The Bethel Historical Society’s former executive director, Stan Howe, died Feb. 22 at age 81, according to a Jan. 23 Facebook announcement.

Howe dedicated much of his life to preserving Bethel-area history. He served as curator and director for 36 years, from 1974 to 2010. A 1962 graduate of Gould Academy, he attended the University of Southern Maine and held a master’s degree in American history from the University of Connecticut. He also earned a doctorate in Canadian history from the University of Maine.

Under his leadership, the Bethel Historical Society expanded its focus to include the history of western Maine and the White Mountain region of Maine and New Hampshire. He increased the society’s endowment and wrote and lectured on many subjects related to Maine history.

“For many of our longtime members and supporters, Stan was synonymous with the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society,” Executive Director Will Chapman said.

Howe was born in 1943 in Lewiston, to Rodney Kimball Howe and Geraldine Alma Stanley Howe. He was the oldest of five children, including Greg, Sue, Allan and Cathy. They grew up on Bethel’s Intervale Road, then known as East Bethel Road, near Bean Corner.

Howe liked to provoke his siblings, his sister Sue said, but only to see what their response would be. She described Howe as an academic child, influenced by his paternal grandmother, Edith Howe, who lived in an upstairs apartment. Edith was good friends with Eva Bean, author of “East Bethel Road.” Both women loved history and passed that love on to Howe.

“He was interested in history from a very early age,” Sue said.

She said he created a life separate from the rest of the family, influenced in part by summers working at a Hudson Bay camp. As a child, he traveled to Europe through Rotary and continued to travel as an adult.

He doted on his cats, Sue said.

“He talked about Chester like he was the king of the world.” During long phone conversations when Sue was living in Arizona, “he’d finally start talking about his cats and I knew it was time to hang up.”

Sue said when Howe was a Bethel selectman, the road’s name was changed to Intervale.

“I told him his grandmother, mother, and father would have been very upset to learn he had changed the name of their road,” she recalled.

Howe lived independently most of his life, Sue said. However, for the past three years, he was cared for by Sue living in Scarborough and by Randy Bennett, former Museums of the Bethel Historical Society director, in Bethel.

“(Randy) was very devoted to Stan,” Sue said.

Howe received the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce’s Henry H. Hastings Award for Citizenship and Gould Academy’s Alumnus of the Year Award. The Bethel Rotary Club also recognized him as a Paul Harris Fellow.

“He made everyone feel welcome here and was always extremely generous with his time,” Chapman said in the Facebook post. “Even in the years after his retirement, he was frequently on site to greet visitors, offer impromptu tours, and share his knowledge and stories. He was a giant of Maine history and will be greatly missed.”

Comments on Facebook recall Howe’s generosity with his time and his welcoming nature. One commenter called Howe, “A father of Bethel history.”

In 2013, the Bethel Historical Society honored Howe, then executive director emeritus, with a retirement birthday party on the grounds of the Moses Mason House. Bennett took over as executive director from Howe.

Although Howe had retired at the end of 2012, he continued to volunteer at the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society for many more years.

“He was funny right up until the end,” Sue said.

A memorial service will likely take place in early summer at the Hastings House.