Leonard Tibbetts, at 95; held passion for genealogy
Leonard Tibbetts used to say that his interest in genealogy was a disease for which there was no cure. He might know that better than others: He built a 60,000-page collection of research into the family histories of residents of Maine's Washington County while making his living as a pharmacist.
Mr. Tibbetts died April 6 at the Pleasant Valley Nursing Center in Derry, N.H. He was 95. He had lived in Arlington for most of his professional life and in retirement moved with his wife, Ethel (Storer), to South Yarmouth, Mass.
When Mr. Tibbetts was 18, he read an article in the Boston Evening Transcript about genealogy that piqued his interest. He quickly became a regular visitor at the New England Genealogical Society and began to study his family history in and around Jonesport, Maine, where he was born.
He continued research into the community throughout his life, his family said.
"He couldn't leave home without going to cemeteries," said his daughter Judith Whitney, of Windham, N.H. Though Mr. Tibbetts's children didn't always share in his fascination with family histories, they were regularly taken along to cemeteries and libraries, where their father would devour details of the past.
On Christmas last year, Mr. Tibbetts donated his entire collection of documents to the Jonesport Historical Society.
Two members of the historical society, president Don Woodward and trustee Bill Plaskon, filled a truck with the 700 pounds of documents to take back to Jonesport.
Plaskon said the historical society hopes to obtain a grant to hire two full-time employees to digitally scan in Mr. Tibbetts's research. The historical society estimates that it will take one person a full year, working 40 hours a week, to scan Mr. Tibbetts's collection of handwritten notes, photos, newspaper articles, obituaries, and books into a database.
"There's no one in Maine, probably no one in New England, who has done the research Leonard did," Plaskon said.
Mr. Tibbetts earned three degrees from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and served on the school's board of trustees for 25 years. He was president and chairman of the board in the 1960s. During his career, Mr. Tibbetts owned and operated pharmacies in Somerville, Cambridge, and Arlington.
He was a former president of the Boston Druggists Association and former director of the Massachusetts State Pharmaceutical Association, his family said. He also served on the state's Board of Registration in Pharmacy.
Mr. Tibbetts was a Freemason, a member of the Knights Templar, and the Shriners. He was also active in Kiwanis and Rotary.
In addition to his daughter Judith, he leaves another daughter, Marcia of Asheville, N.C.; a son, Stephen of Brunswick, Maine; five grandchildren; and eight great grandchildren.
Services have been held.
