ROCKLAND — Wendell Bliss Lewis Sr., 96, died May 15, 2016, at Pen Bay Medial Center, following a period of declining health.

Born in Bath on Jan. 18, 1920, he was the son of Everett C. and Maude B. Bliss Lewis. While growing up in Topsham, Wendell attended local schools and was a 1938 graduate of Brunswick High School.

He first worked at Cabot Manufacturing in Brunswick in the spinning and card room. During that winter he worked at Brunswick Hardware. During World War II, Wendell worked at the South Portland Shipyard, later at Bath Iron Works and ultimately moved to South San Francisco, Calif., where he was employed at Hunters Point U.S. Naval Base. In 1945, he returned to Maine and attended Maine Central Railroad Telegraph School in Portland. For more than 35 years, he worked at MCRR in various positions, with the last being agent at the Rockland Station, from which he retired in 1981.

Pursuing his railroad career caused Wendell to move often with his family. They lived in Brunswick, Topsham, Augusta, Gardiner, Wiscasset, Yarmouth and Rockland.

Wendell married Marjorie Dutton in Brunswick on Feb. 17, 1946. They raised three children. Marjorie died May 30, 1992. He later married Louise M. Knight in Rockland on May 1, 1993.

Wendell was an active member of First Baptist Church of Rockland, where he served many years as church treasurer, and several terms on the Board of Trustees. More recently, he was a member of the Spruce Head Community Church.

For many years, he was a licensed ham radio operator with the call sign K1RPE.

In addition to his parents; and his first wife, Marjorie; Wendell was predeceased by his sister, Barbra F. Tenneson in 1997; and one son, Wendell B. Lewis Jr. in 2009. He is survived by his wife, Louise M. Lewis of Rockland; two sons, Daniel E. Lewis and his wife, Kathy, of St. Petersburg, Fla., and Kenneth C. Lewis and his wife, Sharon, of Holden; a daughter-in-law, Lorna Lewis of Scarborough; four grandchildren, Katrina, Dawn, Aaron and Amy; and six great-grandchildren, Benjamin, Nicholas, Adam, Hayley, Natalie and Kylee.

Friends and relatives are invited to visit Monday, May 23, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock St. in Rockland, where a funeral service will be held Tuesday, May 24, at 1 p.m. The Rev. Russell Bailey will officiate. Interment will follow in Oak Hill Cemetery in Camden.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Cancer Care of Maine, c/o EMHS Foundation, P.O. Box 931, Bangor, ME 04402-0931.