Dr. Charles Mason Smith

PORTLAND – Charles considered himself fortunate in many ways. He was fortunate to be born into a farming family in rural Maine during a time when family farms prospered as economic engines and centers of community life. His memories of early life were of an idyllic barnyard full of dairy cows, draft horses and boys and men at work. Every one and everything had a purpose. Young Charlie learned of hard work and perseverance at an early age. At the age of 12, he was entrusted with a field of his own to prepare and to plant 10,000 cauliflower seedlings. No small task for a young lad with a primitive Farmall tractor.

He was fortunate to have parents that could see life beyond the farm. His parents were atypical farmers. His father Edmund was raised in Manhattan and was educated in the classics and mathematics at Columbia University before taking up farming. Clare Mason was from a very literate Bethel family. She attended Gorham Normal School and then worked as a teacher for six years before marriage. His parents encouraged young Charlie to be curious, adventurous, and to pursue his passions on or off the farm.

Charles was fortunate to receive what he referred to as a fine “Eastern Education”. He attended Gould Academy from 1945-1949. He studied hard and played even harder. He lettered in football, basketball and baseball and is an inductee to the Gould Academy Athletic Hall of Fame. He was very proud that Gould baseball won two state championships during his time, fielding six of 10 players were from rural West Bethel. Charles majored in Biology at Amherst College 1949-1954 where he also studied and played hard. He was an active member of Chi-Psi fraternity where he made lifelong friends. Charles attended McGill Medical School in Montreal Canada 1954-1958. He did his residency at Maine Medical Center. He continued medical training in Edinburgh, Scotland and later an orthopedic residency at Mass General in Boston. He furthered his orthopedic training in California with microsurgery.

Charles was fortunate to begin his medical career under the wing of a beloved small town Doctor. Dr. Elsemore knew everything about everyone in the community and would barter for house calls to those in need. This personal touch left a lasting impression on newly minted Dr. Charles that was reflected throughout his medical career. He always viewed his patients as complete people, not just a broken arm or hip to be fixed. When an emergency call came to our house I remember him asking “What is their name?” He wanted to treat the whole person, not just the injury. Dr. Charles practiced orthopedics from Wellesley Mass., Hillsborough Calif., and Norway Maine. He truly loved being a doctor.

Charles was fortunate to have a long retirement. Charles and MaryAnne moved to York Beach, to take on a “project house”. Charles went to Oxford, England for a semester of continuing education studying landscape gardening. Charles poured his energies into expansive gardens and into the local community. He was active at St George’s Episcopal church and the York Diversity Club. He enjoyed hosting these groups as well as family and friends. Charles enjoyed watching the sunrise from his reading cupola and charting the celestial change of seasons on the horizon. He read ancient history voraciously and drew connections with current events on his large world map and to anyone within earshot. He was a lifetime learner.

Charles was always curious and adventurous. He wove adventure travel into each chapter of his life. In college, he hitchhiked to Yellowstone to work with Chi-Psi friends. Another summer, he took a steamer to Europe to tour by bike and car. He and Medical School friends road tripped to Alaska to work as laborers. Charles was an avid skier and would trek to Mt Washington to ski Tuckerman’s Ravine. He became reacquainted with a Bethel girl on these ski trips. He courted his soon to be wife MaryAnne Myers between ski runs and washing dishes for board at Joe Dodge Lodge. They were married and moved to Edinburgh with a baby, a true adventure. While living in California, he took his family on cross country road trips several times, stopping at each historical marker along the way. He enjoyed sailing the Maine coast by compass always looking for a new special place to anchor. He attended medical conferences and educational trips around the world: Switzerland, South Africa, Haiti, Mexico, Peru, China, Micronesia, Australia and Antarctica to name a few. He was proud to have set foot on all seven continents.

What a fortunate man indeed to have such a curious mind and an adventurous soul coupled with the drive and perseverance to pursue diverse passions.

Charles was born July. 7, 1932, in a 14-room farmhouse on a 500-acre farm in West Bethel, know then as Birchmont Farm, later Wydeacre Farm. He died Feb. 7, 2025, in Portland, surrounded by family at the Cedars care facility where he lived for the last six years of his life near his wife Mary Anne. They had relocated to Portland from their home and garden in York. Dr. Charlie was 92 years old.

He was predeceased by his parents, Edmund Coe Smith and Clare Sylvene Mason Smith; brother, Albert Coe Smith and wife Lucia Smith, sister, Jane Clare Smith Mills and husband Milton Mills.

He is survived by his wife, MaryAnne Myers Smith; children, Philip G. Smith, Ian M. Smith, Barbara E. Smith; grandchildren, Austin E. Smith, Meredith A. (Meddy Smith), Gavin Smith, Samatha P. Smith; and nieces and nephews too numerous to name

There will be a Celebration of Life June 28, at the Bethel UCC church, There will be a Celebration of Life June 28, at the Bethel UCC church, 32 Church St., Bethel, at 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.