A brief memorial service for Benjamin E. Kirkland will be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, May 21 at Daigle Funeral Home, 819 High Street, Bath. Burial will follow at Greenlawn Cemetery in Wiscasset. A gathering of family and friends will follow at The Taste of Maine Restaurant, Route 1, Woolwich.

All who knew Benjamin are encouraged to attend.

Benjamin died December 25, 2013 at his home in Tarboro, N.C., after a brief illness.

For over 35 years, while living at his home in Wiscasset, shared with Henry Ferne II, he was a member of the National Garden Club, and one of the three founding members of the Mid-Maine Rose Society. He was involved in the early planning of today’s Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, and was also generously involved with the Maine State Police Scholarship Fund and the Wiscasset Public Library. He was a benefactor and 25-year board member of TrainRiders/Northeast, the organization that made Maine’s Amtrak Downeaster passenger rail service possible.

He is survived by his brother, Virgil and his wife Leah Jean Kirkland; sister-in-law, Lillian Kirkland; and many nieces and nephews.

Benjamin’s love of flowers may be honored, but memorial gifts may be made to William & Mary Hart Presbyterian Church Building Fund, 7657 NC Hwy 33NW, Tarboro, NC 27886.

Maine arrangements are by Daigle Funeral Home, Bath.