David Livingston Orrell

David Orrell died June 14, 2021 at Marshall Manor in Machias, Maine, of kidney failure.
David was born on October 17, 1934 in Whitinsville, Mass. to Kathleen MacNichol and James Edward Orrell. From 1942 to 1949 his family lived in Eastport, Maine where his father worked at the MacNichol Packing Company.
David attended school in Whitinsville and Eastport and graduated from Northbridge (Mass.) High School in 1953. He received a certificate from the Worcester Art Museum School (1956) and a BS from Clark University (1961). David served in the Mass. National Guard from 1957 to 1963.
After graduation David worked as an art teacher in North Brookfield, Mass. where he met his wife Marie Benvenuti. They were married in North Brookfield in 1962. He taught in Glastonbury, Conn. and in 1964 settled with his family in Cornwall and later Lakeville, Conn. where he taught at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, Cornwall Consolidated School and Sharon Center School. In 1993 David and Marie retired to Eastport. After retirement, David remained in contact with many of his former students to track their careers and artistic accomplishments.
David was a prolific artist. He was fluent and taught in many media including watercolor, block print and ceramic, but mostly worked in oil. He specialized in portraits, Maine and Connecticut landscapes, and allegorical and abstract subjects. He was a longtime member and volunteer with the Eastport Gallery. In July 2019 he presented a retrospective of his work at the Eastport Arts Center. For that show David remembered, “A small box of artist’s oil paint given to me on my tenth birthday catapulted me into the art world. I set myself up on Wadsworth’s dock and painted the red gasoline pump. Encouraged by this, I followed with another from the South End Bridge looking toward Shackford Cove, known then by artists as ‘Motif #1.’ My Grandmother was so enraptured by my effort that she hung my tiny landscape over her couch.”
David was an avid actor, director and stage designer in local theater. He appeared with the Goshen Players and the Oblong Valley Players in Connecticut, Stage East in Eastport, the film “Summerdog” (1977) and had a small role in a TV adaptation of “Maigret.” His stage roles included Emile de Becque in “South Pacific,” Herr Schulz in “Cabaret,” Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof” and Hamm in Samuel Becket’s “Endgame”. His directing credits included “Blithe Spirit,” “A Delicate Balance” and “The Female Odd Couple.”
David was a parishioner of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church (Eastport), St. Bridget’s (Cornwall) and St. Mary’s (Lakeville). He held many lay positions including cantor and reader. However, it was David’s baritone voice that often led the parish in song.
David was predeceased by his brother James Alexander “Sandy” (1950), father (1964) and mother (1981). He is survived by his wife Marie; his son James of Arlington, Virginia; his son Thomas, wife Jody Puller and grandson James of Arlington, Va.; his daughter Emo Orrell, wife Laurie Rapson and granddaughter Lea Victoria Rapson of Arlington, Mass.; and his brothers Patrick of Princeton, Mass. and Stephen of Storrs, Conn.
A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at St Joseph’s, Eastport later in the summer. Donations may be made in David’s name to The Eastport Arts Center.