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Douglas Grindle

Date of Death: February 14, 2019

Date of Birth: July 7, 1948

Biography:

Douglas Grindle 70, of North Yarmouth passed away in the early hours of Valentine's Day, in his own bed with Polly, his loving wife of nearly of 51 years, snuggled up next to him. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last summer. Doug was born on July 7, 1948 to E. Reid and Anne (Pemberton) Grindle. His younger brother, Donald joined the family later. Doug grew up in Yarmouth, first on Pleasant Street, then on Cousins Island where he loved to swim, ice skate, ride his bike and sail. As a teenager, Doug loved tinkering in the basement, building amplifiers for band equipment for friends and messing with anything electronic. He graduated from Yarmouth High School in 1966, where he excelled in math, was a band member and did lighting for the theater group.

He married Polly Barter in April of 1968, then was drafted into the U.S. Army in May. He was sent to Germany and spent three years there, with Polly and their toddler, Susie joining him. He was an honor graduate from the communications-electronics school in Lenggries, Germany. While stationed in Goppingen, Germany he was trained to repair the IBM mainframe computer, and for something to do, he taught himself to program it. He soon took over the programming duties when the previous programmer was reassigned. He was very good at crunching programs that had taken several days to run, down to a fraction of the time and was awarded a commendation medal for his efforts. He left the the Army as a spec 5, but an acting jack E6.

Because he did not have formal training in computer programming, and computers were relatively new for businesses, he could not find a job in that field after returning to Maine. He worked for Cianbro as a heavy equipment operator, but missed electronics. He worked for a couple of land and marine electronics companies in Portland, then in1979 he went to work at Fairchild in South Portland and soon was programming again. He remained at Fairchild for over thirty-two years and was a senior software engineer when he left. He then was hired by Bates College in Lewiston as a programmer/analyst and loved it there, too. At lunchtime wherever he was, he could be seen out for a walk.

He enjoyed playing chess and taught his daughter, and later his grandchildren, to play when they were very young. Doug was a very patient teacher. When Sue was learning to parallel park, he would take her to practice each night after supper, until she felt ready for her driver's test. He spent many hours teaching his grandchildren card games and to build all sorts of things out of blocks. There wasn't much Doug couldn't do, from plumbing to electrical work. He learned carpentry from his father-in-law and together he and Clayt build a large addition on his and Polly's house. Even after suffering a stroke 4 years ago, Doug continued to do home projects, and most recently he had designed a low voltage lighting system for his home.

He was calm, patient and very reliable. He accepted people as they were and rarely complained. He was a quiet, good person. He was a Trekkie since it first aired and still watched it nearly every day. He loved going to sit by the sea. He loved an Amato's Italian sandwich with a cold Sam Adams. He loved listening to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, et al.

Doug was predeceased by his parents, Anne & Reid Grindle, in-laws Mary & Clayton Barter, sister-in-law Becky Grass and brother-in-law Woody Brown. He is survived by his wife Polly, his daughter Susan and her husband Dan Davidson, grandchildren Max and Rebecca, his brother Don, brother-in-law Fred Barter and sister-in-law Penny Megquier.

Doug requested there be no services. Donations to Hospice of Southern Maine would be wonderful. They were only needed for a few days, but their assistance was invaluable.

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