Irving "Stet" W. Stetson Obituary (1925 - 2012)

Brunswick-Irving "Stet” W. Stetson, age 87 of Sparwell Lane, passed away Sunday, May 6th at Freeport Nursing Home. He was born January 30, 1925 in Portland, the son of Irving W. Sr. and Mulvina Ragan Stetson. He graduated from Brunswick High School and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1943 at Ft. Devens, MA. During WW II he served as grave registration chief where he built cemeteries in Normandy and the Batangas, Philippines. He graduated from the Eckels College of Mortuary Science in Philadelphia, PA and attended Temple University. On September 18, 1948, he married Dorothy Grontkowski in Nanticoke, PA. He was a fourth generation funeral director, working alongside his father for many years. He became the owner, along with his wife Dorothy, of Stetson’s Funeral Home in Brunswick in 1952. He sold the funeral home to Brunswick natives Anthony and Debbie Purinton in 1991 and maintained a keen interest in the business until the time of his death. He was an ardent duck hunter, hunting with his father and his many friends especially at his camp on Muddy River in Bowdoinham. He was also a member of Ducks Unlimited. Stet and Dorothy travelled extensively throughout the world with their many friends and as part of numerous organizations to which they belonged. Stet was a member of the Rotary Club of Brunswick where he was a five-time Paul Harris Fellow, past president and district governor of the Lions Club, past president of the United Way, on numerous boards and committees of the Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick, past fund raising chairman of the American Red Cross, member and former chairman of the Brunswick Recreation Committee serving for 28 years, charter and life member of the Brunswick Elks Lodge, member of the Dirigo Grange, life member of the Topsham American Legion Post, member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, member of the Maine Society of the Order of Founders and Patriots of America, member of the Society of Colonial Wars, member of the Sons of the American Revolution. Stet was a member of the OGR (Order of the Golden Rule), life member of the Maine Funeral Directors Association, where he had served as a past president, member of the National Funeral Directors Association where he served on many national committees, committee member for the New Maine Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery-Mount Vernon Road, member of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and was previously qualified as a mortuary disaster coordinator for the National Funeral Directors Association. Stet was a life-long member of St. Charles Borromeo Church-All Saints Parish, serving on numerous committees over the years including the building committee. In addition to his wife Dorothy Stetson of Brunswick, he is survived by a cousin Virginia Laumer of Fisher, Indiana, several second cousins, and special "daughter” Connie Cozzolino-Smith of Hartland, Wisconsin. Visiting hours will be held from 4-7PM on Wednesday, May 9th at Stetson’s Funeral Home, 12 Federal St., Brunswick. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 12 Noon on Thursday, May 10th at St. Charles Borromeo Church-All Saints Parish, 132 McKeen St., Brunswick, where a reception will immediately follow in the parish hall. Interment will be in Pine Grove Cemetery, Brunswick. Donations in his memory may be made to the IRIS Network, 189 Park Avenue, Portland, ME 04102 or to the Mid Coast Hospital, 123 Medical Center Drive, Brunswick, ME 04011 Memorial condolences may be expressed and a video tribute viewed at stetsonsfuneralhome.com