| Penny Hilton – In My Opinion |
I have often envied the families who have been here for generations, with family friendships of decades. And I am not sure they know how lucky they are, and how different life can be here for the people who have chosen to move to New Gloucester from other places in the last several decades.
For example, David and I moved here in 1988. He came originally from Farmingdale, and I had been in Lewiston for many years. At the time, he worked as a Maine State Forest Department Fire Watchman at the watchtower at Opportunity Farm. I worked for the Lewiston newspaper, for the LA Chamber of Commerce and at Cole Farms, and went part-time to USM, and took care of my mother, plus our kids at SAD 15. We were really busy.
After the kids graduated, and my mom died, I began working at USM, and then with the Administrative Office of the Courts, both in Portland. David began working out of Augusta for the Forest Service. Then I got a job at the Maine State Bar Association, and for the next 15 years we commuted to Augusta together for week upon week of 10-hour days.
Which is all to explain that, though we lived here for decades, we just didn’t have time or opportunities to make many friends. Our friends from before all live elsewhere in the state, and out-of-state, and socializing with them has become more and more difficult for us all as we have gotten older. Many – maybe even most – of the more recently arrived residents of New Gloucester, particularly those without children at home, have stories similar to ours.
I know that the NG Parks and Recreation Department’s focus for years was largely sports, and that is terrific. But for my cohort, older non-natives, Parks and Rec’s programing over especially the last two years has been a social life-saver. Finally, David and I feel really a part of our community, and not like people trying to get in.
Did you know that the Community Cafe luncheons commonly draw 40 people? And that over the last two years, in their new partnership with the Gray Rec Department, Sarah Rodriguez and Kimberly Brousseau have developed a very rich program of additional activities for older folks? Day trips, arts and crafts, casino games, ice cream socials, breakfasts, chair yoga, recipe swaps, visits from artists, educational groups like Chewonki… and lots more I am forgetting.
I want to thank all the select boards who have supported the expansion of Parks and Rec’s focus to include oldsters, and the town meetings who have approved the funds. It feels great to be seen and included, and to finally meet and mingle with each other. Let’s keep it going! Better mental health, less loneliness, and the resulting expansion of community will only get more important to New Gloucester as our collective uncertain future unfolds.
— Penny Hilton
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