None Read Harding

Read Parker “Bones” Harding, a resident of Lincoln, Maine, died Friday, November 21st, 2008 at the Portsmouth Regional Hospital in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  He was 65.  Read was born October 3, 1943 in Boston, MA, a son of the late Francis Appleton and Caroline Goodwin (Read) Harding.  He spent his younger years in Dedham and graduated from Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire and from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst where he studied forestry.  A self-employed master arborist and forester, he worked in New Hampshire in the field that he loved and in which he excelled.  He served in the US Navy during the Vietnam era as a radioman.  Lovingly known as “Bones” to all his friends, he travelled extensively up and down the East Coast in his little white Mazda with his faithful dog Rosie.  One dear friend said she thinks of him as a “treetop philosopher”.  He enjoyed meeting people everywhere he went and made many friendships during his travels.  Read was a member of Horeb Lodge #93 AF & AM of Lincoln, Maine.  He is survived by his wife Rebecca Arlene (Page) Harding; his children , Charity Stashwick and her husband Todd, of Los Angeles, California, Molly Harding of Sag Harbor, New York, Charles Harding of Fredericton, New Brunswick and Emily Harding of Fredericton, New Brunswick; his grandchildren, Oscar and Matilda Stashwick; his two brothers, Francis A. Harding, and his wife Mary Ann, of Newport, Maine, and Henry L. Harding, and his wife Pamela, of Phoenix, Arizona; his two sisters, May H. “Polly” Pierce, and her husband Daniel, of Dedham, and Caroline Dyer-Gunn, and her husband Al Johnson, of Bahama, North Carolina; his godson Turk Harding of Newport, Maine; as well as many nieces and nephews.  Visiting hours will be Monday, December 1st from 6-8 PM at the Folsom Funeral Home, 87 Milton Street, Dedham.  Relatives and friends are invited to atend his funeral Tuesday at 2 PM at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 59 Court Street, Dedham.  Interment will be private.  Donations in his memory to the Shriner’s Childrens  Hospital, 51 Blossom St., Boston, MA 02114 would be appreciated.