Warren Mahan

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Warren C. Mahan, 83, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family, on Friday, Dec. 19, 2014.
Born in High Splint, Ky., in 1931, Warren was the only son of Marshall Mahan and Flo Mahan. Flo was the school “Marm” at an elementary school in a mining community, and Marshall drove truck and played semi-pro baseball on Sundays for $10 pay.
Warren was named after his grandfather, and his fondest childhood memories were spent on the family farm in Paris Crossing, Ind., fishing in the creek with his dog, Fritzy, from a pole-raft. In high school, Warren was a football, basketball and baseball standout at Manuel High. In 2004, he was elected to the Manuel Hall of Fame for an undefeated football season and State Championship in 1948. The event took him by train to New Orleans for his first fine dining experience in the French Quarter.
Football provided Warren a scholarship to Kentucky, where he played a season for Bear Bryant before a knee injury transferred him to Western Kentucky, where he resumed football under a favorite high school line coach, Butch Charmole. During his three-year career at Western, the school won its first Bowl Game. In these years, he befriended special lifelong West Texas friends, Judy and Scratch Lee. Their special connection was football and blues clubs.
After completing college, Warren enlisted in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, where he flew SNJ-6 jets from aircraft carriers. Spared combat, Warren stayed another four years in the Marine Corps as a flight instructor. He married and in 1956 his first child, Donna Mahan, was born. Daughter Karen and son Mitchell soon followed. The family moved to Natick, Mass., when Warren began a career in sales, first selling meat packaging equipment, and then commercial doors for leading companies. Some fishing trips to Maine, in combination with a growing and stifling Massachusetts, motivated Warren to relocate to Portland, and begin a recruiting business, Dunhill, in the early 1970s. Later the company became National Recruiters of Maine.
Warren met and married the ultimate Maine girl, Erica Nissen of Damariscotta and several trips to Moosehead Lake began a love for the area. The two purchased a lakeside hunting cabin in Rockwood that the family utilized year-round for ice fishing trips with friends and family. Camp was Warren’s respite and decompression place.
Warren and Erica settled in Yarmouth, purchased a home on Storer Street, and added two kids to the growing family, Ryan and Stacy Mahan. Warren and Erica spent the next 24 years in Yarmouth. Warren’s community involvement included Suicide Prevention in Natick, D.A.R.E programs, Little League President, umpiring, baseball and basketball coaching with the mantra “Boys, kick butt and take names later.”
Warren attended hundreds of high school athletic events, adopting many teams, and players will remember Warren parked at the mid-field sideline, sitting on a stool, and they’ll hear his resonant voice.
After purchasing a retirement home in Dover-Foxcroft in 2002, Warren and Erica, in full retirement, hauled a fifth-wheel camper from Maine, to Mitchell in Iowa, to Alaska, to Karen in Arizona, to Colorado, and a return trip home that provided many special memories.
Warren was predeceased by his father, Marshall Mahan, and mother, Flo Mahan.
He is survived by his wife Erica, “Good night, girl I love;” son Mitchell of Clive, Iowa and four grandchildren; daughter Karen Genest of Lincoln, their son Mark, daughter Donna Mahan of Portland; son Ryan and three grandchildren; and daughter Stacy Martin of Falmouth, and a grandchild.
Visiting hours will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014, at Lindquist Funeral Home, 1 Mayberry Lane, Yarmouth. Cremation arrangements are in the care of the Lary Funeral Home, Dover-Foxcroft. Condolences and memories may be expressed at HYPERLINK "http://www.laryfuneralhome.com/"www.laryfuneralhome.com