Jamie Humphreys Goddard, 54, of Westbrook, Maine, passed away peacefully on September 30, 2025, leaving behind a legacy of love, adventure and a deep connection to the sea.

Jamie Goddard, shown here, says he’s been on some pretty cool climbs, like climbing a redwood tree and scaling some of the tallest trees in South Africa. All photos courtesy of Drew Bristow.

Jamie grew up in nearby Yarmouth, Maine, near Portland, and spent his summers on Sturdivant Island, where his love for the ocean and maritime life took root. As a boy out on the water lobstering, he found inspiration in the promise of each sunrise.

A 1989 graduate of North Yarmouth Academy, Jamie attended Massachusetts Maritime Academy for a year before returning to his true passion – the sea. For eight years, he embraced the hard work and camaraderie of the commercial fishing industry. When the time came to transition to shore, Jamie found his way to Fisherman’s Supply Company on Union Wharf in Portland, where he met the love of his life, Michelle Fournier Goddard, who walked by his window every day to get the mail. “I used to bring him Tony’s doughnuts,” Michelle recalls.

Their first date was a rainy Sea Dogs game in August 1999, after which they ended up under the gazebo at Portland’s Eastern Promenade. He proposed that December, and they married as the sun rose on April 29, 2000, in that same gazebo.

As Portland’s fishing fleet declined in the 1990s, Jamie took his expertise to synthetic rope manufacturer Yale Cordage, a 32-year TCIA corporate member company based in Saco, Maine, where he built a successful career in sales over 19 years, making friends worldwide. In 2019, he founded The Rope Guru, a rope-splicing company making custom tools with myriad applications for the military, utilities, arborists and more. Throughout his career, Jamie loved sharing his knowledge and passion for high-tech ropes with customers across the globe, his humor and zest for new experiences winning him lifelong friends in far-flung places. The lows: missing home and family, and airport layovers. The highs – literally – included climbing a giant redwood and some of the tallest trees in South Africa.

Though work took him many places, Jamie was happiest in Maine and on the water, watching the sunrise from the deck of a boat or cheering on his beloved daughter at her field hockey and softball games. “People would ask me, ‘What’s on your bucket list?’ and I would say, ‘Don’t make a bucket list. Live each day like it’s your last. Make the memories now.’”

Jamie is survived by his loving wife, Michelle Goddard, his daughter, Kimberly Goddard, and hisstepson, Paul Gorham, all of Westbrook; his mother, Diane Goddard of Falmouth; his father, William Goddard of Yarmouth; his brother, Jeff Goddard of Belgium; his sister, Gretchen Lacombe of Falmouth; stepsister Lindsay Sullivan; and many cousins, nieces and nephews.

Services were arranged by A.T. Hutchins Funeral Home in Portland and held in October.

Jamie’s adventurous spirit, dedication to family and deep love for the ocean will be forever remembered by those who knew and loved him. His advice: “Set the alarm. Go see the sunrise. To me, sunrise marks a new beginning. A new day. A new chance.

“Show a little love. Get outside. Go do the things.”

Jamie’s ashes were to be spread at sea. At sunrise of course.

For more about his services, visit Jamie H. Goddard Obituary – Visitation & Funeral Information

Also, see “Legends in Arboriculture, Jamie Goddard: A Fisherman Found a Life in Ropes, and in Trees,” by David Rattigan, in the December 2024 issue, (Jamie Goddard: A Fisherman Found a Life in Ropes, and in Trees)