In Memory

Christopher Fremont-Smith

Christopher Fremont-Smith



 
  Post Comment

06/05/14 09:26 AM #1    

Carolyn Zolli (Hanson)

From the Bangor Daily News

CHRISTOPHER FREMONT-SMITH

Posted Sept. 25, 2008, at 11:15 p.m.

MOUNT DESERT – Christopher Fremont-Smith, 63, of Somesville, died July 15, 2008, of heart failure, while playing tennis in Ellsworth. Born June 12, 1945, in Boston, he was the second son of the late Paul Fremont-Smith of Cambridge, Mass., and Margery Stafford of Bass Harbor. He was a descendant of Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard and co-founder of Acadia National Park, and Dr. Frank Fremont-Smith, who helped found Mount Desert Island Hospital. Mr. Fremont-Smith was raised and schooled in Cambridge, Mass., at Shady Hill School and Brown and Nichols. He was a lifelong summer resident of Mount Desert Island. As a boy, he summered at the family’s summer cottage, Asticou Foreside, Northeast Harbor. He moved here permanently in the early 1990s. From childhood, young Chris excelled at all sports, including wrestling, soccer, base-ball, skiing, tennis and sailing. The latter three remained an integral part of his life, and in the past five years he started winning some national tennis championships with his Ells-worth-based team, the Silver Foxes. As a young man, he lived for several years in Stowe, Vt., working as a ski instructor in the winter and as a tennis pro in the summer. He also embarked on several entrepreneurial ventures, which included creating limited editions of photo prints of the Tall Ships’ visit to Boston for the Bicentennial. In later years, he transported sailing yachts Downeast in the spring and down south in the fall. His last trip of this sort was in 1989, when he and his crew caught the outer edge of Hurricane Hugo on a trip from Newport, R.I., to Bermuda; they got blown all the way to Maine, where they managed to escape the gale and limp into Northeast Harbor. After that, Mr. Fremont-Smith confined his sailing to crewing aboard his nephew, Tom’s, International One Design, Live Yankee, in the weekly fleet regattas out on the Western Way. A brief marriage to Stephanie Hulitar in 1984, produced his only child, Alexander. Highlights of his life were the days and weeks when his son was with him here in the summer or skiing at Sugarloaf on winter vacations. One of five children, Mr. Fre-mont-Smith eventually assum-ed the position of “major domo” for his family, taking care of various houses, boats, cars and the medical and other emergencies that arise in big families. He was also a major contributor to all significant family events – weddings, birthdays, holiday parties and funerals. His large, scattered family often referred to him as the glue that held them all together, or the lighthouse that kept them all in its’ bright, sweeping beam. One of his favorite duties was captaining his older brother, Paul’s, picnic boat, Irona, on excursions to outer islands and discovering nifty little coves and harbors along the coast. His last trip was a picnic out to Petit Manan with a group of family and friends to see the puffins. Mr. Fremont-Smith was the keeper of the family genealogy and spent years filling out a family tree with roots that went back to the Mayflower. As a single man, natty dresser and good conversationalist, Mr. Fremont-Smith was on many a guest list, both here and in Florida, when an extra man was needed to fill the dinner table or step out on the dance floor. He was a congenial host himself and was always working to improve his excellent barbecue skills. He was also much admired for his Eggs Benedict breakfasts, with the best Hollandaise sauce in the world. He was a lifelong member of Harbor Club, Seal Harbor, where he won many a tennis trophy; Mount Desert Historical Society; Friends of Acadia; and Ellsworth Tennis Center, the home court of the Silver Foxes. The highlight of his tenure with this senior’s doubles team was its 2006 victory at the Super Senior Nationals 6.0 Men’s Doubles Championship, Daytona, Fla.; very likely the first national championship tennis team ever to come out of Hancock County and perhaps Maine. Mr. Fremont-Smith was, in fact, winning a tiebreaker in the third set of a match of mixed doubles when his big, generous heart failed him. In addition to his mother, Margery Stafford, he is survived by his son, Alexander Fremont-Smith of Middleton, R.I.; his brother, Paul Fremont-Smith Jr. and his wife, Carol, of Seal Harbor and Ketchum, Idaho; his sisters, Nan Lincoln of Bass Harbor, Deborah Fre-mont-Smith and her husband, Bruce Krystal, of Nevada City, Calif., and Frances H. Fremont-Smith and her husband, Jia Li Jun, of Somesville and Beijing; his stepmother, Marion Fre-mont-Smith of Cambridge, Mass.; his stepbrothers, Keith Miller of Newton, Mass., Dr. Brad Miller of Cranston, R.I., and Joseph Pratt of Philadelphia; stepsisters, Beth Johnsey of Worland, Wyo., and Virginia Agar of West Tremont; an uncle, many nieces, nephews, stepnieces, stepnephews, great-nieces, great-nephews and a multitude of cousins. He is also survived by his dear friends, Jane Doggett of Corea and Nicols Fox, formerly of Bass Harbor. In addition to his father, he was predeceased by his stepbrother, Gardner C. Rowbotham, this past spring. A memorial service will be held 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 23, at Somesville Union Meeting House with the Revs. Victor Stanley and Mac Bigelow officiating. Friends who wish may donate in Chris’s memory to Mount Desert Island Historical Society, P.O. Box 653, Mount Desert, ME 04660. Arrangements by Jordan-Fernald, 1139 Main St., Mount Desert. Condolence may be expressed at www.jordanfernald.com.

 

  Post Comment