Dear Editor:

I was taken by Joe Gelarden's column re: the election. It ended "Is he the reason our community has changed, or has it always?"

I can't speak for always, as Joe put it, but I can remember when I was introduced to our community in 1950. It has been a lifelong love affair. During the intervening 60-plus years, there have been changes for sure, prompted along by some wonderful people, but for the most part, these changes have evolved. Going to the dump was a weekly social event and I developed friends in the process. Our recycling center is a far cry from our dump of the 1950s. As I got the story, a committee from the National YMCA organization looked at the possibility of a YMCA here and gave it a "thumbs down." A group of dedicated folks decided to build a "Y" anyway. Wow, did it work, and it continues to work through the memberships and support from our citizens.

One factor in all this is that it has not changed our citizens who, for the most part, are our most important asset. The "he" that Joe is referring to is obviously Paul Coulombe. Paul falls into good company. I immediately think of my friend Marylouise Cowan, the Barrett family, John and Charlotte Druce, who transformed the Spruce Point inn into a class act, and a group of folks who refer to themselves as "anonymous." I spent 30 years of my life as a sales rep for a textile company. The corporate headquarters were located in West Point, Georgia and Maine's own Pepperell Mills were part of the corporate giant. Today, West Point is the location of KIA automobiles. There is no trace of the textile co., nor any of their competitors.

My comfort zone is in the Sprucewold log cabin colony. Sadly, many of the dear friends with whom I frolicked in years past have transitioned to the great beyond, but when I reflect back on my three decades as a resident, I think how did you get so lucky, Walter?

Walter "Scottie" Scott

Pittsburgh and Sprucewold