C. Warren Ring, development officer (1961-68); executive secretary (1968-71); VP for development (1971-81), died on October 24, 2015, in Brunswick.
(The following appeared online at brackettfuneralhome.com):
Charles Warren Ring Jr. (“Johnny”) of Brunswick, Maine, died peacefully at home of cancer on Oct. 24, surrounded by family. He was born in Fall River, Mass., on April 2, 1936, the son of Charles Warren Ring and Constance Varney Ring. After many years of long summer visits, the family moved to “Meadowsweet” on Adams Road in 1947.
After attending public schools in Fall River and Brunswick, he graduated from the Taft School in Watertown, Conn., in 1955, where he set a handful of track records. He graduated from Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., Class of 1959. At Hamilton, he was a member of Theta Delta Chi Fraternity and sang with the Hamilton College Chorus and Chapel Choir. He and his first wife, the former Margaret (“Peggy”) Thomas, were married for 18 years.
A Navy veteran, he attended the U.S.N. Officer Candidate School in Newport, R.I., and was stationed in Brunswick, where he was assigned to the Naval Air Station’s Administration Department. Following the Navy, he began an illustrious career in fundraising when he joined Bowdoin College in 1961 as a development officer. In the late-1970s, he became vice president for development and director of the Bowdoin College 175th Anniversary Campaign. He was a founder and administrator of Bowdoin’s Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and represented Bowdoin during the formation of the Public Radio Network, WCBB, with Bates and Colby colleges.
While at Bowdoin, he attended the Institute for Educational Management course at the Harvard Business School in Cambridge, Mass. He was a member of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, having served as a member of the District One Executive Committee; the American Management Association; and the College and University Personnel Association.
In 1950, as the second-youngest Eagle Scout in the country, he traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet President Harry S. Truman, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover and other government leaders, Senators, and Congressmen. He served as President of the Pine Tree Council, Boy Scouts of America, and later received the Silver Beaver Award in recognition of his outstanding service to the scouting movement. The Dining Hall/Conference Center at the Boy Scouts’ “Camp William Hinds” is named in Johnny’s honor. In addition, he served his community as president of the Board of Trustees of the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath; vice chairman of the Board of Directors, STAR Foundation in Portland; and as an officer and director of the Schooner Bowdoin Association. He was chairman of the Board of Selectmen of the Town of Brunswick from 1963 to 1967, during which he greeted President Lyndon B. Johnson at the Naval Air Station, Brunswick.
His life was devoted to giving back to the community. He was active in numerous other community activities, including chair and founding member of the Town Commons Planning Committee, which has recently named a trail in his honor “Johnny’s Trail,” as well as United Way campaigns, the Republican Town, County and State committees, and the Brunswick Rotary Club.
He was director of development at North Yarmouth Academy in Yarmouth and vice president for development at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston. He directed capital campaigns for other Maine institutions, including the Maine Maritime Academy in Castine; the Holocaust Human Rights Center in Augusta; the American Red Cross Mid Coast Chapter; the People’s Regional Opportunity Program in Portland; the Susan L. Curtis Foundation in Portland; the Victoria Mansion in Portland and Thomas College in Waterville.
In 2005, he married Lorraine F. Desjardins. They enjoyed many close friends, boating, gardening, traveling and fine food, as well as spending time with their children and grandchildren of whom they are extremely proud. More recently, Johnny directed the Annual Fund Campaign for Brunswick’s Mid Coast Hospital. His leadership was recognized by the establishment of an “Endowment Fund in Honor of Mr. & Mrs. C. Warren Ring, by their Colleagues and Friends.” In recognition of his decades of dedication to the Maine Maritime Museum, the “Wyoming Alcove” of Sewall Hall will be named the “C. Warren (Johnny) and Lorraine Ring Wyoming Gallery.”
Johnny’s charm, sense of humor, generosity and zest for life will be missed by all of those he touched. He is survived by his beloved wife Lorraine, his sister Ruth Ring and husband James Harvie of Topsham; daughters Betsy Ring of Charlottesville, Va.; Connie Gregg and husband Jim of Lexington, Mass.; Molly Carpenter and husband David of Brunswick; son John Ring and wife Yu Fung of Taipei, Taiwan; niece Margaret Harvie Coon and husband Howard, and nephew John Harvie and husband Andrew Dunn; stepchildren Michelle Cote of Golden, Colo.; and Alex Cote of Topsham. He is survived by eight grandchildren: Nina and Aidan McKee; Emily and Chandler Gregg; Julia and Anna Carpenter; Hannah and William Ring, and was predeceased by an infant granddaughter, Elsie Carpenter.
The family would like to thank Dr. Trudy Chase and her staff at Parkview Hospital, the many staff who cared for him at Mid Coast Hospital and the CHANS hospice team.