Obituary of Avery Harrington

BRUNSWICK – Dr. Avery Harrington, 83, a retired nephrologist from the Maine General Medical Center’s Thayer campus, died peacefully on July 10. His wife of 59 years, Carolyn, was with him. Avery grew up in Drexel Hill, PA, the son of Avery Draper and Matilda Metz Harrington. He attended William Penn Charter School, Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. It was during medical school that he met Carolyn (Beckenbaugh). His study and practice of medicine took them to the Fort Defiance and Parker Indian hospitals in Arizona, and to Dartmouth and Yale for specialty training in nephrology. In 1967, he took a faculty position at the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison. He had became fond of Maine as a teenager working summers at a coastal hotel and, late in his career, he transferred to Maine General in Waterville where he practiced for 12 years. A high spot for the couple was volunteering for a year at rural hospitals in southwestern Zimbabwe, to which they returned three more times. Surviving him are his wife, his three daughters, Marcia Harrington and her husband of Brunswick; Sheila Harrington and her husband of Sacramento, CA; Lucy Harrington and her husband of Irvington, NY; and a brother, Louis Harrington, of Rockville, MD. He has five grandchildren, Tyler, Alexandra, Emily, Toby and Jordan. Throughout their lives, participation in work camps and other social projects was a shared interest of the couple and drew them to the Society of Friends (Quakers). A simple memorial service will take place at the Vassalboro Friends Meeting House, Saturday, July 26 at 3 pm. Memorials may be made to the American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia PA 19102.