Bangor business leader G. Clifton Eames died Thursday at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center. He was 98.
In addition to working in his family’s business for 42 years — retiring as president of N.H. Bragg & Sons of Bangor in 1992 — Eames was active on numerous boards and in many civic, business and charitable associations throughout his life.
The Rev. Chad Poland, pastor of All Souls Congregational Church in Bangor, said Eames, who sang in the church choir up until just a few weeks ago, held the longest continuous membership in the church’s history at nearly 83 years.
“The words that come to mind when I think of Clif are steadfast, faithful,” Poland said. “He truly showed up in everything he did.”
Eames’ neighbor, Ben Sprague, a former Bangor city councilor and current school committee member, recalled a recent conversation with Eames in a Facebook post.
“Barely a month ago, Clif sat with my 11-year-old and me … and we talked about how he was just a teenager when World War II began, but by the end of it, he was sailing off in the Navy, fortunately just as the war was ending,” Sprague wrote on Facebook.
“He was always taking time to talk to our kids — how many opportunities today are there for a 90-plus-year-old to have a meaningful intergenerational connection with those who are just getting started in life?” Sprague wrote.
Former Brewer Mayor Bev Uhlenhake wrote on Facebook that Eames was dedicated to every cause he agreed to participate in. “Clif was absolutely one of my heroes,” she wrote. “Even though he was almost 98 years old, we’ve lost Clif too early.”
Bangor City Councilor and Penobscot County Commissioner Dan Tremble first met Eames about 35 years ago, when Eames was a customer at the Fairmount Market, which Tremble owns.
“You could fill the whole newspaper with the things Clif did for the city of Bangor,” he said. “I can’t imagine anyone doing any more for the community of Bangor than he did.”
“In my time serving on the city council, Clif was one of the first people I turned to when I needed advice,” said Tremble. But even with all of his accomplishments, Tremble said Eames was “a Mainer.”
“Two or three years ago, he was in one day to get a sandwich and said he was going to camp. He said he had to paint the legs of his dock before the dock went in for the season,” he remembered. “He was in his nineties and could have hired someone to do it for him, but he was going to do it himself.”
Bangor City Councilor Rick Fournier called Eames “truly one of a kind.”
He said for years, Eames encouraged him to run for a council seat. “I told him I’d run only if he became my treasurer, and that’s what he did,” Fournier recalled. “Clif didn’t have an ego. He didn’t boast about his contributions.”
Eames held leadership positions in many of the organizations he belonged to.
According to his obituary, he served as president of the Bangor Jaycees, chairman of the Bangor Planning Board, campaign chairman and board chairman of the United Way, as well as board chairman of Eastern Maine Medical Center and Eastern Maine Healthcare. He was also a founding director of Eastern Maine Healthcare System, chairman of the board of Bangor Savings Bank and a director of Bangor Hydro Electric Co.
He was a lifelong member of All Souls Congregational Church, where he served terms as moderator, trustee, deacon and treasurer. He also sang in the church choir for more than 70 years and, according to his obituary, was a founding member of “The Landlords,” a local male choral group with which he was associated for more than 65 years.
Eames, a lifelong Bangor resident, was born in 1927 and graduated from the University of Maine after serving in the U.S. Navy. He is survived by his wife, Kay Byther Eames; daughter, Katherine of Brewer; and son, Jonathan of Cumberland Center.
