CAMDEN – Joseph Rooney McMorrow left this world with the same integrity and dignity in which he lived on Friday, March 16, at Penobscot Bay Medical Center.

Following a stroke, he graciously rallied for a few days to regale his family with his favorite tales and memories. Staying true to character he lead with his sense of humor, saying “if I didn’t have a sense of humor, I’d be in trouble,” as he grinned and ordered a glass of beer in Spanish.

Born on January 2, 1919, in Dorchester, Mass., he was the son of Anastasia Egan and William McMorrow.

He never let a day go by without asking what he could do for someone other than himself. He often said he’d wished he’d been a New Years baby, because the gifts given to the first born of the year would have benefited his mother, who raised three children alone after the death of his father three weeks prior to his birth.

As a boy growing up in Boston, he spent most of his free time at Fenway Park, cheering for the Sox, until he was blessed with the opportunity to go to summer camp in Maine. His experience at Camp Gregory changed the course of his life.

During the early 1940s in Maine, he met and married Eileen M. Gower of Bar Harbor, joined the U.S. Navy, and began his journey as the father of fourteen children. Joe and Eileen eventually settled in Lewiston, on No Name Pond Road.

On “the farm” they chopped wood, carried water and raised their children to be self sufficient and hard working. One of Joe’s favorite sayings was “an armful of wood for everyone,” which meant about a dozen kids got up and got wood. Everyone helped and everyone benefited.

He was a man of faith, dedicated to his church, his family and to the Boston Red Sox. Suffice to say, Joe thought he’d died and gone to heaven the day the Sox won the pennant in 2005.

With a penchant for poetry and a passion for politics, he often shared his love of words and language as gifts to friends, as thanks to a kind neighbor or for political discourse.

As a lifelong Democrat, he often wrote letters to the editor in support of his candidates, always careful to never offend those who saw life through the opposing lens, yet strongly rooting for the candidates he believed would support even the weakest among us.

It was 1986 when Joe and Eileen decided to retire to the coast. Finding the last “deal” in Camden, and proud of it, they settled on Belmont Avenue, Joe cultivating his garden and Eileen nurturing her new friendships in their adopted community.

Joe not only talked the talk, he walked the walk. He never missed an opportunity to say a kind word or help his fellowman. As soon as they were settled, he began to volunteer at St. Bernard’s Soup Kitchen, the Aldemere Farm, and Coastal Family Hospice. In 2000, he was the recipient of the Volunteer of the Year Award from the Camden Area Chamber of Commerce.

In December of 1992, he said goodbye to Eileen, mother of his children and beloved partner of 50 years, after her 5-year battle with cancer.

As a hospice volunteer in 1993, Joe met Virginia O’Connell of Camden. Delighted with her passion for politics and baseball, the two hit it off, and were married in May of 1995.

A voracious reader, McMorrow researched the most effective ways to keep the mind sharp upon aging. At the age of 89, Joe made a commitment to study Spanish daily, as well as write his poems and limericks, so that he’d always have a gift to give those who were kind to him.

He was predeceased by his first wife, Eileen; two sons, James, who died in Vietnam, and Denis and a daughter, Amy, who died as infants, a brother and a sister.

Surviving are his wife, Virginia O.C. McMorrow of Camden; his children, Gregory of Thorndike, Mary McMorrow-Adams of Southwest Harbor, Peggy McMorrow-Pulsifer of Minot, Sheila McMorrow-Tuttle of Harpswell, Jody of Mechanic Falls, J. Brendan of Freeport, Matt of Oxford, Chris of Waterville, Torie McMorrow-Hallock of Mount Desert, Patrick of Sabattus and Kate McMorrow of Camden; 26 grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren.