Andrea Fisher

The Good Stuff Small Towns Are Made of – An Act of Kindness

This is a true story about my family that I have shared with friends over the years. It is a beautiful memory that brings a smile to my face and one that I have always cherished.

I was home visiting my parents in Vanceboro in July 1983, after having completed one year of work as a nurse in Sarasota Florida, and before backpacking in Europe with friends from nursing school. One evening a middle age man from Connecticut appeared at our front door. He was camping on Spednic Lake and accidentally had a fish hook deeply lodged in his thumb, he been directed by locals to come to our home for help. My mother, Dorothy Fisher was well known as the Town Nurse.

After looking at the man’s hand my mother quickly assessed the situation and recognized that she would not be able to safely remove the fish hook. She recommended he return to our home in the morning for me to drive him to the hospital in McAdam for Dr. Lam to remove the hook. She would be working at the hospital in the morning and would make the doctor’s appointment. So the man returned in the morning and I drove him to the hospital. My mother met us at the reception desk and escorted him to Dr. Lam’s office.

After the hook was removed, we started to drive home. As we were approaching the border, he informed me that he had forgot his passport and did not have any identification. I explained to him that my father, Roger Fisher, Custom’s Officer, was working and he did not need to worry. I remember him chuckling and recognizing that he was in “good hands.”

This friendly gentleman was a stone carver and he subsequently sent me a beautiful necklace made of amethyst in the shape of a cross as a thank you gift. It is a piece of jewelry that remains very special to me to this day, as it reminds me of this story and of my small town roots. This is the good stuff small towns are made of, an act of kindness fondly remembered. In September of 2023, I walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain, a pilgrimage trail originating in medieval times, and wore this necklace every day for good luck.

15 Best Memories of Growing Up in Vanceboro

1. Camp. Some of my best memories are spending time at our camp on Spednic Lake with family and friends in the summer. Swimming, canoeing, kayaking and tubing are always so much fun. The food at camp always tastes so good and we have had many fine dining events over the years. I have fond memories of going fishing in the early morning with my dad and brother and catching lots of white perch. My dad would clean them and mom would cook them for breakfast. Every year we looked forward to a lobster feast with visiting family members. At night we always enjoyed playing board games and cards (spades, hearts and war). Today, I play in bridge tournaments and credit my camp card playing days at a young age to my competitive edge.

My mother made the most delicious cookies, known as Date Rock with dates, walnuts and chocolate chips. They were so yummy! Now, every summer when I return to Vanceboro, I make these cookies and I am getting closer and closer to perfecting her recipe. These cookies are a special family tradition that remind us of all the good memories.

My brother-in-law, Pierre taught my kids and my cousins’ kids how to fish. He taught them how to put worms on the hook, cast their lines and pull in their catch. He reinforced safety practices (no injuries) and instilled a love of fishing, especially in my youngest daughter, Sarah. We have great memories and photos of the kids catching many fish from our wharf. Pierre had a strict catch and release principle and he was very skilled at removing the fish hooks and quickly returning the fish to the water. Fishing was a very important part of the camp experience for my kids and visitors.

My good friends, Joy (Raye) Leech and Cindy (Raye) have a camp next door, a five minute walk through the woods. We had so much fun exploring the woods during our walks back and forth, swimming and sleep overs. I was always slightly envious as they had a septic system and flush toilet in their camp and we had an outhouse. I had a history of sleep walking during the night and almost fell off the loft at Cindy and Joy’s camp during the night. The next day their father, Moe, built a safety rail around the loft. Thanks, Moe!

I am so proud and happy each year to make the annual trip and continue the camp traditions. We always enjoy spending time with the Howard family; walking in the woods, swimming, fine dining with beautiful views of the water, enjoying a glass or two of wine, watching sun sets on their porch, lobster feasts, looking for moose, bonfires and always great conversations.

2. Gardens. My parents were avid gardeners and we had two large vegetable gardens. I remember walking out to the garden and picking cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, peas and more. My parents enjoyed drinking a glass of wine and walking through the garden inspecting the harvest. For dinner, my mother would turn the stove on to boil a pot of water and run to the garden to pick corn. After removing the husks, she would put the corn in the boiling water. She described this as the “only way to eat corn – fresh.” I did not realize at the time just how lucky we were to have grown our own food. We lived the expression – “farm to table.”

3. Hanging out with my best girlfriend, Sue (Crandlemire) Howard. Sue and I grew up together and have many shared, fond memories of life in Vanceboro. At that time, Sue had much more of an adventurous spirit than I did and she enjoyed challenging me to do things outside of my comfort zone. In the Winter, Sue loved to go snowmobiling on the trails, duck pond and lake, and she drove very fast. I always found it a challenge to keep up with her. In the summer, Sue loved to drive her boat on the lake. She assigned me the front seat of the boat to watch for rocks. I quickly got bored with this task and missed a few big rocks that caused some problems. We spent a lot of time at our families’ camps and enjoyed canoeing and swimming, sometimes we had fun skinny dipping in the evenings!

I enjoyed visiting Sue’s camp on the point during winter with her family. Sue and I would watch her mother, Eddie, ice fish. The best part was drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies inside the warm camp next to the wood stove. I loved to play with Sue’s bunny rabbits and she had a few (approximately 30). They had a special home on the rear entry of the house in an enclosed back porch. I remember playing in her barn and riding bikes all over town. I have special memories of Sue’s parents taking us for jeep rides on dirt roads. One trip was down river to visit the baby’s grave. We slept over at each other’s homes many nights and enjoyed many meals together. I have fond memories of eating delicious meals prepared by Eddie, fudge at Christmas and raspberry pie were my favourites. Sue and I would often ask our mothers about the evening menu. This helped us to decide at which home we would eat dinner. We often ate two big meals on Christmas day and I remember feeling very stuffed.

4. Bees. My parents tried growing pumpkins for several years in a row. The plants grew well but no pumpkins grew as the flowers were not pollinated by bees. So, my mother decided to become a bee keeper and our problem was solved. We had 3 bee hives in our backyard, D, O and T hives (my mother’s name was Dot). Each hive had its own personality and our family learned to live with bees. We had a clothesline near the hives and so when my mother brought the laundry in the bees also entered our house. We had fun naming the bees and would call to mom to escort them out of the house. I have memories of each family member being stung by a bee with the exception of my mother; her gentle and loving approach to her bees may have helped.

In the 70s, we boycotted white sugar for one year and enjoyed the honey. I remember how sticky the kitchen floor was after the honey was harvested in the fall. One year the queen bee in one of the hives died. My mother recognized this and placed a mail order for a queen bee. There was a lot of excitement at the post office the day the queen bee was delivered!

5. School. I have many happy memories of going to the Vanceboro School. The girls played skip rope in the front school yard. We played lots of games in the school yard and in my memory, I find it almost blissful to swing, slide and play on the merry-go-round. I lived close to school and was able to walk home for lunch. My mother usually packed homemade cookies for snacks and the older boys used to ask me if they could buy my cookies.  

Every year we made poppy posters to celebrate Veterans Day. The posters were judged and the 1,2,3 and honourable place winners were hung in the front windows of the Legion Hall. One year I won 1^st place and was very proud. I always looked forward to Valentine’s Day and getting lots of cards from my classmates. One of my favourite school memories was making flower books as a class project. Finding native flowers in the woods, identifying the name of the flower, pressing them and making a book was a great educational experience for me. In the Spring we would also get a day off school work to collect garbage all around town. Our teachers were able to make this event fun and everyone enjoyed the day knowing they were helping to improve our environment. One year our class had a bike trip to Tomah.

6. Church. I grew up in the Methodist Church. I attended Sunday School regularly and my mother was a Sunday School teacher. I have beautiful memories of Christmas concerts and having various parts in plays and church dinners in the basement. One year I was a bunny in a play around Easter time and I remember my bunny ears falling forward and hearing people chuckling (my father was the loudest). This memory also makes be laugh!

7. Piano Lessons. Cary Christensen (“Grub”) and I took piano lessons with Mrs. Elizabeth Little in McAdam. Our parents took turns driving us to her home. I remember sitting in her living room and listening to Cary play the piano. He was much better at playing the piano than I was.  

I remember playing in piano recitals at the school in McAdam. I wore a pretty dress and was excited and scared to play the piano on a brightly lit stage in the auditorium. Piano lessons are a fond memory, but I never got very far playing. 

8. Girlfriends. When I was a teenager, I remember hanging out in the evening with my friends, Sue (Crandlemire) Howard, Joy (Raye) Leech and Cindy (Raye) Pickering. We would buy a bag of chips and soda (25 cents) at Monk’s, Holly’s or Sonny’s Store and walk around town. We wore flannel shirts, tight jeans with bell bottoms, acted silly, laughed a lot and had fun. We knew how to have a good time!

9. Bears at the Dump.  Before the Transfer Station was established, our family would enjoy driving to the dump in the early evening to watch the bears. We would line up with the other cars and enjoy being entertained by all the activity. We were most fortunate to never be injured during these events. Perhaps the bears were too busy eating the garbage to notice us. 

10. Picking strawberries. My mother loved to pick berries and make jams and pies. I have many memories of picking strawberries in the fields with my mother and brother. My mother would bring popcorn and Kool-Aid for my brother and me as we would get bored and she wanted to keep us entertained for as long as possible. One year my brother threw the keys out of the car window in frustration at wanting to go home and it took her a long time to find them!

11. Skating. I have many special memories of skating on the Duck Pond and enjoying a bonfire with friends. I also remember skating with my Vanceboro girlfriends at the rink in McAdam. We would listen to music (mostly Beatles), skate around and around for hours and sometimes we would hold the hand of the McAdam boys. At the end of the evening we would walk to the train station, sit at the lunch counter and enjoy a soda and french fries or hot chocolate and home-made donuts made by Mrs. Boone before taking the train home. It’s been a long time since you could do that!

12. Birthday parties. My brother and I always had really fun birthday parties thanks to our amazing parents. One year I had a scavenger hunt, where two teams of girls on bikes had a list of items to find in town. One of the items was a grey hair from Holly Beers (he consented). My brother had a kickball party at the old picnic site in McAdam, followed by a hot dog barbeque. One of the boys ate 13 hot dogs!

13. Halloween. I always looked forward to trick or treating on Halloween. Sue (Crandlemire) Howard and I would dress up and go to every house in town. Walking through the cemetery was a scary part of the annual tradition. We always enjoyed going to the home of Chet O’Brien, where we were able to take the biggest handful of his candy in exchange for one piece of our candy that we had collected from other houses. We were always excited about the large amount of candy we collected in pillow cases and I remember carefully sorting it out in shoe boxes. I think some family members took my candy without permission?

14. Christmas. I cherish the memories of all the delicious baking and family traditions around Christmas. One year, my mother and I decorated cookies and hung them on the tree. In the evening when we returned home the tree was on its side and our dog, Sam had eaten most of the cookies and smashed a few of the tree decorations. That is actually a pretty funny memory, as Sam was such a good dog!

My mother shopped for gifts all year long and she often hid the presents so no one would find them. She hid them so well that she often could not find them. Christmas lasted for a few more months as she would find the presents.

I was a member of the Junior Girls Auxiliary lead by Muriel Kegin. I fondly remember preparing boxes of goodies for shut-ins during the Christmas holidays. The boxes were filled with fruit, food items, and amazing cookies and squares mostly made by Muriel. We had lots of fun delivering the boxes and spreading Christmas cheer.

15. A Magical Childhood. I lived a blessed and privileged life growing up in Vanceboro. Vanceboro was a safe place to live. In my mind – life was simple in magical ways, we had fun and laughed a lot, made beautiful memories and forever friends. I had wonderful parents who loved each other and I was very loved. Our family knew most families in town. We had great neighbors, Baa and Sharon Crandlemire, good friend Teresa, Chris, Cindy, David and Penny. We had kick ball games many evenings on the front yard between our homes. I was fortunate to take Judo lessons (yellow belt) in Topsfield and I was a Brownie in McAdam. I have always felt a sense of pride and joy with my small-town Maine roots that have shaped the person I am today.