Irving Howard ‘Mike’ McConchie, 102, passed away with his family present on August 1, 2025, at the Cleveland Clinic, Avon Hospital, in Avon, Ohio, on the day that would have been his beloved wife Gerry’s 103rd birthday.

Born February 7, 1923, on Ash Point in Owls Head, Mike was the son of James Leroy McConchie and Florence (Witham) McConchie. He was given the nickname of Mike as an infant by his maternal grandfather, who had come in from lobstering near Big Green Island a few days after the birth. He announced that he would always call him “Mike,” and so it was for the remainder of his long life.

Mike spent his early years in Owls Head, attending Ash Point School. As he grew older, he had the job of arriving early at school on cold Maine winter mornings to light the wood stove. His family moved to the South End of Rockland and he graduated from Rockland High School in 1941. While in high school, Mike excelled in four sports—football, basketball, baseball, and track. On some days, while playing baseball games on the field near what was to become the South School, Mike would leave the baseball field temporarily to run a track event in his baseball cleats. He earned varsity letters in all four sports.

His love of football especially followed him to Springfield College, where he played on the college football team. In the fall of his sophomore year, he and his fellow teammates approached the local armed services recruiter in Springfield, Massachusetts, to inquire if they could wait until after the end of the football season to enlist. The answer was “Yes,” and Mike then enlisted in the Army Air Corps on November 18, 1942, entered active service on April 13, 1943, and was discharged on February 1, 1946. While in the military, his physical education skills were put to excellent use on Miami Beach, as he led large groups of soldiers during exercise sessions. In the summer of 1945, he received orders to deploy to the Philippines. As he arrived in Warner Robbins, Georgia, on his way to his deployment, he received news of the atomic bomb and the ending of the war. Sergeant McConchie received an honorable discharge on February 1, 1946. Decades later Mike was thrilled to be able to participate in an Honors Flight for Veterans in 2017. He was very moved to visit all the monuments in Washington, DC, dedicated to the military service and the sacrifices of so many.

It had been his intention to return to Springfield College after the war to complete his education but decided instead to pursue the family business of lobstering. He followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and joined his brother Arnold and cousins, lobstering in the vicinity of Big Green Island. Daily the brothers consulted about the weather before setting out, often fishing within sight of one another fifteen miles out from the mainland. Mike lobstered from 1946 until his retirement in 1984. In the early years of lobstering, Mike and his wife, and later his young daughter, Julie, would spend their summers in a small rustic camp on Big Green Island. One of the delights of summer on the island was the holiday from lobstering when all residents of the island gathered for the shearing of the sheep herd that resided year-round on the island.

Mike married his high school sweetheart, Geraldine Norton, on February 12, 1947. They were married for 69 years. At the time of her death in 2016, Mike referred to her as the “rudder of my life.” Mike’s first lobster boat, the Gerry N, was named after her.

Mike and Gerry lived in the early years of their marriage on South Main Street in Rockland, moving to Samoset Road in 1953, and in 1972, back to Owls Head, not far from his boyhood home. For a short time in the 1960’s, he interrupted his lobstering to assume the management of a yacht building company located in the South End of Rockland. Coming home for lunch one summer afternoon, he gazed out toward the calm waters of Rockland harbor, and wistfully commented, “It must be beautiful on the water today.” Not long after that, he returned to the waters of Penobscot Bay to fish.

Beginning in 1984, at the time of his retirement from lobstering, Mike and Gerry began to spend their winters in New Port Richey, Florida, in a golf community, where they were both able to continue their love of playing golf together with friends both old and new. They became permanent residents of Florida beginning in 2011 but never lost their love of the coast of Maine.

Mike moved to Ohio in the summer of 2019 to be close to his daughter Julie and her family, living initially south of Cleveland in Strongsville and for the last two years west of Cleveland in Avon Lake. In both Strongsville and Avon Lake, he made his home in independent living facilities where he was able to make new friends and participate in organized activities. He especially enjoyed the field trips organized by the Strongsville facility.

As a lobster fisherman, Mike led an independent life, but he thrived on his after-fishing activities. Throughout his adult life, Mike believed in participating and being active in civic activities and clubs. Beginning in the mid-1950s Mike served on the School Board of School Administrative District 5, on the Rockland City Council and later as a selectman in Owls Head. He was also chairman of the Building Committee for the new high school. Additionally, Mike was active through the years in the Maine Lobster Association and was a member of the Board of Trustees for Pen Bay Medical Center. He devoted much time and energy to the Rockland Kiwanis Club and to the local chapter of the Masonic Temple. As a Kiwanian, he took great pleasure in organizing and delivering Thanksgiving dinners to those in need.

Mike was greatly loved by his family: his wife, Gerry, and daughter, Julie and Julie’s husband David Forte; and his grandsons, James and William, as well as many nieces and nephews and their extended families.

He was predeceased by his wife, Gerry, in 2016; and his siblings, Arnold L. McConchie (Lucille), Athleen Pease (James), Madelyn Benner (Leroy), and Nathan, who passed shortly after Mike enlisted in the service in World War II. Some of his nieces and nephews regarded him more of a grandfather figure than an uncle.

Throughout the years, Mike also found time to pursue his love of sports, attending RDHS sports events, and watching football and golf especially on TV. He was thrilled to have been able to attend the Masters Tournament in Georgia while residing in Florida. He kept up to date on the stock market and politics throughout the years as well. He was quick to make friends, often extending his bike rides through Owls Head and later Seven Springs in Florida, to chat with old friends and make new acquaintances.

Mike’s was a long life, well-lived, full of hard work and dedication, that earned the love, honor and respect of his family, friends and peers.

A celebration of his life will take place October 17, at 10 a.m., at the Rockland Congregational Church, 180 Limerock Street.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Shriners Hospital for Children at https://shrinerschildrens.org or by mailing a donation to Shriners Children’s/ Attn: Shriners Children’s/ PO Box 947765/Atlanta, GA 30394.

Local arrangements are in the care of Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland. To share a memory or condolence with the McConchie family, please visit their Book of Memories at www.bchfh.com.