Oliver Payne Obituary

Oliver Emerson Payne, an adman and poet, died of ALS on July 7 at his home in Kennebunk, Maine. He was 70. Oliver was born on December 2, 1954, in Cincinnati, the first of four children of Ellen (Tangeman) and Halbert E. Payne.

Oliver moved to Riverside, CT, in third grade, where he enjoyed playing hockey, both with OGRCC and on Binney Pond and the Mianus River, as well as soccer. Oliver had a wry sense of humor and loved to write. He was a Boy Scout, leading to a lifetime of outdoor activity.

In ninth grade, Oliver left for Phillips Exeter Academy, where he was an editorial page editor for the school paper. He went on to Yale, where he studied English and Spanish literature and played varsity soccer until suffering a knee injury.

During summers, Oliver was a counselor at Christ Church’s Camp Seabury in Greenwich and sold encyclopedias door-to-door, practicing his sales spiels in the shower to the amusement of his family.

He began his advertising career in New York with SSC&B and DFS, helping to run campaigns for Skippy, Hellman’s, and Noxzema. But he tired of the city and moved to Maine in 1986 with his then-wife, Abbe (now Azaima) Anderson, to co-found a Portland ad agency, Burgess, Brewer, Stanyon & Payne, a plan hatched while playing pool with future partners in his garment district loft.

As creative director, Oliver led campaigns for clients including Oakhurst Dairy, the Maine Turnpike Authority, and Mercy Hospital. He received several awards and worked on pro bono campaigns for Maine nonprofits. He retired in 2022.

In 1996, they moved from a farmstead in rural Durham to a home in Kennebunk set in woods overlooking the Mousam River, two miles from the ocean, where Oliver liked to kayak with the tides. He cherished the beauty and serenity of his back yard for the rest of his life, often welcoming local and distant friends and family.

Oliver joined the local Unitarian Universalist Church, where he served as treasurer, sang in the choir, and acted in holiday plays, once playing a lobsterman battling his talkative catch. He joined a men’s group that would be part of his weekly rhythm for 25 years.

He also joined another group which held regular local sweat lodges, inspired by Native American tradition. Oliver and his lodge buddies drove one of his succession of VW Eurovans, with a mattress in back, to South Dakota a few times to perform the grueling Lakota Sun Dance at the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Oliver travelled frequently throughout his life, both abroad — India and Spain were favorites — and in the US. He shared his father’s love of jazz and also enjoyed listening to live music of all kinds.

Two decades ago, Oliver began attending a weekly poetry seminar in Cambridge. He was admired for his distinct style, clarity, and directness. He served on the Foundation Board of the Beloit Poetry Journal and continued to participate remotely in workshops until a week before his death. His fellow poets are compiling a collection of his best work.

In 2013, through mutual friends, he met Martha Louise Foley, a local English teacher who bicycled on a path near his home. They shared a love of the written word, the outdoors, travel, the Kennebunk community, and soon, each other. They married in 2016, and Oliver became part of a new family. He greatly enjoyed Martha’s children and their four young sons, whom he embraced with playfulness and wonder.

Oliver stayed fit, pushing himself whether cross-country skiing or biking (19 miles in an hour), his knee injury having ended downhill skiing, skating, and running decades earlier. But in less than two years, bulbar-onset ALS took his ability to speak, eat, walk, and finally, breathe. Throughout, he maintained his grace and understated sense of humor while savoring the love and support of his family and friends.

He is survived by his wife, Martha, of Kennebunk; siblings Elizabeth Payne Johnson (Scott), Walter (Ninfa), Donald (Gail), half-sister Martha; and stepmother Kathryn Payne. Also, nieces and nephews Hannah, Dylan, Logan, Ethan, and Cora Payne and Riley and Maddie Johnson; Martha’s children, Greta Hagen (Dave Morgan), Mark Hagen (Janine Bachrachas), and Zoe Kennedy (Conner), and their four children.

Memorial services will be held September 6 at 11 a.m. at First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Kennebunk. Donations in Oliver’s memory may be made to the ALS Association, Compassionate Care ALS, or Wells Reserve at Laudholm Farm.