From collection Person List - History Trust
E. Farnham Butler was the son of Arthur Pierce and Lydia Raguet Butler (Farnham), formerly of Southwest Harbor. Butler grew up in Morristown, New Jersy, where his father was headmaster of Morristown Boys’ School. He spent summers on Fernald Point with his family. Butler graduated Harvard University, Class of 1931.
“After working for Capt. Bill Black for a couple of summers at what is now the Mount Desert Yacht Yard, Butler bought the boatyard in 1934. Boats brought Butler his wife of 67 years, the former Gladys Whitmore of Wahiawa, Oahu, Hawaii and Southwest Harbor, [together] when she came looking to buy a boat. They were married Sept. 3, 1938, in Southwest Harbor.
"Mount Desert Yacht Yard began as a yacht storage and repair business, but became a design and building yard, particularly during the late 1940’s and 1950’s as Butler and associates, Ted Earl and Cy Hamlin developed the Controversys, a line of light displacement, reverse sheer cruising boats 22-36 feet long. Farnham and Gladys’s black Controversy 36 yawl, Constellation, flying her Cruising Club of America pennant, was a familiar sight to fishermen and yachtsmen alike along the Maine coast from Monhegan to Roque Island.
"Butler served on the Mount Desert planning board for decades and worked actively for many years to create an all-island high school. As one of the governor’s appointees on the Acadia National Park Advisory Committee, he was a liason between local communities and the park. As recently as last week, Butler was involved in the Island Housing Trust and their Ripples Pond Workforce Housing Project" (Opinion Contributor. “E. Farnham Butler” at Bangor Daily News: Obituaries, 25 September 2008 ( https://www.bangordailynews.com/2008/09/25/obituaries/e-farnham-butler/ : accessed 03 March 2025)).
“After working for Capt. Bill Black for a couple of summers at what is now the Mount Desert Yacht Yard, Butler bought the boatyard in 1934. Boats brought Butler his wife of 67 years, the former Gladys Whitmore of Wahiawa, Oahu, Hawaii and Southwest Harbor, [together] when she came looking to buy a boat. They were married Sept. 3, 1938, in Southwest Harbor.
"Mount Desert Yacht Yard began as a yacht storage and repair business, but became a design and building yard, particularly during the late 1940’s and 1950’s as Butler and associates, Ted Earl and Cy Hamlin developed the Controversys, a line of light displacement, reverse sheer cruising boats 22-36 feet long. Farnham and Gladys’s black Controversy 36 yawl, Constellation, flying her Cruising Club of America pennant, was a familiar sight to fishermen and yachtsmen alike along the Maine coast from Monhegan to Roque Island.
"Butler served on the Mount Desert planning board for decades and worked actively for many years to create an all-island high school. As one of the governor’s appointees on the Acadia National Park Advisory Committee, he was a liason between local communities and the park. As recently as last week, Butler was involved in the Island Housing Trust and their Ripples Pond Workforce Housing Project" (Opinion Contributor. “E. Farnham Butler” at Bangor Daily News: Obituaries, 25 September 2008 ( https://www.bangordailynews.com/2008/09/25/obituaries/e-farnham-butler/ : accessed 03 March 2025)).
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