Thurston Scott Gamwell, 66

Thurston Scott Gamwell

FRYEBURG — Thurston Scott Gamwell, loving father, husband, community leader and friend passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, July 8, 2018 from heart complications. He was 66.

Born Thurston, he went by Scott. He spent his career rising to prominence as the founding partner of Gamwell, Caputo, Kelsh & Co., a well-known accounting practice in his community in New Hampshire and southern Maine. Many of his clients would become his lifelong friends.

Scott was born in 1952 in Providence, R.I. and spent his childhood in Barrington with his parents Leona (Daniels) and Thurston Clinton Gamwell. His only brother, Jeffrey Gamwell, passed away at age five from pneumonia. As a young adult, Scott spent several years working at The Norman Bird Sanctuary, where he would cultivate a lifelong love of all things ornithological. Scott’s passion for birds stayed with him throughout his life and would later become an important touchstone in his family’s collective experience of the world.

Scott met his wife-to-be, Ann Marie Carreiro, prior to attending Bryant College, where he obtained his bachelor of science in Accounting. Ann and Scott were married in 1980 at Green Animals Topiary Garden in Portsmouth, R.I. They welcomed their first daughter, Melissa, in 1982, followed by a second daughter, Tara, in 1984 and a third daughter, Anna, in 1988.

In 1985, Scott’s growing family relocated to New Hampshire, where he joined Gerald Cote’s accounting practice to form Cote and Gamwell. Following Gerald’s retirement, Scott was joined by Dave Caputo, and the two eventually formed Gamwell, Caputo & Co., which grew swiftly as the years passed, adding new partners and employees. Prior to Scott’s retirement this year, he was sadly predeceased by his beloved wife, Ann, in 2016, following a long and heroic battle with cancer.

Scott’s commitment to both nature and his business was surpassed only by his love of and devotion to his family. Shortly after Scott joined with Gerald Cote in 1987, the family purchased a farmhouse in East Fryeburg. For the next 30 years, the Gamwells thrived in their peaceful and bucolic home, Sweet Meadow Farm. Here, they raised and cared for a wide assortment of animals and cultivated beautiful gardens. Scott employed his talents for carpentry and restoration, working endlessly on functional inventions for the farm and whimsical projects for his daughters. He was also an avid fisherman, an ambitious gardener and an admirer of all things old and beautiful.

Scott loved history and bibliography. In recent years, he had begun to actively collect and trade antiquarian prints and books. He enjoyed attending estate sales with Ann and his daughters, and carefully restoring the delicate volumes he purchased at auction. Scott operated a thriving eBay store, “The Deckled Edge,” through which he bought and sold rare books and artwork and corresponded with fellow collectors from all over the world. He made a point to seek out rare book collections in prominent museums whenever he had the chance.

Those who knew Scott remember his easy-going manner, his sparkling and mischievous love of wordplay, his agile sense of humor, his unrestrained generosity of spirit, which he bestowed freely upon all whom he encountered, and his deep and abiding sense of responsibility to the community in which he resided. Scott gladly shared his talents and efforts with his neighbors, serving as a director of Northway Bank, trustee emeritus of Fryeburg Academy (which his daughters attended) and trustee of the Tin Mountain Conservation Center, among many other posts.

Among the many people who knew him either personally or professionally, Scott will be deeply missed.

Scott is survived by his daughters, Melissa, Tara and Anna Gamwell.

In lieu of donations or flowers, please spend some time outdoors with your family, paying special attention to the calls of local birds. A private service will be held at a later date.

Condolences and tributes may be shared with Scott’s family and friends at www.woodfuneralhome.org. Arrangements were cared for by Wood Funeral Home, 9 Warren Street, Fryeburg.