Fredson Irving Blake, 84, died Saturday, January 26 at St. Andrews Hospital

Born July 13, 1923 in Newcastle, he was a son of Irving E. and Hazel Lailer Blake. He grew up in Boothbay and attended local schools. At the age of 16 he began his entrepreneurial career by buying a garage in Wiscasset.

On April 13, 1941, he married Virginia Barter. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1943 and was a veteran of World War II.

After the war he worked for Manley Reed and purchased the boatyard from Manley in 1951, renaming it Blake's Boatyard. He later bought a machine shop which now sits next to the Tugboat Inn. He purchased Pier 1 from Gulf Oil in 1961 and ran it as Blake's Marine. He later sold it to his sons in 1973 and he continued on as an advisor of the family business until his death.

Mr. Blake was a charter member of the Boothbay Region Lions Club, member of Bayview Masonic Lodge A.F. & A.M. #196, Kora Temple Shriners where he was an assistant Potentate, Down East Yacht Club, numerous golf clubs, Boothbay Region Fish & Game Association, Charles E. Sherman American Legion Post, and V.F.W.

He was an avid golfer, boater, and hunter. He recently purchased a new hunting dog, "Maezy," with his granddaughter to go bird hunting next season.

Mr. Blake was predeceased by his wife, Virginia Barter Blake, who died in 2002.

Survivors include three sons, Joseph A. Blake and his wife Brenda of Barters Island, Gary I. Blake and his wife Cathy, and Neil F. Blake and his wife Sheila, all of Boothbay; grandchildren, Tyler Blake and his wife Lynn, Aaron Blake and his wife Christine, Amy Goodwin and her husband Dusty, Charlinda Carlson and her husband Matt, Jessica Vilar, and Karen O'teri; and six great-grand-children.

A funeral service will be held 11 a.m. Thursday, January 31 at the Charles E. Sherman American Legion in Boothbay with military honors, followed by a reception at the Legion Hall. Burial will follow in the Evergreen Cemetery in Boothbay.

Donations may be made in Mr. Blake's memory to the Boothbay Region Fish & Game, P.O. Box 408, Boothbay, ME 04537.

Arrangements are entrusted to Simmons, Harrington & Hall Funeral Home and Cremation Service, Boothbay.

Wilhelmina (Billie) Straatsma Phinney, 90, of Indian Point, Georgetown, passed away Thursday, January 24, 2008 at her residence.

Both her parents emigrated to the U.S. through Ellis Island, her father Eeltje Teake "Peter" Straatsma from Holland and her mother Wilhelmina Frederika Geldmaker from Amsterdam, Holland. They married, moved to Elizabeth, New Jersey with many Dutch families. She was born on June 17, 1917 in Roselle Park, New Jersey. Her mother died during her child birth. 

A graduate of Orange Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, she married Bob Phinney in 1938 and they moved to Livingston, N.J.

In 1978 she retired after 20 years of work with Pine Tree Society for Crippled Children and Adults. During part of this period she was the administrator of the Hyde Home, headquarters for the Society.

In 1963 she purchased two lots of land at Indian Point, overlooking Boothbay, Phippsburg and Portugal and at the age of 76 built a home there.

She was the last surviving member of all of the Straatsma /Phinney generation. 

She was predeceased by her husband, Robert E. Phinney, Sr. in 1989; and her son, Peter B. Phinney of San Francisco in 1992.

Survivors include her daughter Sandra Reed of Chalfont, Penn.; two sons, Robert E. Phinney of Bridgetown, Nova Scotia and William T. Phinney of Wiscasset; four grandchildren, Jesse Reed, Jodi Phinney,  Tasha Phinney and Alexi Phinney and two great-grand-children.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made in her memory to: Town of Georgetown, Georgetown Mall / Phinney Memory, P.O. Box 436, 50 Bay Point Road, Georgetown, Maine 04548.