PARSONSFIELD- On Saturday January 7, 2023 with his family by his side, George Herbert Stacey, loving husband and father to three, entered heaven’s gate at age 65 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Upon being diagnosed he stated, “I’ve been working hard my whole life so I’m going to work hard at this,” and he did.
George was born on March 8, 1957 in Portland, Maine. As a young child he attended Sunday school, learning “Jesus Loves Me” at Riverside United Methodist Church, where he became a member and attended for 60 years helping in any way the church needed. With a diligent work ethic from a very young age, George first started out by shoveling snow for neighbors, mowing lawns, delivering papers throughout the Kezar Falls area, and helping deliver milk from his family’s own dairy, “Elm Row Dairy.” Work on the farm continued through high school. Farming seemed to be in his blood.
During his high school years at Sacopee Valley, George played soccer, basketball, and baseball and attended boys state, though he had a much greater love for the outdoors. He loved hunting and fishing, tagging his first deer at the age of nine and riding his bicycle for miles with his fish pole or rifle on his handlebars.
After graduating from high school in 1975, George continued to work with his father Rodney Stacey doing odd jobs and shortly after, worked with his Uncle Fred doing carpentry. He made it his full time job as a self-employed General Contractor as “Stacey Brothers”. He employed many young men through the years including his brother Eugene who worked alongside him his entire life. After his two sons Jesse and Andrew, and nephew Justin graduated, they came to work full time giving him relief as the head of the crew in 2015. Upon which feeling the younger generation was capable of handling the workload, George willingly became an employee and seemed to greatly enjoy the change, as they always made sure there was time to go hunting in November. He did many other things for work alongside the contracting, including plowing snow for forty six years in which he maintained some of the same customers the entire time. He also made maple syrup, logged through the winter months and sold firewood off from the farm which was hand split with a maul up until 2016. George still maintained the head of farming and initiated the haying on ninety acres of fields located on the farm, until his passing. He was a person that believed doing any job was worth doing it well.
In June of 1977, George met his one true love, Marylou Whitney. After five years of dating, they married on September 11, 1982 at the Hillside Congregational Church in Cornish and shortly after built their home on the family farm in Parsonsfield. In 1985 they started their family, being blessed with three beautiful children.
Upon living at their new home, George took a strong interest in gardening with his great uncle Clarence, who was a well seasoned gardener. The two of them kept their families freezers full and an ever abundant crop was always generously shared with the community. George was the most proud of his popcorn and his sweet corn in which he planted in succession so there was a steady crop from the fourth of July to the start of Fryeburg fair in October. As well as his vegetables, George’s fruit trees were plentiful around the farm, with his peaches being highly sought after.
George was very humble and a man of high integrity, but was a man of incredible physical strength as he was known for moving pianos for the neighborhood ladies and carrying four bundles of shingles at a time up a ladder. He always excelled in Woodsman’s Day with his brother Gene at the Ossipee Valley Fair and once when entered by Gene in the weight lifting competition, lifted 500 pounds. His physical strength was rivaled only by his faith in God, which was so apparent before his passing as he had the utmost peace, knowing where he was going and that he would see us all again.
George was forever touching a heart while teaching others. His children and grandchildren and most everyone he was surrounded by were truly blessed by his outlook on life after this. George had a tidbit of knowledge to share with others most everyday, not so much in words, but by his actions, it didn’t matter what he was doing. He was never long on words, but his actions always revealed his honest, generous, and loving character.
He certainly passed on his love of hunting and fishing, taking all three children to get their first deer and dragging both of his sons through the thickest of alder jungles to get to the best fishing spot around. He loved to watch his children play sports, never missing a single game of his daughter’s. Most everywhere he went whether by truck or tractor, he was always accompanied by one of his Brittany Spaniel dogs, which he had kept at least one of the breed since graduating.
The love George and his wife shared could not be matched. They loved to be together no matter what they were doing or where they went, from bass fishing from their kayaks, cheering on their children at sporting events to working together, as Marylou and Luanne (George’s younger sister) had painted many houses that George had built. They celebrated their 40th anniversary this year and yes, they went fishing! The amount George will be missed cannot be measured. There will not be a day that goes by that we won’t benefit from something he has done or taught us.
George is predeceased by his father, Rodney Stacey. He is survived by his mother Hope Hammond Churchill, husband Tom; his wife Marylou; his three children, Jesse and wife Katrina, Andrew and wife Suzanne, Whitney and husband Dale Gammon; grandchildren Ronan, Cade, Cora, Cohen, Lennon, and Cal; siblings, Rhonda Sanborn and husband Rick, Eugene and wife Marylou, Luanne Mudgett and husband Dave, and many in-laws, nieces, and nephews that he was also very proud of.
A service date will be announced at a later time.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Poitras, Neal & York Funeral Home, Cornish, www.mainefuneral.com