| Notes |
- Unknown Newspaper
November 2010
Thomas Harland Haskell, 63, a small businessman and much-loved lifelong member of the Bar Harbor community,died unexpectedly Nov. 13, 2010, after complications from open heart surgery at Eastern Maine Medical Center, in Bangor.
He was born in Bar Harbor on March 6, 1947, to Helen M. and Harland N. Haskell, and grew up in Seal Harbor where his father was a caretaker for the Edsel Ford estate, "Skylands." He was a popular, outgoing, and adventurous kid who excelled in sports. And he was extraordinarily devoted to his mother.
He graduated from Mount Desert High School in 1965, where he was a varsity baseball pitcher and basketball center. He was a member of the 1965 Mount Desert High School Mustangs state championship basketball team under legendary coach Bunny Parady.
After high school, Mr. Haskell attended Maine Maritime Academy, where he kept up with team sports. He graduated as a marine engineer in 1969 and shipped out three months at a time over the next 10 years. One of his deployments in the early 1970s brought his supply ship into Qui Nhon Harbor in South Vietnam during the height of the war. The ship came under enemy fire, and a missile tore a hole through the hull. Mr. Haskell, who was in the engine room at the time, suffered a severe concussion and a temporary hearingloss.
One evening, while at home on leave, Mr. Haskell stopped at the Hat Rack restaurant in Bar Harbor with some buddies. There he met a pretty young woman with the equally pretty name of Melodie MacLeod. While he couldn't help being attracted to the tall, honey-haired, athletic young woman, Mr. McLeod was enjoying his bachelor life, and was not in the market for a serious relationship. And besides, he thought, Melodie, at 21, was way too young. Melodie, on the other hand, was totally smitten in her first encounter with the young, well-dressed mariner and didn't think being six years younger should be any obstacle to furthering a relationship. "So I stalked him," she said. "Whenever he was home
and went out with his friends, he'd look up and there I'd be. Eventually he gave in and married me." That was in 1977. For the next 33 years the couple's relationship was marked by mutual respect, shared interests and plenty of laughter.
When the couple's daughter Lindsay was born, in 1980, Tom decided it was time to come ashore for good. He and Melodie parlayed their shared interest in sports by opening up Haskell's Sporting Goods on Cottage Street in Bar Harbor. He used a lot of sporting equipment himself. As an avid and excellent golfer, he spent many afternoons and weekends with his friends Joe Hackett, Tom McKay and Jon Carter on the Kebo Valley course where he once won the course championship. He also traveled to Cape Cod and Florida to play in team tournaments with Jon Carter and a group of other serious golfing friends. If Mr. Haskell wasn't playing some game or tournament himself, he'd likely be watching his wife winning tennis trophies at the Bar Harbor Club and other area courts or at some state championship competition. Mrs. Haskell, who was once ranked number-one in tennis in the state, could also pitch a wicked softball. Their daughter was no slouch either on the basketball or tennis court. More often that not, when people complimented Mr. Haskell's athletic skills, he'd wave it off, saying he wasn't even the best athlete in his family.
After 10 or so years, the Haskells gave up the shop and Mr. Haskell went to work as a real estate appraiser for the First National Bank where he worked with longtime friend Penny Carter. "He was a good friend in fair weather and foul," Ms.Carter says. "You could always count on him for a good time and a good laugh or depend on him for a helping hand if you needed it." She especially recalls the light verse poems Mr. Haskell used to write for his friends and family to mark special occasions. These would often be accompanied by a clever sketch or caricature.He was also infamous for the hilarious Down Easter messages he'd leave on his answering machine, starting with something like: "Mothah and I've gone down to the Blue Hill fayah …" "People would call him just to hear the latest message," says his friend Tom McKay, "and be disappointed if someone answered the phone."
When Mr. Haskell left the First to start his own real estate appraisal company, he kept all the friends he had made at the bank. Working out of a home office allowed Mr. Haskell to pamper his wife a bit, by bringing her breakfast in bed and having a chilled appletini waiting for her when she came home from her day at work.
When he was diagnosed with prostate cancer 10 years ago, Mr. Haskell's good humor and optimism served him well. He did everything he needed to get through that ordeal, surviving that and another minor reoccurrence of the disease five years later. "He and Connie Jellison used to drive up to Bangor for the radiation treatments together," says his daughter Lindsay. "But even when his treatments were done hekept driving Connie to hers."
Tom Haskell couldn't have been more thrilled when his Lindsay married Frank Doyle, a professional hockey player. Not only had he gained a son, he gained a new sport. "He loved watching Frank play and just watching hockey in general after Frank and I got married," says Lindsay. "And he was always happy to give Frank tips on how to improve his golf game."
On one of their recent online video visits, when Lindsay was in Italy, she learned that her father had been scheduled for open-heart surgery. He'd been having some troubling symptoms and a bypass was recommended. While not a particularly risky procedure these days, especially for someone in such general good health, Lindsay flew home anyway with the intentionof helping out with her father's recovery. The surgery seemed to go well, but a series of unexpected complications ensued and Mr. Haskell's condition deteriorated swiftly. Instead of bringing her fatherhome, Lindsay says she made it just in time to say goodbye."He knew I was there," she says. "He couldn't speak but when I asked him to squeeze my hand if he knew who I was he did, very hard, and he didn't let go for a very long time."
In addition to his wife Melodie, and his daughter Lindsey Doyle and her husband Frank, Mr. Haskell is survived by his sister, Prudence Reinhardt and her husband Ed; brother-in-law Robert MacLeod and his wife Suzanne; brother-in-law Richard Black; sister-in-law Charlotte Drake and her fiancé Joe Bartlett; nephews Mark Reinhardt and his wife Julie, Mike Reinhardt and his wife Lisa, Dave Reinhardt and his wife Mindy, and Dan Reinhardt and his wife Stacey; nieces Melissa Tracy and her husband Steve, Robin Sue Tapley and her husband Wyman, and Devon Drake. He is also survived by his "family" at Kebo Valley Golf Course.
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U.S., Select Military Registers, 1862-1985
Name: Thomas Harland Haskell
Birth Date: 1947
Military Date: 4 Jun 1970
Publication Date: 30 Sep 1971
Title: Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Naval and Reserve
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1947 - 2010 (63 years)
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