PLEASANT POINT – Jimmy Soctomah loved the outdoors and the water, and he loved sharing both pursuits with others.

That made him a natural to fill the first community outreach position offered by the Cobscook Community Learning Center in summer 2004.

Soctomah, who would have turned 34 next Friday, died unexpectedly on Saturday at his home on the Pleasant Point reservation. He was the son of Madonna Soctomah, a Passamaquoddy elder and a former representative for the tribe in the Maine Legislature.

Jimmy Soctomah had worked with the new learning center in Trescott until his grant-funded public service position was completed last September.

As an Army National Guard member, he had served in Afghanistan before taking the position in Trescott. He also had served as a Navy reservist and most recently as a Coast Guard reservist.

He was stationed at the Jonesport Coast Guard Station for one year before being transferred five months ago to the Eastport Coast Guard Station.

He was one of two reservists attached to the Eastport Station, where he trained one weekend a month alongside the active duty members and was a boatswain’s mate 3rd class.

“He was currently working on his boat crew qualification,” his superior, Chief Boatswain’s Mate Mark Corbishley, said Monday from the Eastport station. “He was a professional individual who strived to fit into the military lifestyle.”

At the learning center in the Cobscook Bay area of Washington County, Soctomah’s role as “community organizer” included welcoming people of all ages and stages of learning.

“That’s what he did, and he did it well,” said Kara McCrimmon, the center’s program director.

“He was the smiling face at the front door for many people. He was the one who made personal invitations for people to come to the center and participate.”

He visited schools and community groups to talk about the opportunities available through the learning center, with a mission of rural enrichment. If someone didn’t have transportation to a class or an event, he would give them a ride.

Other Passamaquoddys within the Cobscook community had recommended Soctomah for the position.

His success in the outreach role resulted in the center gaining an AmeriCorps position to continue the kind of work he had started. Just last week the center held interviews with those who might fill that role next.

During his year with the learning center, Soctomah took a three-month leave to attend Coast Guard training in Virginia. After returning he nominated the Cobscook Community Learning Center and its director, Alan Furth, for recognition as a “supportive business place” by the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.

Soctomah got involved with the center during its first construction phase in spring 2003. Last summer he helped with the center’s landscaping.

He also worked last summer with high school students to build a trail at the center. He also participated in a white-water rafting trip on the Kennebec River in August.

“Jimmy absolutely loved being outdoors,” McCrimmon said. “He loved hunting and hiking and being on the water. His home was on the Passamaquoddy Bay, and he talked about canoeing across the bay to St. Andrews.”

The Cobscook Community Learning Center intends to honor him with a Jimmy Soctomah Memorial Fund.

A wake will be held today and Wednesday at the Perry home of Nancy Lewey, his aunt. A Mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Ann’s Catholic Church at Pleasant Point.