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Michael Rodney Weddle
10/29/49-10/17/22
Phenom of Nantasket Beach (Hull, MA) Michael Weddle passed away on October 17, 2022, following a lengthy period of declining health.
Born in Portsmouth, NH on October 29, 1949, the son of Rodney and Jewell (Otis) Weddle, Michael considered himself a child of the “American Dream.” Moving to Hampton, NH in the 50s, Michael had an idyllic childhood - summering at family camps in the White Mountains, playing sandlot baseball, and ice skating at the neighborhood pond. He was the perfect Cub/Boy Scout, a noble School Patrol Leader, and a rising Little League star.
If it weren’t for Michael later becoming a 60s flower child and an A+ student of Counterculture, he truly believed he would have played professional baseball. Instead, free spirit Michael traveled the country and got himself into lots of good trouble. Drafted into the Army the same week as Woodstock, Michael always said he “lived his life as revenge for being deprived the opportunity” to attend.
During the 70s, after being honorably discharged from the Army as a conscientious objector and having taken a vow of poverty at a local monastery, Michael relocated to Cambridge, MA. It was here where he continued to advocate for the peace movement, working closely with Vietnam Vets Against the War and the Legal In-Service Project. Later he went on to manage rock-n-roll bands and was a regular at the Rathskeller in Boston.
In the 80s he returned to Portsmouth where he had a brief stint as a janitor at the Navy Shipyard, drove a cab, and worked as a sports correspondent for the local paper. He played softball for a team sponsored by a local nursing home and began hosting charity events in their honor. It was during this time that Michael taught himself guitar and became a self-described “back bench folk singer.” A 5-year stretch in NH politics as a State Representative, rounded out the decade.
In 1990, following a lost bid to Congress where he’d run on drug legalization, Michael returned to Cambridge with his rollerblades to coast upward on the career ladder. He became a Harvard Square musician while on the side starting a freelance transcription business and even dabbling in online stock trading. It was also during this time that he threw “the greatest parties Planet Earth ever saw” and his Thursday night spaghetti suppers that lasted 3-days will certainly live in infamy.
The turn of the century found Michael in Hull, MA, painting houses, playing music, and splurging on fried clams. He finally started his own all-original rock-n-roll band, Climate Change, and organized countless charitable concerts for local causes – fire victims, veterans, opiate awareness, animal shelters, and the local high school music department. Michael always lived in the spirit of living for others.
Michael was predeceased by his parents and sisters. He is survived by a daughter, two grandchildren, two nieces, a nephew and a cousin, along with more friends than anyone can even begin to imagine. In Michael’s own words, “There will come a time when I no longer cast a shadow upon Earth, when my smile becomes unseen and when the goodness in my heart has quivered. . . My hope is to fade into a memory that’ll sometimes awaken among those who’ve known me and also among those I’ve touched but never known.”
There will be a memorial benefit in his honor at the C-Note in Hull, MA on April 8th, 2023. May Michael’s memory be a blessing. Peace to you all.
Financial assistance programs we thought could be utilized are stretched thin and Funeral Homes do not accept transitional assistance as we would have hoped. We appreciate all financial help with cremation and travel for the family to return in April to spread his ashes and attend the Memorial with all of his friends.
To read more from Michael Weddle, please follow these links: https://www.facebook.com/michael.r.weddle
Organizer
Lottie Campenella
Organizer
Hull, MA