Michael Rodney Weddle, 72

Michael R. Weddle, phenom of Nantasket Beach, passed away on Oct. 17, 2022, following a lengthy period of declining health.

Born in Portsmouth, N.H. on Oct. 29, 1949, the son of Rodney and Jewell (Otis) Weddle, Mr. Weddle considered himself a child of the “American Dream.” Moving to Hampton, N.H. in the ’50s, Mr. Weddle 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 Mr. Weddle later becoming a ’60s flower child and an A+ student of counterculture, he truly believed he would have played professional baseball. Instead, this free spirit traveled the country and got himself into lots of good trouble. Drafted into the Army the same week as Woodstock, Mr. Weddle 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, Mr. Weddle relocated to Cambridge. 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 Mr. Weddle taught himself guitar and became a self-described “back-bench folk singer.” A five-year stretch in New Hampshire politics as a state Representative rounded out the decade.

In 1990, following a lost bid to Congress where he’d run on drug legalization, Mr. Weddle 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 three days will certainly live in infamy.

The turn of the century found Mr. Weddle in Hull, 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. Mr. Weddle always lived in the spirit of living for others.

Mr. Weddle 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 Mr. Weddle’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 on April 8, 2023.

May Michael’s memory be a blessing. Peace to you all.