Richard Sweet Armstrong of Castine, Maine, died January 12. He was the former owner of Fiddler’s Cove Marina in North Falmouth, spent a term as a selectman in Falmouth, and represented the town on the Cape Cod Commission for five years, serving as the first commission chairman.
The son of Marian H. and Paul F. Armstrong, he was born in 1944 and grew up in North Attleboro, with summers spent on Cape Cod. His maternal grandparents, former Attleboro mayor Harold E. Sweet and Gertrude (Hunton) Sweet, were longtime summer residents of Nye’s Cliff, and the naming of Sweet Road in North Falmouth was made official as “a part of the town’s road system,” reported the Enterprise on July 19, 1957.
A member of the Class of 1961 at North Attleboro High School, Mr. Armstrong went on to earn degrees in naval architecture and marine engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1965, followed by a master’s in civil engineering at MIT in 1966. He also earned a bachelor of divinity from Episcopal Theological School in 1969 and was an ordained priest of the Episcopal Church.
At the age of 9, he began working at a dairy farm where he developed his lifelong love of animals, tractors and other machinery.
Mr. Armstrong owned a hardware store in North Falmouth in addition to the marina. He also spent five years as a research associate at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
He served for two years as the assistant secretary of the state Executive Office of Environmental Affairs and for several years as commonwealth director of port development/executive secretary of the Massachusetts Governor’s Seaport Advisory Council. During his tenure on the council in the mid-1990s, Mr. Armstrong was said to view the reestablishment of a New Bedford-Island ferry route as “inevitable.”
During his career, he spent time in higher education as well, working as an admissions officer at MIT and in the dean’s office at Harvard College. Most recently, he taught electrical engineering at Maine Maritime Academy.
Mr. Armstrong loved the water and was a skilled mariner. He had the ability to fix anything and was able to guide his boat, Frolic, through any type of weather. He often used his engineering skills to find creative ways to manage his boats, maintain his property and care for his cars and tractors.
Throughout his life he found joy in model railroads and train collecting; he often spent the winter months improving his train layout.
He was active in community service in Castine, where he made his home.
He leaves his wife, Carol Adams; two daughters, Mary French of Portland, Maine, and Laura Ferrari of Dover; two grandsons, Holden Ferrari and Oliver Ferrari; his stepchildren, Kimberly Flynn of Boston and Clayton Small of San Antonio, Texas; two step-grandchildren, Walker Small and Shelby Small; his sisters Paula Kandarian of North Attleboro and Judith Davis of Plainville; and extended family.
He was preceded in death by his sister Marcia Armstrong.
A memorial celebration is planned for a later date.
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