May 2011 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 5. PASSED OVER THE BAR: JOHN FAULKINGHAM & BASIL DAY John Faulkingham


BEALS - John Faulkingham, 70, died April 19, 2011, at a Bangor health care facility. He was born March 10, 1941, in Beals, the son of Grover C. and Ruth (Beal) Faulkingham Sr. John attended local schools and graduated from Beals High School, Class of 1959. John made his living from the sea and started fishing while still in school. He owned several boats and was instrumental in founding Beals-Jonesport Co-Op. He and his wife Doris also owned and operated East Bay Fishing Supplies, Beals, where John enjoyed talking with all of the fishermen who came in. He especially liked reminiscing and sharing fishing stories, visiting with the older fisher- men from the area, spending time working on his fishing gear and visiting the local boat shops. He enjoyed automobiles, and in his “spare” time he loved checking out old as well as new vehicles. John was a lifelong member of Wesleyan Church, where he served in many capacities, including Sunday school teacher, deacon, treasurer and board mem- ber. Above all else, John loved and served his God faithfully. He enjoyed being in church, participating in fellowship times and singing. John wrote several gospel songs during his life, some of which will be shared during calling hours and his funeral service. He was predeceased by his father; and a brother, Grover Faulkingham Jr. He is survived by his mother; his loving and devoted wife of 51 years, Doris (Bishop) Faulkingham of Beals; one son, Loren Faulkingham and wife, Melanie, of Jonesport; two daughters, Benita Alley and husband, Raymond, of Beals and Linda Eaton and husband, Gary, of Lamoine; one brother, Earle Faulkingham and wife, Lenore, of Jonesport; five grandchildren, Misty Kelley and husband, Patrick, of Jonesport, Martin Alley and fiancé Rachael Church, of Beals, Kristy Eaton and Keith Eaton, both of Lamoine, and Daniel Faulkingham of Jonesport; and two great- grandchildren, Anson and Bradley Kelley, both of Jonesport. He had special friends, Lorenzo and Mary Wallace of Jonesport and Harry and Joanne Bishop of Addison. Family and friends are invited to call 5-9 p.m. Thurs- day, April 21, at Wesleyan Church, Jonesport. A celebration of the life John lived will be held 2 p.m. Friday, April 22, at Beals Elementary School. Burial will be at Green- wood Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contribu- tions may be made to Jonesport Wesleyan Church, attention: Doris Faulkingham, trea- surer, P.O. Box 37, Beals, ME 04611.


It saddens me to hear about the loss of John Faulkingham of Beals Island. I have met a lot of people on the Coast of Maine, but few compare to John. I first met John just after I started publishing Maine Coastal News in


the late 1980s. I remember going into his and his wife’s store, East Bay Fishing Supplies on Beals and this became one of my constant stops. It was always a pleasure to sit down and talk to him and I learned a lot about commercial fishing and its history. I also volunteered to help on board his lobster boat one fall when Raymond Alley could not go. I had a great time, albeit a long day when you come and go from Bangor. A lot of time I bought lobsters from John and one time I was walking back from his grounded car with a pail of lobster when I got stuck in the mud. It was either drop the lobsters in the water or get wet. I chose getting wet. I think John really wanted to laugh, but he was more concerned that I was heading back to home in wet draws. I spent many a great time with John and his family and certainly will miss him. Below is part of an article I did with John back in 1990.


I’ve been going to Beals Island for sev- eral years now and for the last two have been stopping at East Bay Fishing Supplies, which is run by John and Doris Faulkingham. John Faulkingham has been a fisherman, mostly for lobsters, since he was 14; and like many Maine fishermen he has both an interesting insight into his profession and some interest- ing stories.


Faulkingham used to go out with his father, who had a torpedo stern boat. He said, “I used to go down on the bay, and I got seasick every day I went out. He told me, “One day you are going to have to get used to this if you are going to fish outside,’ and I said, ‘I would never have a trap outside.’ About the second or third year after I had my first power boat, I never had a trapped in- side.”


“If I remember right I was 14 when I got my first boat,” said Faulkingham. “I dug her out of the grass field, she was condemned. Her garboards were bad and I had to do some work there and replace some timbers. I started with 12 traps; my uncle gave me seven and my father gave me five. I fished here in the bay that season. I think my first year was in 1955. Unfortunately, I got the boat up on a weir stake, punched a hole in the garboards and that destroyed her. The next year I repaired those 12 traps and built 30 more. My first outboard motor was a 2½ hp Elgin. She would run one way. If I went down the bay under power I would come back by the oars. If I couldn’t get her going and I rowed down she would probably start so I could come home.” Faulkingham remembers when the lob- ster prices were $.25 per pound. He added, “One time daddy and I went down to haul and he said, ‘It is some discouraging lobsters are $.25 a pound.’ I said, ‘My gracious, every four lobsters is a dollar, how could you go


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John Faulkingham on his dock in 1990.


wrong?’ He said that was something. That was probably around 1956, just after I started lobstering. I had outboard boat at the time with an old 6 horse Mercury on it. Of course I didn’t realize what I was doing, and I painted the leg of it and painted the exhaust ports and burned her up.


There have been a lot of changes in the 35 years that Faulkingham has been fishing. He explained, “When I first started we had wooden traps, sisal rope glass bottles and wooden buoys. Well, everything would soak up, especially off here because we have such a tide. I remember one time my father and I set a 12 buoys string and when we went to get them the sisal rope had shrunk and they had gone into a deep hole. A string of traps was precious. You didn’t just miss a string and say, ‘Well, that string is gone.’ We went and


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hunted it up. We hunted and hunted and on slack tide we found one buoy in a 70 fathom deep hole. We weren’t familiar with the bot- tom and we didn’t know where a deep hole was. We hauled that one buoy up and we had that old nigger head straight eight Buick, of course. She would hoist, never missing a clip. We hauled up that whole mess.


Faulkingham bought a 30 foot Novi boat in 1960. He said, “She had just a spray hood on her and we built a little house on behind it. That was the first big boat I had. She was three or four years old. My uncle had it and he decided not to go fishing and I took it over. My father and I fished about 12 miles offshore in that and we thought we were in the ark. Later on in 1970, I had a 38 foot built by


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