Donald P. Maurer

Donald Maurer, 90, of Dover, NH, and Boston, MA, passed away peacefully at The Wentworth Home, surrounded by his loving family, on April 16, 2024. He was the devoted husband of the late Kathleen J. (Munroe) Maurer, who passed away in 2018.

Don was the last of three children born to Louis and Bridget Maurer. He grew up in the Roxbury and Dorchester neighborhoods of Boston, MA, and graduated from Roxbury Memorial High School. After teaching himself the basic skills necessary, he worked at a local machine shop before joining the Coast Guard.

Don’s first Coast Guard assignment was on a USCG cutter patrolling the North Atlantic, Baffin Bay, Labrador, and Greenland. Later, he had assignments in Maryland and North Carolina while stationed in Baltimore. Don then returned to the Boston Coast Guard base, performing lighthouse tending duties at Boston Light and other area lighthouses.

Upon returning to civilian life, he served an apprenticeship at the Charlestown Naval Shipyard, where he was the last person to graduate from that program. While at the shipyard, Don worked in the boat shop repairing wooden naval vessels, including the USS Constitution.

After marriage, he continued his work at various shipyards in and around Boston and attended college nights as a chemistry major at Lowell Tech.

In the late 1960s, he accepted a position at Raytheon as a lab technician and relocated the family from Dorchester to Hull, Nantasket. In 1973, he began working at Whittier Tech in Haverhill, MA, as a teacher in the boat building program.

In the fall of ‘74, he relocated to Newburyport, MA, with his wife and youngest son. During these years, he rejoined the Coast Guard as a reservist until the early ‘90s. In his spare time, he built by hand a 34-foot lobster boat hull in his backyard. This boat became a working lobster boat in
Boston Harbor for many years.

From 1984 to his retirement in 1999, he was employed at the research firm Arthur D. Little in Cambridge, MA, obtaining high-security clearance and working on classified projects. He continued this work as a consultant after retirement.

Upon full retirement, he and his wife relocated to Seabrook, NH, and also purchased and renovated a seaside home in Advocate Harbour, Nova Scotia, building new friendships in both locations.

Don and his late wife Joyce were loving, dedicated, and generous parents and grandparents. Don was outgoing and remarkably creative, He was a dedicated Catholic, an avid reader, and knowledgeable on a wide array of topics. Most of all, he was a proud father who loved his family and enjoyed spending time with his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Don is survived by his three children: Diane Wigmore and husband, Paul; Gary Driscoll and partner, Kathy Pomakis; Donald Maurer and wife, Sheila; grandchildren Brian Wigmore and wife, Erin; Paul Wigmore and wife, Danielle; Matthew Wigmore and wife, Karen; Elizabeth St. Cyr and husband, Bryan; Hillary Vance and husband, Dave; Ryan Driscoll and wife, Cathleen; Stephen Maurer and Ava Maurer; great-grandchildren Emma and Ally St. Cyr, Morgan Wigmore, Cameron and Cooper Wigmore, Welsey and Oliver Drapeau, Delaney and Dawson Vance; Natalie and Charlotte Driscoll as well as numerous nieces, nephews and dear friends.

A Funeral Mass will be held on Monday, April 29, 2024 at 10:30 A.M. at the Star of the Sea Church, 18 Beach road, Salisbury, MA, immediately followed by burial at Hillside Cemetery, Seabrook, NH, where Don will be laid to eternal rest beside his beloved wife, Kathleen. Arrangements were by Paul C. Rogers Family Funeral Home, 2 Hillside Avenue, Amesbury, MA 01913.