SPRINGVALE – Wayne E. Hartford, a longtime resident of Joy Street, Springvale, died Jan. 23, 2019,  at Sanford’s Greenwood Center, after 22 months of declining health. He was 93 years old.

The son of the late Fred F. and Georgia B. (Philpott) Hartford, Mr. Hartford was born Sept. 14, 1925, and raised in Sanford.

A proficient snare drummer at age 12, Mr. Hartford was a Sanford High School Band member by the seventh grade. He was also a member of the Sanford Mill Band before graduating from Sanford High School in 1943.

A veteran of the U.S. Navy in World War II, Mr. Hartford enlisted in 1943, first serving in Argentia, Newfoundland.

Transferred to the West Coast in 1944, Mr. Hartford was a plank owner of the seaplane tender USS Norton Sound (AV-11), but also served aboard another, the USS Curtiss (AV-4), while attached to the Admiral’s staff for Commander, Fleet Air Wing One.

While aboard the USS Curtiss (AV-4), Mr. Hartford survived a kamikaze attack that killed 35.

He also served on other ships, including the USS Shelikof (AVP-52) and the USS Suisun (AVP-53.)

Discharged as a Yeoman Second Class in 1946, Mr. Hartford earned the Combat Action Ribbon, Navy Good Conduct Medal, China Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two battle stars (Okinawa, 3rd Fleet Operations against Japan), World War II Victory Medal, and the Navy Occupation Service Medal with Asia (Japan) clasp.

Mr. Hartford also received a Commanding Officer Commendation from Rear Admiral J. D. Price, Commander, Fleet Air Wing One, for participation in an armed landing party that rescued personnel off Aka Shima island during the battle for Okinawa.

After the Navy, Mr. Hartford used the G.I. Bill to obtain an accounting degree from Boston University, graduating in 1950.

Mr. Hartford was briefly employed in the Sanford textile mills, and then Rumford’s Oxford Paper Company for fourteen years, before returning to the Sanford area in the mid-sixties for work in area banks.

Retiring in 1983 from Northeast Bank, Mr. Hartford was active in his son Brion’s Hartford Equipment Repair & Towing business and in documenting the transformation of several Springvale structures.

He photographed the Springvale Public Library remodeling and addition, the conversion of the former Springvale Town Hall to the home of the Sanford-Springvale Historical Society Building, the restoration of the former Nasson Gym to the Nasson Community Center and the Little Theater restoration.

Mr. Hartford was predeceased by his wife of 47 years, Jocelyn (Robbins) Hartford, in 1997 and his brother, Clarence G. Hartford, of Millinocket in 1998.

Mr. Hartford is survived by two sons, Brion J. Hartford and his wife, Jocelyn, of Sanford and Robin W. Hartford and his wife, Cynthia Sullivan, of Amesbury, Mass., three grandchildren; Mathew Hartford, his wife Alicia, and their daughters, Ella and Sable, of Springvale, Adam Hartford, his wife Casey, and their sons, Griffin and Tucker, of Springvale, and Nathan Sevigny, his wife, Amy, and their sons, Jack and “CJ”, and daughters, Sadie, Paige, and Sophie, of Springvale, and several cousins.

A celebration of  life ceremony, will be held on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019, at 12 p.m., at the Carll-Heald & Black Funeral Home, 580 Main St., Springvale, where relatives and friends are invited to call from 10 a.m., until service time.

Arrangements are under the direction of Black Funeral Homes & Cremation Service, Sanford-Springvale. Condolences can be expressed at www.blackfuneralhomes.com.

Those planning an expression of sympathy are asked to consider:

The Sanford-Springvale Historical Society

505 Main Street

Springvale, ME  04083

or visit:

www.sanfordhistory.org