Daniel J. Kaler, 66, of Boothbay, died on July 31 surround by his loving family. In 2001, Dan and a friend converted an old seing dory into a lobster fishing boat, enjoyed for many years by his customers young and old. It was his favorite and final job of the many he worked in his lifetime.
“Dan, the man” was born in Bath on Jan. 27, 1944 to Laurada Kaler Barter and James Woodrow Kaler. He graduated from Morse High School where he was an outstanding football player. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on July 31, 1963. While in the Marine Corps, he served two tours of duty in Vietnam. He served with the Third Marine Division, first with Third Reconnaissance Battalion, then with the Third Battalion, Third Marines. He earned qualifications as a Navy-Marine Parachuter, Scuba Diver, and as a Field Radio Operator. Dan completed his four year enlistment honorably on July 30, 1967.
Always a creative and visionary businessman, Dan began his post military career as a self-employed lobsterman. He fished from boats of various styles, including a unique, self-designed, Bristol Bay style, aluminum fishing boat, one of the first aluminum fishing boats in the area. He also served for many years with his brother, Brian as a caretaker for Damariscove Island. In 1989, with his wife Mary, he started Daniel Kaler and Sons Wholesale Seafood; buying, selling, transporting lobsters, and trucking fish and sea urchins. His business was one of the first in the area to airfreight lobsters. In 1998, he built and developed Kaler’s Crab and Lobster House restaurant. From the dock of his family restaurant, Dan ran his lobster hauling trips in the Hunky Dory.
As a father of three sons, Dan coached baseball for Little League teams and coached football for the Boothbay Region Youth Football League, a program he was instrumental in starting through the YMCA. He was an ardent supporter of football, baseball, and wrestling at Boothbay Region High School, and for many years, served as the “color man” sports anchor for the Boosters’ Club sponsored radio and video football game broadcasts. Dan’s more recent favorite pastime was entertaining customers, visitors, and employees in his restaurant with “High Tide” announcements, daily greetings and lots of stories. He also loved showing children the wonders of the touch tank on the restaurant’s wharf.
Dan’s outsized personality and his zest for life, his curiosity, and his creative approach as a businessman, his gift for storytelling and his ability to make even strangers feel like they had a friend, his pride in a job well done and his legendary sense of humor, as well as his devotion to and love for his family, made Dan an irreplaceable persona.
Dan leaves his wife, Mary; sons; Jake, Ben and wife Stephanie, and Sam and wife Jane; grandsons, Jack (son of Ben and Stephanie) and Silas (son of Sam and Jane); siblings; David Kaler and Holly Dawson of Bath, Donna Roush of Moundsville, W.Va., and Howard, Brian, and Bruce Barter of Boothbay; Uncle Clint Kaler of Nobleboro; several nieces and nephews; and many friends.
Celebration of Dan’s life 1 p.m., Sun., Aug 8 at the Boothbay Harbor Congregational Church. Reception will take place afterward at Brown’s Wharf. A shuttle service will be provided from the Catholic Church parking lot to Brown’s Wharf. Area fishermen will honor Dan with a boat parade around the harbor at 4 p.m.
In Dan’s memory, donations may be made specifically for football to the Boothbay Region High School Boosters’ Club, Boothbay Region High School, 236 Townsend Ave., Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538 or to the Ocean Classroom Foundation-Shaggy’s Fund (a fund to help local students participate in Semester at Sea program), 1 Oak St., P.O. Box 205, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538.
Online condolences may be made to the family at www.hallfuneralhomes.com.
Arrangements are entrusted to Simmons, Harrington, & Hall Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 975 Wiscasset Rd., Boothbay.
