10.04.2025 Richard Aldrich Powell, also known as 'Dick', 'Monsieur Powell' and 'Coach Powell' to many in the community, passed away peacefully Wednesday, October 1, 2025 at his home in Ellsworth, surrounded by family and friends, after a long battle with dementia. A memorial service, celebration of the life of Dick Powell, will be held on Saturday, October 18, 11AM, Deer Isle Sunset Congregational Church, 57 Church Street in Deer Isle. The public is welcome. The service will be followed by a reception in the fellowship hall. Memories from Dick's life are welcome to be shared or written down and if anyone would like to bring food for the reception it would be appreciated. For questions or information, please contact Heidi Powell at: fiddleheadheidi@gmail.com or 207-479-2845. In lieu of flowers, donations in Dick's memory can be made to the Deer Isle Stonington Schools, Chess program or Ellsworth Library.

Dick was a spouse, father, friend, athlete, community organizer, chess coach, teacher, world traveler and leader. He was born on September 20, 1943 in West Springfield, MA to John & Ruth Powell. He grew up spending summers in Deer Isle, Maine, at his family cottage which his grandparents purchased in the early 1900's, and had a deep love for the Island community and all its residents.

In high school, Dick was a local girls softball coach, organizing and encouraging his team to victory. At the time very few girls were encouraged to play softball in the local league. He graduated from West Springfield High School and was an all-star rugby & football player, earning him an athletic scholarship to Brown University. He graduated from Brown in 1965 with a degree in Sociology. He worked in the Job Corps in West Virginia as a Vista Volunteer, then joined the Peace Corps in Conceicao de Barra, Brazil, where he taught English and did community service and organization. After his Peace Corps days, Dick stayed in Brazil to teach high school and coach chess, then studied French at the University of Madagascar and later got a Masters Degree from American International College in teaching.

Dick was a multilingual world traveler. He spoke and taught many languages (French, German, Spanish, Portuguese). In his life-time he traveled to over 80 countries, and all 50 states. He met his first wife, Elisabeth, at a kibbutz in Israel while traveling around the world following the Peace Corps. In 1971 his son David was born. In 1976 with the pending birth of their daughter, Heidi, Dick and Elisabeth returned from Brazil to Northampton, MA for a year until moving north to Dick's grandmother's house in Sunset. On the spur of the moment he applied for an open teaching job at Deer Isle Stonington High School (DISHS), which he ultimately kept for 27 years. During his tenure he taught English, French, Spanish, German, World Geography and Civics. He took DISHS students on trips to Quebec (25 times), France (4 times), Switzerland (2 times), Guatemala (5 times), Spain (2 times) and Mexico (1 time) in his attempt to expose students to a broader view of the world than was visible from their small island.

Dick also started a very successful Chess program on Deer Isle which he coached for 28 years, even after his retirement from teaching. During this time, his teams traveled to tournaments all over Maine and the country and came home with many many trophies, including 39 state championship titles between the elementary and high school programs. One of his biggest accomplishments with the chess team was their 1994 National High School Chess Championship when the team placed second in the nation in their category. Quoting from an article written in 2016 about Dick when he was interviewed about his chess victory: 'When your small school team takes on a school with 3,000 students and wins...Dick's voice breaks with emotion'. Dick was known for bringing together every type of student from athletic, nerdy, shy and outgoing, to play chess, creating the 'chess jocks' at DISHS and Deer Isle Stonington Elementary School. He made the chess practice atmosphere inclusive, stimulating, fun and competitive.

Even in retirement, Dick remained active in chess, athletics and traveling. He continued playing chess with strangers on his trips, and organizing the Ellsworth Community Chess Club. He continued to travel the world and also completed the Camino de Santiago, a 500-mile pilgrimage, on foot, several times in Spain and France. Dick enjoyed tennis and played in a local league in Deer Isle, which he helped organize, up through the last years of his life. He was also a serious bike rider and kept mileage logs of his daily and yearly riding miles up to his last year of life, which included records of completing over 5000 miles per year.

Dick's first wife Elisabeth passed away in 2014, and he remarried Gilda Garcia from Guatemala in 2015, who he met traveling. He is survived and greatly missed by his daughter, Heidi Powell, (partner Ryuta Ishimura (children Taki, Ayano, Mai), her son Daniel Powell-Hsu), son, David Powell (wife Amy Powell, son Joshua, daughter Ella), second wife Gilda Garcia (daughter Linda Perdomo, husband Oswaldo, children, Maria, Mia and Helene from Guatemala, her son Raul Perdomo, wife Juliana daughter, children Verena and Paolo from Toronto) his sister Margaret van Brederode (and her 5 children: Rob, Beth, Susie, Kathy & John and 19 grandchildren). He was predeceased by his first wife Elisabeth and his parents Ruth & John Powell.

A memorial service, celebration of the life of Dick Powell, will be held on Saturday, October 18, 11AM, Deer Isle Sunset Congregational Church, 57 Church Street in Deer Isle. The public is welcome. The service will be followed by a reception in the fellowship hall. Memories from Dick's life are welcome to be shared or written down and if anyone would like to bring food for the reception it would be appreciated. For questions or information, please contact Heidi Powell at: fiddleheadheidi@gmail.com or 207-479-2845. In lieu of flowers, donations in Dick's memory can be made to the Deer Isle Stonington Schools, Chess program or Ellsworth Library.

Here are just a few of the many ChessMaine.net articles featuring Dick Powell over the years:

Happy 75th Birthday Dick Powell!

Dick Powell and Gilda Garcia Become King and Queen

9th Annual Joe Brown Memorial Tournament Report

ChessMaine Interviews: Dick Powell

8th Annual Joe Brown Memorial Tournament Report

2013 Deer Isle-Stonington Lacy Greenlaw Chess-a-thon

2012 Joe Brown Memorial Tournament Report

Nineteenth Annual Lacy Greenlaw Deer Isle-Stonington Chess-a-thon

The Eighteenth Annual Deer Isle - Stonington Lacy Greenlaw Chess-a-thon

DIS Chess Players Visit State House and Meet Governor Baldacci

The Seventeenth Annual Deer Isle-Stonington Lacy Greenlaw Chess-a-thon

2007 Joe Brown Memorial Tournament Report