SOUTH FREEPORT – Barbara Parker Hadlock, of South Freeport, passed away at home in Portland on Sept. 6, 2023 at the age of 97, surrounded by family.

Barbara Stinson Parker was born in Goffstown, N.H. in 1925, the youngest of four children of Harry Stinson Parker and Shirley Hammond Whipple Parker.

Barbara developed an early love for the outdoors, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and particularly hiking and skiing, which she continued throughout her life.

Barbara attended the Northfield School for Girls, St. Lawrence University (where she was President of Student Government) and Radcliffe College before working for the Bank of Boston. Her childhood in the Depression in rural New Hampshire was a source of the gratitude and compassion she had throughout her life.

In 1952, Barbara married William “Bill” Hadlock after he proposed three times. The third time Bill asked “will you marry me, or should I go buy a boat?” Bill got his bride and his boat, too, which he named the “Danny” after Barbara’s teenage nickname.

The couple fell in love with the village of South Freeport and raised their three children on and off the water, sailing most of the Maine coast in the schooner “Danny Too,” or later in their beloved Hudson River Sloop, the “Heritage.” They raced and cruised for three decades until Bill’s untimely death in 1986.

Barbara remained a pillar of the South Freeport community for six decades. Barbara and Bill joined the Harraseeket Yacht Club immediately after its founding in the 1950s and worked to actively fulfill its core mission around youth sailing. Barbara was a founding member and devoted volunteer at Freeport Community Services, a decades-long member of the South Freeport Church choir, and a member of the Freeport Historical Society. When South Freeport needed a Girl Scout troop in the 1960s, Barbara stepped up to be its Brownie troop leader.

Barbara had a keen sense of history and made sure her children witnessed events such as the last log drive on the Kennebec, and Freeport’s final Annual Town Meeting.

In the 1970s, Barbara and Bill were also founding members of the Freeport Conservation Trust, seeking to protect the area’s natural beauty during rapid development in the 1970s and 1980s.

Barbara was an enthusiastic skier from her youth before lift service, as an adult skiing Saddleback for decades, and later in life skiing the Alps with good friends; and white water rafting down the Grand Canyon with her brother, Hank, nieces and nephews, at the age of 79.

She was an avid fan and supporter of the Portland Symphony Orchestra and loved a night out at their concerts.

Throughout her life, Barbara showed irrepressible generosity and a spirit of true community, finding ways to give, and quietly taking responsibility for making the world around her a better place. Even when her age made hiking a challenge, it was impossible for her to walk any trail without clearing branches along the way, picking up litter, and leaving it better than she had found it. In South Freeport, Barbara was known for her warmth and energy in meeting any challenge or supporting any project that came her way, as well as the rare grace and character with which she moved through her long life.

Barbara is remembered with gratitude and love by the many South Freeporters for whom she was a beloved neighbor and friend. She represented the best of her generation, and she is sorely missed.

Barbara is survived by children, Robin Hadlock Seeley and spouse Thomas Seeley, Susan Hadlock and partner Don Kohlmann, and Parker Hadlock; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

She was predeceased by her husband, Bill Hadlock; three siblings, Hank Parker, Peg Curtis and Charlotte Fisher; and her daughter-in-law, Laurie Hadlock.

Barbara’s family is grateful for the warmth and caring of staff at her last home at The Cedars in Portland.

There will be a remembrance at the South Freeport Community Hall on Oct. 21 at 4:30 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Barbara’s memory to

Freeport Community Services, in Freeport.

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