ORONO - Stanley L. “Stan” Freeman, Jr., 91, died February 18, 2018, at Eastern Maine Medical Center, where he served as a trustee for 36 years. He was born November 6, 1926, in Brockton, MA, the only child of Stanley L. Freeman, Sr. and Dorothy (Murdock) Freeman. The family lived in West Bridgewater, MA, and owned a summer cottage in West Southport, ME, where sailing became Stan’s lifelong passion, along with his love for Maine and his family.

Stan’s studies at Bates College in Lewiston, ME were interrupted by a tour of duty in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He returned to Bates to graduate and marry his classmate, Madeleine Richard of Pembroke NH, at the Bates Chapel in 1948. Together they moved to Chatham, MA to teach high school and then to Nyack, NY so Stan might attend Columbia University and earn his doctorate in education. In 1952, Stan received the offer of a professorship at the University of Maine. In Orono, the couple brought up a daughter, Martha, and a son, Richard.

Stan’s rich and varied 39-year career at the university included teaching counselor education on campus and traveling the state to offer extension courses. In 1967, Stan became the university’s Coordinator of Research Support and Federal Relations, researching and securing funding sources for his colleagues’ professional projects. His contributions to the university community led to his appointment in 1969 as Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs in the University of Maine System and as Acting Chancellor for a year in 1975. Afterward, Stan returned to the Orono campus to teach and in 1979 became the Director of Canadian/Franco-American Studies. He retired from the University faculty in 1991. Throughout, his love of sailing—on a 15-foot lake-going boat he built to several ocean-going vessels he owned—never diminished as he ventured farther up and down the east coast—from Nova Scotia to the British Virgin Islands – and to the Greek islands.
Stan assumed leadership roles in the many communities to which he felt most connected, including serving on the boards of Acadia Hospital, the Bangor Symphony, the Freeman Forest Housing Corporation, and other health and education organizations.

He became an active member of the Dirigo Pines community which he and Madeleine entered in 2005. After Madeleine’s death in 2012, Stan and his widowed neighbor, Betty B. Calkins nurtured a relationship that brought them both joy and comfort for the past five years.

Stan is survived by daughter, Martha Freeman and son-in-law Richard Barringer of Portland, ME; son, Richard Freeman and son-in-law, Sean Meehan of San Francisco, CA; his companion, Betty B. Calkins of Orono; grandchildren, Greg Barringer of Bridgeport CT; Ian and Kelly Barringer of Boulder CO and their children, Leo and Angus; Adam Barringer and Laura Neuwirth of Arlington, VA and their children, James and Sarah; and Sam and Pam Barringer of Portland, ME and their children, Danica and Cole; and eight much-loved nephews and nieces, and their children, of the Richard family of Pembroke, NH.

The family will hold a private memorial gathering in the summer on Southport Island. Those who wish to remember Stan in a special way may make gifts to the Stanley and Madeleine Freeman ‘47/’47 Scholarship, attention gift-processing, Bates College, 2 Andrews Road, Lewiston, ME 04240. Condolences to the family may be expressed at www.BrookingsSmith.com.