OWLS HEAD — Edward W. “Ned” Gaunce, 77, former vice-president and treasurer of Lawry Brothers Funeral Home in Fairfield, died unexpectedly on Oct. 27, 2016, with his wife at his side, in the home he loved at the water's edge, quickly in the manner he would have scripted.

Born in Waterville on Jan. 23, 1939, he was the son of Frederick J. and Leone Washburn Gaunce. He was a graduate of Coburn Classical Institute, the University of Maine at Orono and New England Institute of Anatomy and Embalming in Boston, Mass. With his partner Thomas G. Lord, Ned purchased Lawry Brothers Funeral Home in 1964. He retired in 1999, turning Lawry Brothers Funeral Home over to Jeff Forsythe.

He was a member of Maine Funeral Directors Association, National Funeral Directors Association, Central Lodge #45 A.F.&A.M. of China, the Maine Consistory of Portland, Kora Shrine Temple of Lewiston and the Mid Coast Shrine Club. He was a past president of the Fairfield Kiwanis Club and past Commander of the Kennebec River Power Squadron, in which he held the grade of navigator. For many winters he was a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla in Fort Pierce, Fla., where he held the rank of coxswain, in charge of member crew training.

Ned (Ed) loved boats and anything on the water, but especially in Penobscot Bay, where he boated many years. For more than 30 years, he was a member of Dr. Ed Morse's Ginn and Tonic Yacht Club, enjoying all the boating privileges and good times afforded by that organization of friends. Ned's wife, Meg, wrote a song in which she used his words about his feelings for the water called, "One More Day on the Water." "And when the role's called up yonder, I won't be easy to find, the bay has so many islands, and leaving this bay that's the one thing I'll mind."

He would add with great feeling that his family was truly his greatest joy and boating on the bay a distant second.

Ned is survived by his wife, Marilyn “Meg” of Owls Head; his daughter, Sue Gaunce Booth and her husband, Paul; and two grandsons, Ryan and Kyle Booth, all of Northfield, Vt.; one sister, Ann Sylvester and her husband, Jack; one niece and one nephew, all of China, Maine; as well as several cousins.

Friends and relatives are invited to visit on Wednesday, Nov. 2, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. at Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock St. in Rockland. A funeral service will be held at the funeral home on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 2 p.m. The Rev. Ronald Morrell Sr., pastor of China Baptist Church, will officiate. A reception will follow at the funeral home's 104 Limerock reception center.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Pope Memorial Humane Society of Knox County, P.O. Box 1294, Rockland, ME 04841 or to Guiding Eyes for the Blind, 611 Granite Springs Road, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, Attn: Internet Processing.