Michael H. Payson Sr.

FALMOUTH – Michael H. Payson Sr. was born in Portland, Maine on Dec. 11, 1932, to Herbert Jr. and Eileen McHenry Payson. He had one older brother, Herbert III. Mike was a rebellious free spirit, jazz drummer, world traveler, outdoor adventurer and, perhaps to his own surprise, a career economist. Most remarkably, he maintained all these qualities and passions after contracting Guillain-Barre syndrome resulting in full paralysis in his late ’30s. He passed away peacefully at his home on Dec. 24, 2023.

Mike’s family spent their early years in Bingham, where his father owned and ran a mill that manufactured high-end plywood for military planes during World War II. In Bingham, Mike developed his love for the outdoors. It was also in Bingham where a friend suggested he consider Phillips Andover Academy, which he attended until his free spirit encountered the school rules, resulting in a short diversion to Hebron Academy in Maine.

He returned to Andover and after graduation attended Dartmouth College where he studied English literature, skied competitively and played jazz drums. He absolutely loved his time at Dartmouth. He paid for college through the ROTC, and in 1958 enlisted for four years in the Air Force. He served as a B47 bombardier and navigator, attaining the rank of captain. He was proud of his service, relieved he never had to deploy a nuclear weapon and fondly recalled playing his best jazz in local clubs while stationed in Houston, Texas.

During these formative years, Mike skied, toured South America playing jazz, and climbed the Matterhorn. He also explored his career options. He worked at the Westbrook American newspaper with his cousin and dear friend, Roger Snow. He attended Harvard Law School for a year where he confirmed his suspicion that he did not, in fact, want to be a lawyer. And while economics also seemed an unlikely choice for a writer and jazz musician, he completed the full three years of doctoral work in Economics at the MIT Sloan School before being lured to West Africa for an economic development project. Mike so enjoyed his work in Africa that he joined the World Bank, where he spent his entire professional career as a Senior Economist in Africa and Resident Representative in Ethiopia.

Mike met and married Martha (Marby) Willing in 1958 upon his return from military service. They raised five children, living briefly in Nahant, Mass., and then in Chevy Chase, Md., near the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C.. Mike traveled most of the year, but spent his summers in Maine with Marby, his mother and his children.

It was during a trip to Tunisia in 1970 that he contracted Guillain-Barre syndrome and suffered the immediate onset of full paralysis. Fortunately, a floating hospital, the Ship Hope, was in a nearby port and provided the medical care that saved his life. He was airlifted to Frankfurt and spent a full year in hospitals in Boston and Maine before returning to Washington, D.C., in a wheelchair.

Through diligent rehabilitation and sheer strength of will, Mike learned to walk again with braces and crutches. He returned to his World Bank career, international travel and his jazz drums. Ever defiant, he bought an over-powered, bright red AMC Hornet sport coup, fitted it with hand controls, and ran a four-inch white racing stripe across the top from front to rear.

Mike and Marby divorced in 1974. He met his second wife, Barbara Ungar, in 1980. Barbara was a classical piano teacher and docent at the museum of African Art and had two children from her former marriage. They lived in Washington for two years and, both feeling drawn to Africa, moved to Ethiopia for a five-year Resident Representative position for the World Bank.

After exploring so much of the world, there was no place Mike loved more than Maine. In 1991 he and Barbara retired and moved to his parents’ family home on Thornhurst Road in Falmouth. Mike was a life-long sailor—they bought a one-half share of a 30-foot, single-masted Nonsuch sailboat and cruised the entire coast of Maine. While he vehemently rejected his children’s assertion that he was prone to maritime mishap, he reluctantly acknowledged you might find paint from the keel of the Nonesuch on Lower Basket Ledge.

Mike continued to play jazz in Maine and for some time played a regular gig at the Porthole restaurant in Portland. He spoke fluent French, to the delight of his mother – a French teacher at Waynflete School – and he was active in the local French club well into his eighties. He took writing classes and wrote stories and poetry. He served on the board of the University of Southern Maine School of Music. But perhaps more than anything, he loved being at his family home in Falmouth, reading on the brick terrace, playing scrabble with Barbara, and often just sitting, quietly, peacefully, looking out on the waters of Casco Bay.

He is remembered for his kind heart, strong will, and love of his Maine home and the extended family he hosted there each Fourth of July. A gracious gentleman with charming, understated humor, often seen wearing a beret, he was generous and curious and always up for an adventure.

He is survived by his wife Barbara U. Payson; former wife Marby Payson; five children; Margaretta (Getty) Payson and husband Bob Murray, Michael Payson Jr. and wife Susan Payson, Catherine (Katie) Payson and wife Celine Manville, Rachel Porterfield and husband Hayes Porterfield, and Sophie Payson-Rand and husband Pete Rand; his step children Jennifer Piette and Peter Field (deceased), and 11 grandchildren; Maxwell Payson, Abby Payson, Ben Payson, Morgan Rand, Kyle Rand, Eileen Porterfield, Evan Porterfield, Hannah Piette, Lilian Piette and Maximilian Piette.

A Memorial Service will be held 2 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024, at The Episcopal Church of St. Mary, 43 Foreside Road, Falmouth.

Arrangements are with Lindquist Funeral Home, One Mayberry Lane, Yarmouth.

Memorial donations may be made to http://www.MercyShips.org, http://www.CascoBay.org or http://www.usm.maine.edu/osher-school-music