion, and was on the board of directors of the Forest Glade Cemetery. He also had served on the board of directors of Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester.

Phil was a 50-year member of the Strafford Masonic Lodge 29 in Dover a member of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite — valley of Portsmouth-Dover, and a member of the N.H. Bektash Shrine, where he played his bagpipes with the Bektash Highlanders. Many years of enjoyment came from his bagpiping, as he played with his band all over the state of New Hampshire, as well as nationally. He and Irene made many wonderful friends through this association.

In his spare time, he enjoyed woodworking and carving, crafting beautiful birds, many of which Irene carefully and skillfully painted.

SERVICES: There will be no calling hours. A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at the First Parish Church United Church of Christ, 176 West High St., Somersworth, with the Rev. Mark Rideout presiding. Burial will be in Forest Glade Cemetery, Somersworth. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations in his memory be made to the First Parish Church United Church of Christ, 176 West High St., Somersworth, NH 03878.

Arrangements are in care of Laing-Bibber Funeral Chapel, 36 Rochester St., P.O. Box 728, Berwick, ME 03901. The funeral home can be contacted at www.bibberfuneral.com.