Mark Libby, 86, passed away peacefully on May 9. He was born Oct. 15, 1924 in Waterville to Professor Herbert C. Libby and Mabel E. Dunn. He was the youngest of three sons. He was educated in the Waterville public schools, Lawrence Academy in Groton, Mass., and Amherst College.
He initially spent summers down on Pemaquid Point when his father first bought a cottage, eventually settling full time there.
He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in WWII and served first on a command ship in the South Pacific. He returned to the states and served during the commissioning of the Alfred A. Cunningham, a destroyer which eventually was stationed on the picket line of ships between Okinawa and the Japanese Islands. Mark reached the grade of rank of Quartermaster First Class at the time of his honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy.
After the war, he became a commercial fisherman operating his dragger out of New Harbor. He was known as being able to drag anywhere with a net where others couldn’t or didn’t dare. He was one of the last fishermen on the coast of Maine to operate a dragger with no crew. There were times he would go out for two to three days on his own. His days on the water eventually ended when at 70 years old he sold his boat and hung up his nets for the last time.
He was a great birder and naturalist as well and kept careful notes of the birds he saw. His notebooks go back to 1939. In 1960 he found an adult Yellow-nosed Albatross south of Monhegan Island, a great rarity for Maine and North America. Remarkably, Mark saw another Yellow-nosed Albatross in 1964.
Together with his former wife Hilda Margaret Findlay, he has four children, Mark Findlay Libby of Pemaquid Point, Matthew Mackay Libby of Unity, Jonathan Maxwell Libby of Bowdoin, and Helen Margaret Libby of Pemaquid Point.
He is predeceased by his parents and brother, Carlyle.
He is survived by his brother Willard Dunn Libby of Falmouth; four children; long time companion, Maia Hart of Damariscotta; grandchildren, Mahlana Libby of New Hampshire, Mackay Libby of Saco, Andrew Ray of Portland, Mark Ray of Searsport, Ryan Libby of Spokane, Wash., Kara Ray of Old Town, Adam Libby of Bowdoin, Sam Ray of Liberty, Brooke Libby of Unity, Ashley Libby of Bowdoin and Emma Olson of Readfield; three great-grandchildren; nieces; a nephew; and many dear friends.
