Lincoln Denton Paine, 90, died peacefully at home on April 30, 2026. A native of Boston, he moved to New Orleans to attend Tulane Medical School in 1957, and lived there for the next seven decades, apart from two years serving as a psychiatrist at the Portsmouth Naval Prison in New Hampshire (1965–1967).
He was the fourth of five children born to the late Francis Ward Paine and Frances Moir Hatch Paine. His father died when he was 4 and his mother remarried Henry S. Middendorf Sr., which made him one of nine children. With her great capacity for love and warmth, his mother, Mo, instilled in her children a curiosity about the world and a concern for those less fortunate than themselves.
He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and Tulane Medical School. During and after college he volunteered with the American Friends Service Committee in Cherokee, N.C., and in Kenya.
He was married three times, including to Judy (Jones), his beloved wife of 56 years, who survives him. His greatest joy was always his family, from his mother to his youngest great-granddaughter. He was especially proud of his six children: Lincoln P. Paine (Allison), Yvonne W. Thomas (Jamie), Isabelle P. Thacker (Strom), Adrienne M. Paine, Rachel P. Fuller (Graham), and Whiton M. Paine (Archana). They, as well as his 13 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, all joyfully gathered to celebrate his 90th birthday with him in New Orleans this January.
Returning to New Orleans after his naval service, Lincoln entered private practice, and then joined the medical staff at River Oaks Hospital at its inception in 1970. He served as its medical director for 34 years before stepping down following a stroke in 2022.
He remained on staff to run the Day Program until 2025. Additionally, he provided weekly psychiatric care to the residents at the Waldo Burton Boys Home for much of his career. Deeply devoted to his profession, he served as treasurer of the Louisiana Psychiatric Medical Association and was a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
Despite his almost 70 years in the Crescent City, he never lost touch with his New England roots. The family spent summers in Maine from the early 1970s, above all at their treasured Spring House in Alna from 1991-2019. In the glorious gardens they created together, Lincoln reigned as “Compost King” and kept it all together with liberal use of the state tool, duct tape.
An avid baker and photographer, he read widely, and took his family on countless road trips and travels abroad — a passion engendered by his mother. Modest and unassuming, he was blessed with a happy disposition, a good sense of humor, and was easily recognizable by his trademark mustache and ever-present bowtie. He inspired loyalty and devotion among his close circle of family and friends, among them his sisters-in-law, Jackie J. Derks, Ruthie J. Frierson, and Ann J. Milliner (Denis), and brother-in-law, Martin “Took” Jones; his trusted friend and longtime partner in chess, Pini Weinstein; his “work wife” of 43 years, Betsy Raymond, and the rest of his River Oaks family; and his dedicated caregiver and friend, Vanessa Brooks.
In the 1960s, Lincoln was a founder and vice chair of the Committee for Open Pools, which secured the reopening of the Audubon Park pool as an integrated facility. He was an active member of St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church and served on the board of deacons and the session. As selfless in death as he was in life, he donated his body to Tulane Medical School.
In addition to his parents and stepfather, he was predeceased by his infant daughter, Victoria; sisters, Isabelle P. Middendorf, Martha P. Newell, and stepsister, Sara “Sally” M. Lofving; brother, Michael J. Paine; and stepbrothers, Henry S. Middendorf, J. William Middendorf II, and W. Kennedy Boone “Took” Middendorf. Besides his wife, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, he is survived by his brother and eternal best friend, F. Ward Paine (Mary), of Portola Valley, Calif.; and numerous nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in his name to Smile Train for cleft lip and palate repair (donate.smiletrain.org), Midcoast Conservancy (midcoastconservancy.org/events), or a charity of your choice.
