Funeral Alternatives Make a payment online Funeral Alternatives

Maine's Cremation Authority

« Obituaries | Daniel Winston Powell

Obituary
view guestbook | sign guestbook

Daniel Winston Powell

Date of Death: March 7, 2019

Date of Birth: October 31, 1949

Biography:

DANIEL WINSTON POWELL

October 31, 1949 – March 7, 2019

 

PORTLAND, MAINE — Daniel Winston Powell, of 85 Park Street, Portland, Maine, passed away early on the morning of March 7, 2019. By his side were his life partner and best friend of 47 years, James Bruni, along with Dan's sister Molly Powell and her husband, Max Ledoux.

Born October 31, 1949, in Pensacola, Florida, Dan was the son of Flora Ivey Powell and the late Josiah Whittaker Powell III. As a Navy kid, Dan lived in many places growing up, including Florida, Maryland, and Tennessee. His ancestral home was Houlton, Maine, and as a child he often visited his grandfather Byron Ivey's potato farm in Linneus, Maine.

Dan graduated from Phillips Academy Andover and then attended the University of North Carolina at Raleigh. After hitchhiking across the country to San Francisco, he returned to college at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, where he received a B.A. in English. He also studied at the Nova Scotia Technical College and the Boston Architectural Center, where he received a master's degree in architecture. As an architect, Dan worked at firms in Boston; Portland, Maine; and San Francisco. For the past 25 years, he worked as a mitigation specialist and architect for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Traveling was Dan's great passion. His favorite countries were Turkey, Egypt, and especially Italy, which he and Mr. Bruni visited many times over the years. Rome and Istanbul were his favorite cities. A high point for him was walking the Camino Portugues in 2013 with Mr. Bruni. His last and happiest adventure, also with Mr. Bruni, was the transatlantic crossing on the Queen Mary 2 in November 2018.

Although he traveled many places, he loved Portland. In 1988, he and Mr. Bruni were two of "the Portland Seven" arrested in a street protest to prevent the demolition of several historic buildings on Park Street.

Throughout his life, Dan enthusiastically played games of all sorts: board games, strategy games, card games, computer games, and 3-D puzzles. In the last weeks of his life, he beat his sister at gin rummy, much to his delight. Always quick to laugh, he had an easy smile and an occasionally acerbic tongue. He was a devoted son who loved spending time with his mother. Long a spiritual man, he converted to Catholicism near the end of his life.

He is predeceased by his father, Josiah Whittaker Powell III, and by his brother Josiah Whittaker Powell IV. He is survived by his partner, James Bruni, of Portland; his mother, Flora Ivey Powell, of Houlton; his brother Byron Powell, of Bangor; his sister Jean Powell and her partner, Harriet Berube, of Fall River, Massachusetts; and his sister Molly Powell and her husband, Max Ledoux, of Tuftonboro, New Hampshire.

There will be no funeral service, but a memorial will be held at a later time.

A Mass will be said for Dan at 5 p.m. on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 12, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 307 Congress Street, Portland. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Dan's name to the Center for Wildlife in Cape Neddick, Maine (thecenterforwildlife.org, or P.O. Box 620, Cape Neddick, Maine 03902).

 

Funeral Alternatives offers cremation services, burial and funeral services, pre-need packages, and memorial merchandise.

Offices in Lewiston, Brunswick, and Augusta Maine.
Serving Androscoggin County, Cumberland County, Kennebec County, and surrounding areas.

Cities & Towns Served

 

Join Funeral Alternatives on Facebook

© Copyright Funeral Alternatives ~ Maine website by Barnstormer Design Group