MacKenzie, James, 102, March 4, 2013. Graveside funeral services will be held in the spring at the Millinocket Cemetery. Arrangements by Bowers Funeral Home.
MILLINOCKET and
HOULTON – James MacKenzie, 102, died peacefully and went to be with his Lord and Savior March 4, 2013, at a Houlton nursing facility. He was born Aug. 10, 1910, in Millinocket, one of 19 children born to James and Carrie (Skinner) MacKenzie.
James will be remembered by many as a very generous and care-giving man, who lived a rich and long life. Some interesting highlights of his life are – he was a veteran of the U.S. Navy, serving in World War II in the Pacific Theatre on the USS Electra; he witnessed the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima; and he and some buddies in 1927 carried cement and water to the summit of Mount Katahdin and built there the monument making the mountain exactly one mile high.
He worked as a barber and a fruit inspector on the East Coast, and a police commissioner and a business retailer in California. His hobbies were fishing and searching for moose in the shadows of Mount Katahdin. Jim and wife, Laura, traveled from California to Maine 36 consecutive years to visit friends and family.
He is survived by two grandchildren, Bryant Henderson and wife, Joan, and Carol Jean Henderson; one great-grandson, Jedediah Henderson; stepson, Ronald Murray and wife, Mary, of Hodgdon; stepdaughter, Linda Courter and husband, Dan, of Moultonborough, N.H.; several stepgrandchildren, great-stepgrandchildren, brothers and sisters. He was predeceased by his parents; three wives, Helen Giberson, Laura Siebel and Helen Barnes Murray; daughter, Carolyn Venable; and several siblings.
Graveside funeral services will be held in the spring at Millinocket Cemetery. For an online memory book and to leave condolences, please visit www.bowersfuneral.com.
