As MDI braces for '22 onslaught, Acadia NP fuels crisis with wrong data, weak visitor management
Other news: DMR wants special fee up to $250,000 for large aquafarm applications
BAR HARBOR, Feb. 12, 2022 - At some point, Acadia National Park, the 600-pound gorilla, elephant in the room or whatever moniker of choice, is going to have to own up to its role in creating the unacceptable and unsafe conditions on MDI.
And to be a responsible stakeholder, it’s going to have to come clean with honest data.
For instance, it continues to publish erroneous numbers on park visitation, as in the following chart on the federal government website - to wit “Total Recreational Visitors” of more than 4 million in 2021.
This is a pattern. In 2020, the ANP website had this erroneous number.
One individual may enter the park five times and be counted as five visits. But it’s still just one visitor.
Why does this matter?
Because the cruise ship industry, which is battling efforts to curb its visits, likes to piggyback on ANP ‘s erroneous data to say that its passengers make up only a small fraction of the park’s total visitors.
The expected 290,000 passengers in 2022 is only 6.6 percent of total visitors to the park, if you use the above published 4,069,098 number, and therefore do not have as an impactful presence, as the industry has previously asserted.
John T. Kelly, park liaison to the Bar Harbor cruise ship committee, claimed he frequently reminds fellow members that the number is “visits” not “visitors.”
So why does the park continue to publish the number as “visitors?”
Friends of Acadia uses the same erroneous information posted by ANP to raise money to stir donations. In its mission statement in 2020, it stated, “Drawing more than 3.5 million visitors each year, Acadia is one of the ten most popular national parks in the US. It is also one of the smallest and most vulnerable.”
This then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy - FOA’s programs make Acadia a more attractive destination, drawing more visitors which in turn give ANP more bragging rights as a Top 10 park which it doesn’t seem to want to give up. Rinse and repeat.
The park in July issued a scathing condemnation of the proposal for a salmon farm in Frenchman Bay 2,000 feet from park property on the Porcupine Islands. But it has never publicly supported curbing cruise ships which come much closer to the islands and is equally as foul a polluter as fish farms.
Why is that? Is it because cruise ships generate “visits” to the park and fish farming wouldn’t? Superintendent Kevin B. Schneider does not grant interviews for such impolite questions.
QSJ estimated that the number of individuals who visited Acadia last year was between 1.3 to 1.5 million, based on an assumption each visitor went into the park three times. QSJ got no pushback from Kelly, who said, “All I can say is that we did not have 4 million individual visitors.”
In 2022, if we add 290,000 cruise ship passengers on top of 1.3-1.5 million visitors, it will break the back of MDI. Just ask anyone who tried to drive through the village of Bar Harbor last season, or police, hospital staff, search and rescue volunteers, trash collectors, restaurant wait staff, and anyone who lives near Bass Harbor Light and Jordan Pond House.
Kurt Repanshek, who writes the National Parks Traveler blog and perhaps the most authoritative, independent voice on NPS doings, wrote in March 2020:
“Another year of estimated visitation numbers has been released by the National Park Service. As unreliable, unhelpful, and unsustainable as the numbers are, the head counts should be tossed aside.
“First of all, the numbers are estimates. Weak ones at that. Park staff acknowledges that.” Read article
Repanshek has been writing for years about the danger of the park system hyping its numbers to the detriment of its infrastructure, buildings, safety and natural resources.
“There are real problems with constantly pushing for higher visitation. They include adding to maintenance issues, impacting resources, and stressing an already stressed park staff,” he wrote.
To his point, how much of Acadia’s infrastructure is imperiled because overcrowding?
Bangor Daily News’s Bill Trotter, the best reporter in Maine, broke the story this week that the current maintenance chief at the park believes Jordan Pond House is not worth salvaging and must be rebuilt, raising questions about funding, design and construction.
In 2019, my visiting siblings attempted to meet for lunch at Jordan Pond. Some of us were repelled by the crush of cars and went back to Bar Harbor, returning in the Island Explorer bus only to be repelled again because the restaurant simply could not keep up with the horde of diners. And because there was no cell reception, we could not call each other. It took us hours to find a returning bus which had available seats.
“That was not an unusual experience, unfortunately,” said Jim Vekasi, who retired as chief of maintenance for Acadia National Park 10 years ago. Vekasi knows a thing or two about the park, having rehabilitated all its major visitor facilities and the vast majority of the park’s infrastructure, including 119 miles of paved road, 62 parking lots, and 47 bridges. He has personally oversaw more than $100 million in appropriated park improvements.
The Jordan Pond House was poorly designed and had numerous maintenance issues since it was built in 1982 after a fire destroyed the original building, said Vekasi, who praised the previous concessioner Acadia Corp., which helped provide funding for maintenance among other benefits. He said the the National Park Service made a serious mistake when it changed concessioners in 2015.
He described the current situation at Jordan Pond House as “horrific.”
Yet the park has made no effort to curb the visitation at Jordan Pond House, nor at Ocean Drive despite a 2019 Transportation Plan which calls for action. Bass Harbor Light wasn’t in the plan but has fallen into the same critically over-use category as the others.
Not pursuing Transportation Plan recommendations
NPS issued a Record of Decision (ROD) for a Final Transportation Plan/Environmental Impact Statement on May 9, 2019. Regional Director Gay Vietzke signed the ROD, “authorizing the NPS to proceed with this effort to provide safe and efficient transportation for visitors, while ensuring protection of park resources and values.”
“Today’s increased automobile traffic volumes and speeds—combined with an increasing number of visitors choosing to travel the park roads on foot or by bicycle, recreational vehicle (RV), or commercial bus—have created safety issues, resource protection concerns, and adverse impacts to visitor enjoyment of the park,” it stated.
The plan was developed after years of work, including nine public hearings from 2016 to 2018 in Hancock and Knox counties, and an environmental impact assessment.
Despite the potential for lines queuing at checkpoints, the plan recommended a timed-entry system for the heavily congested Ocean Drive corridor (between the Sand Beach Entrance Station and Otter Cliffs Road), Cadillac Summit Road, and the Jordan Pond House North Lot.
Yet under current superintendent Schneider, only the Cadillac Mountain Summit Road has a timed-entry system. And the system worked flawlessly last season.
Spokesperson Katelyn Liming said that after a test in October 2020, “We learned that the Sand Beach Entrance reservation area created significant traffic and parking impacts in the park and on the neighboring town road. It also created long backups and delays for the Island Explorer. Based on what we learned from the pilot and staffing limitations, we decided to postpone the Sand Beach Entrance reservation system and implement the Cadillac Summit Road reservation system in 2021. We will continue to evaluate the need for further changes in accordance with the Transportation Plan.”
So what’s the alternative? Four million visits and more to come this year? You may read the transportation plan here. file:///Users/lmillstein/Downloads/Acadia_National_Park_Final_Transportation_Plan_Environmental_Impact_Statement_March_2019_508.pdf
The park refused QSJ’s request for an interview with maintenance chief Keith Johnston to explore this and other questions, including Jordan Pond House. Liming would only state in an email, “While the overall structure today is in fair condition and is structurally safe, there are significant building concerns that will need to be addressed including issues related to water infiltration and damaged structural columns.
“It’s too soon to put any kind of timeline on this project as it’s likely several years out. Neither design nor construction are currently funded. “
The park received funding in 2020 from the Great American Outdoors Act to allow for construction on a new maintenance facility this year and rehabilitation of the Schoodic District water and wastewater system in fiscal year 2023. But that didn’t put a dent in the deferred maintenance account, which still stands between $50 and $100 million, according to Kelly.
Asked for an accounting of the current deferred maintenance balance, Liming referred to the same 2018 information QSJ published last year:
Facility Condition Index (FCI) - A measure of a facility’s relative condition at a particular point in time. The FCI rating is a ratio of the cost of repair of the asset’s deficiencies divided by the current replacement value for the asset.
Several other national parks are taking a more aggressive stance. The only way to get into Arches National Park between April 3 and October 3 this year will be through a time-entry registration system.
How Rockefeller anticipated the car crunch
All park service employees and FOA members should read one of the best histories of the park, The National Park Service Cultural Landscape Inventory of 2009 which stated:
“Much to the disapproval of many summer residents, automobiles were allowed on the island in 1913. In response to this change in the circulation system, John D. Rockefeller Jr. began building a network of carriage roads separate from automobiles.
“In order to assure that automobiles not be allowed access to the carriage roads, Rockefeller obtained the expertise of Duncan Chandler to design a stone pier and wood gate entrance.”
Rockefeller then had Grosvenor Atterbury design a gatehouse complex (carriage house, gatekeeper’s house, east and west gates). The complex was completed in 1932. Beatrix Farrand later advised Rockefeller on the grading and planting design for the complex.
I wonder how they would feel about the management of their treasured legacy today?
A recent article in the BDN captured MDI’s plight in a nutshell:
“Area residents want to see the Moosehead Lake region and Greenville succeed economically, but too much growth could mean the area would ‘lose its specialness,’ said Chris King, secretary of the residents group Moosehead Region Futures Committee.
“There’s a constant tension,” he said. “None of us want to see this place become Bar Harbor.”
FOOTNOTE: Bar Harbor Town Manager Kevin Sutherland has reached out to Cruise Lines International Association, the trade group, for a Biden/Putin-like negotiations to see if he can convince the industry to voluntarily reduce visits this year. He is scheduled to report back to the Town Council Tuesday on whether he is making progress.
Must see: Norwegian filmmaker’s video of how cruise ship takes over small town
SOMESVILLE - A reader recommended this short documentary , “View,” about how a single cruise ship can rob a small town of its soul.
According to the New Yorker, which helped make the documentary, “The poet and filmmaker Odveig Klyve has lived for several decades in Stavanger, on the west coast of Norway. The city encircles its harbor, on hillsides that slope down to the seafront. It has been a site of international commerce for hundreds of years, Klyve said, first for herring fishing, then international shipping, then the oil industry.
“It has always been a city linked to the sea and what the sea can give.
“The vistas from Stavanger are striking: sparkling ocean, with islands and mountains in the distance. Recently, however, a new industry’s arrival has obstructed the view and, as Klyve put it, changed the very feeling of the city. When cruise ships first came to the harbor, about ten years ago, Klyve remembers her neighbors being excited about the important economic boost that tourists would bring to the area; some residents even put up banners to welcome visitors into their gardens. Over time, however, the cruise industry has become a local controversy.
DMR seeking $250,000 ‘special fee’ for large aquafarm applications
SOMESVILLE - In seeking to to slap a “special fee” of $250,000 to process large aquafarms like the one proposed for Frenchman Bay, the Department of Marine Resources admitted that it’s never handled an application like that of American Aquafarms, which wants to raise salmon in Frenchman Bay.
In response to a question at Tuesday’s legislative hearing to give an example of a project which would require such a fee, DMR policy director Deirdre Gilbert said:
“There is a very unusual application that is beyond what we have typically dealt with … in Frenchman's Bay, the American Aquafarms project, and I think many of the criteria of that, or attributes of that project, including kind of the technology they're using, which is something we have not previously used in Maine.
“It's that type of project that we would anticipate spending much more staff time on than things we have dealt with before,” she said.
Gilbert said the law, if enacted would not apply to current applications, including that of American Aquafarms.
But does it signal that the state is having misgivings about the project as Gilbert pointed to how it doesn’t conform to current Maine standards and expectations? QSJ will have more on that next week.
She said, “This is modeled after an existing authority in Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) statutes, in which certain permit applications, due to their size, complexity, or uniqueness, are subject to special fees in lieu of the flat permit fee, which currently cannot exceed $2,000.
“This authority is intended for use in relatively rare occasions where the Department is dealing with an application that is well beyond the bounds of a typical application, in one of these regards.”
“For that reason, the Department would anticipate that the amount of staff time spent on such an application would be far in excess of an average lease. In those instances, the Department would notify the applicant that their application would be subject to special fees and would track staff time spent on the application.”
Gilbert said DEP invoked the special fee when evaluating Central Maine Power’s proposed corridor project as an example.
Gilbert emphasized that controversy, such as the widespread protest by more than 20 organizations against the Frenchman Bay project, “alone would not make an application eligible to be charged special fees … consistent with the existing DEP statute.”
You may watch her testimony which was recorded starting at 35.24 into the video.
Lynne Williams proposes state aquaculture comprehensive plan
BAR HARBOR - State Rep. Lynne Williams, D-Bar Harbor/Lamoine, has written a letter to Janet Mills, seeking to develop a comprehensive plan for aquaculture in Maine.
“I believe that there needs to be a serious look at the differences between small, and large, commercial projects, as well as between shell fish aquaculture and fin fish aquaculture. The creation of a comprehensive plan for aquaculture in Maine, that is not driven by the lobbyists in the aquaculture industry, would be a great step forward,” Williams wrote.
“The American Aquafarms project, which would be off two of the districts I represent, is preparing to submit its final application to DMR. My concern about the DMR’s ability to monitor and protect Frenchman Bay, and all of the other bays in Maine, extends far beyond the immediate project in my district.
“I know you are aware of the large constituency of people and groups who are opposing this project and they are from all over the state and also from away. In August of this year, more than 116,000 fish died in the waters not far from the Frenchman Bay project. My concern has to do with the reporting requirements. Cooke Aquaculture, an industrial scale aquaculture company headquartered in Canada with more than 600 acres of leases, was not required to report the massive die off to the Department of Marine Resources.
“If over 100,000 cows died in Albion would anyone be notified at the Department of Agriculture? Emails indicate the Commissioner of Marine Resources was in the dark about the die off until notified by a company hired by Cooke to clean up the mess. I am Chair of the Harbor Committee of Bar Harbor and I know that the waters are inextricably connected. Many of the people in the districts I represent are fearful that if another die off occurs at Black Rock, or elsewhere, notification to the State would again be delayed. Many of us have waited since August to see if the DMR would respond regarding the rules and regulations around notification. To this date, the Commissioner has not publicly advocated for such a change. Repeatedly, there has been in DMR an attitude supporting aquaculture at any costs no matter what hazards may and, as we saw with Cooke, do present themselves.
Is Mount Desert denial of quarry permit appeal proof?
HALL QUARRY - The Planning Board Wednesday voted unanimously to deny the application to restart the quarrying business here after at least eight years of contention by neighbors that they were led to believe by real estate agents and others that the stone-cutting operation was forever dormant.
The operation was dormant for decades, allowing for Hall Quarry to become an essentially a residential subdivision.
It is similar to the battle being played out in Tremont in a residential neighborhood fighting a 20-acre campground development in its midst.
Matt Manahan, an attorney representing residents who argue the screeching sound of stone cutting will affect not only the subdivision residents but homeowners across Somes Sound, said the decision is appeals proof and applauded the planning board for its diligent work.
The applicant, Harold MacQuinn Inc., has 30 days to appeal the decision to the town’s appeal board.
The planning board’s denial was based on two premises - that the applicant failed to obtain a proper easement to ensure the access road met town standards and that the neighbors’ general welfare would be impaired by the stone-cutting operation.
It is the longest running zoning battle in MDI history.
Police chief, planning chair, neighbors form committee on Charlotte’s Lobster Pound parking
SOUTHWEST HARBOR - Police Chief John Hall is proving to be an honest broker.
That will either serve him well or get him fired by George Jellison and his minions on the select board.
Tuesday night, Hall gave a carefully worded but forceful repudiation of Jellison’s campaign against Charlotte’s Legendary Lobster Pound.
That prompted an intervention by select member Dan Norwood to seek a compromise while Jellison was disquieted.
In July, one day after he started his new job, Hall was told by Jellison’s select board to go and shut down Charlotte’s Legendary Lobster Pound’s on-street parking at Seawall which he did. QSJ met Hall in the foyer in front of the dispatcher at SWH police headquarters the next day.
Hall was clearly confused and searching for the right words. I asked him whether he knew that the complainant was Jellison’s sister who lived across from the lobster pound. Hall said he didn’t but was clearly chagrined by the information.
I asked him if his police department had done any independent investigation into whether the parking created an unsafe situation. He said it had not, and that he was simply complying with orders from the select board which brings up an interesting question:
If Jellison chose to order the police to arrest every citizen in town who voted against him, would the police follow that order without its own investigation into the charges?
QSJ left him to sort out his true north.
Hall had more to deal with at the time. He was living out of a camper in Lamoine because, like many others, he could not find affordable housing for his family.
Now, six months later, Jellison decided to press the point again.
Except this time Charlotte Gill was ready. And so was Hall.
Tuesday night’s select board meeting which Jellison sought to eliminate Charlotte’s on-street parking became the town’s second biggest citizens uprising during Jellison’s Reign.
Last June, more than 100 residents overrode by a unanimous voice vote Jellison’s rejection of a town committee recommendation for a popular town skating pond improvements claiming concern for abutting neighbors. But apparently he did not talk to the closest abutting neighbor who rose to support the effort and noted that the pond had enabled generations of children to learn to ice skate.
Tuesday night there were 20 supporters of Charlotte Gill who came to the meeting in person and 55 on Zoom. Seven speakers challenged Jellison and urged him to recuse himself because of his conflict.
Hall was asked to speak at the end of the meeting. He chose his words carefully but it was clear he was no longer going to use his police powers just because Jellison’s sister was unhappy with her neighbor.
“If parking is prohibited, physically, in the area, I think cars are going to realize that and then they're not going to know what to do,” he said.
“We always joke about you can't legislate people to read signs. I think they would come into that.”
Hall said motorists will be confused and some will say “I've always parked here and now I can't park here.”
“I think that is going to create something. Another unintended consequence.
“I hear mandates that I think may or may not have some effect. I know that us putting the speed trailer signs out in that area did slow traffic down considerably.”
When Jellison said, “the cones helped too,” referring to the orange cones which the police placed on the road across from her lobster pound, Hall retorted that they made the area look like a crime scene.
“I'm sorry. That's just what it looked like ... like the crime scene out there.”
Jellison was speechless after the police chief spoke. Member Dan Norwood took over the meeting and proposed the police chief, Charlotte Gill, planning board members and neighbors meet to recommend a solution at the March select board meeting. Gill agreed.
Lincoln’s Log:
Candidates update: Mount Desert vice Chairman Matt Hart announced he will not seek re-election for the select board in May. Wendy Littlefield said she would.
Former SWH school board member Michael Sawyer has told friends he will run for the select board. In 2017 the MDI superintendent unsuccessfully tried to replace Sawyer after he missed three consecutive meetings. Select chair George Jellison said at the time that Sawyer deliberately missed meetings so as to not vote on matters with which he disagreed. Sawyer was a vocal critic of Jellison at Tuesday’s meeting on parking at Charlotte’s lobster pound. Jellison and Sawyer are neighbors on Seawall Road.
Tribute: Venessa Hall McKay
1927 - 2022
BAR HARBOR - Venessa Mae Hall McKay, 94, of Severna Park, MD, beloved wife,Mother, grandmother, great- grandmother, aunt, sister and cousin, passed away peacefully on Wednesday January 12, 2022. She was the daughter of the late Lawrence Vernon Hall Sr. and Edna Rose Hardison, of Bar Harbor, Maine, where she grew up. She was born on July 27, 1927, in Bar Harbor, ME, graduating from Bar Harbor High School, 1946. She was on the HS basketball team. After graduating she went to work at Bar Harbor Bank and Trust where she held multiple roles in administration, handling special accounts. Growing up she had many friends and enjoyed going to the beach, swimming, dances, and gardening. She especially loved spending time in Franklin, ME as a young girl visiting her mother's family.In 1952, she married Charles Raymond McKay of Bar Harbor, ME. After marriage she worked for DuPont Company for a short period of time. She then devoted her time to raising their four children as the family moved frequently due to her husband's job at DuPont. They lived in Pens Grove, NJ, Claymont, DE, New Brunswick, NJ, Arlington Heights, IL, Rocky River, OH, and finally settling in Severna Park, MD in 1968. She volunteered time at her children's school, enjoyed listening to music and dancing, cooking, baking, reading, puzzles, cribbage, home decor, style and fashion, local and international travel, hosting bridge club, and other social gatherings at their home. She worked for C. E. Stevens Packaging for a short period of time. Venessa loved her hometown of Bar Harbor, spending every family vacation at her family home in town, and at their waterfront McKay family camp at Hadley Point. After her husband's retirement, their time was spent traveling between homes in Florida, Maryland, and Maine.Her love for all her family and friends will always be remembered. Her sweet and gentle nature touched everyone she met.She is survived by her four children: Robert Stephen McKay (Gladney) of Severna Park, MD, Janice McKay Sorich (Michael) of Burbank, CA, Patricia McKay of Annapolis, MD, and James Edward McKay (Carrie) of Bar Harbor, ME. Nine Grandchildren: Dan, Carl, Raymond "Max", Christina, Jamie (Devon), Stephen "Collin" (Kaley), Matthew, Melissa, Micaela. Six Great-Grandchildren: Ava, Evelyn, Stephen, James, Owen, and Trent; her sister Nancy Hall Dorsey (David), and brother Lawrence Hall Jr. (Lily); Sister-in-laws and brother-in-laws: Lawrence McKay of Kennebunkport, ME, Bernard McKay (Estelle) of Landenberg, PA, James McKay (Ruth) of Hollis Center, ME, and Marjorie McKay of West Hartford, CT; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.She was predeceased by her husband Charles Raymond McKay (August 2018)A Maryland Celebration of Life will be held at a later date, details forthcoming. An additional Celebration of Life and Interment will be in Bar Harbor, ME June 2022.In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to:Alzheimer's Association of Maryland: www.alz.org/maryland/donateNational Psoriasis Foundation: www.psoriasis.org/donate/American Stroke Association: www.stroke.orgor National Stroke AssociationCondolences may be expressed at www.jordanfernald.com
Tribute: Helen Raye C. Witham
1943 - 2022
BAR HARBOR - There are people in this world whose presence brings light to everyone around them. This radiance shines positivity and spreads joy that is left upon others when they leave their company. Helen Raye (Coston) Witham, 78, passed away unexpectedly February 2, 2022. She was born July 19,1943 in Bar Harbor Maine, the daughter of Barbara (Hamor) and Paul Coston, Sr.
Helen is a graduate of Bar Harbor High School. Following her graduation, Helen completed a teaching degree from Aroostook State College in Presque Isle, ME. Helen married Jim Witham and they resided in South Portland ME where Helen taught physical education for over 30 years. Helen and Jim welcomed two children, Charlotte (Witham) O'Reilly and James Coston Witham, Sr. Helen held many positions including swim instructor, lifeguard and varsity basketball coach. Helen returned to Bar Harbor where she worked endlessly alongside her sister Mary Jane “Janey” Whitney and her brother Paul Coston at the Villager Motel in Bar Harbor.
Helen loved to work and had no plans of ever retiring. She was the founder and owner of the Bar Harbor Shuttle where she found joy in connecting with travelers from all over the world. Helen loved the outdoors. As a young girl she would ice skate at Glen Mary. You could find her walking Witch Hole every day or sitting at Grant’s Park taking shuttle reservations while watching her grandchildren skip rocks in the ocean.
Helen was dedicated to her children, especially her grandchildren. Those who met her walking in town or driving the shuttle, were sure to hear stories of her grandchildren that were filled with love and adoration, as was seen on the smile on her face and sparkle in her eyes. Helen loved children's literature and eagerly shared that love with her six grandchildren. Helen spent numerous hours in search of books to share with them. Diligently reading through the Horn Book, in search of the next Newbury Award winner.
Helen was a special woman. She often spoke about her local bike rides and her bike excursion across the country. Helen’s stories of hula hooping would put a smile on your face. Helen had a unique authenticity
and her passion for life was infectious. If you had the pleasure of being a passenger on the Bar Harbor Shuttle, you often heard stories of Bar Harbor which included highlighting the best places to visit during your stay. Helen's stories could entertain those she met for hours, whether it was a detailed account of her biking the southern tier of the country, her biking trip in Puerto Rico, or when she went white water rafting in Colorado at 71 years of age, no ride went without a personal narrative.
Helen looked forward to traveling to Ireland this year to see her first grandchild Sophia graduate from college. She looked forward to seeing her namesake Grace Helen graduate from high school in May. Helen lived for her grandchildren and will always be remembered for her positive attitude, love for the outdoors, love for Mark Levin, and her love for children.
Helen is survived by her sister Mary Jane (Coston) Whitney of Bar Harbor, and her daughter Katherine; her brother Paul Coston, Jr. of Bar Harbor, and his son Stephen; daughter Charlotte (Witham) O’Reilly of Ireland; a son James Witham, Sr., and his wife Ericka of Bar Harbor. Six grandchildren, Sophia, Beatrice, and Isabel O’Reilly of Ireland. Grace, James, and Sylas Witham of Bar Harbor. She was their hero. Helen is also survived by her good friend and walking buddy Bill Murphy of Bar Harbor.
Because of Helen’s love of children and her life mission to create the best life for her grandchildren, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Kids Corner Childcare, 81 Mt Desert St, Bar Harbor, ME 04609. A celebration of life will be held on July 19, (Helen’s Birthday) at one of the many places she loved to sit, the time and location will be announced.
Condolences may be expressed at www.jordanfernald.com
Tribute: Lawrence V. Hall Jr.
1930 - 2022
BAR HARBOR - Lawrence “Larry” V. Hall, Jr., 91, died February 7, 2022, at a Bangor hospital. He was born April 29, 1930, in Bar Harbor, the son of Lawrence V. and Edna (Hardison) Hall, Sr.
He graduated from Bar Harbor High School in 1948. After graduation he worked for his father. On February 7, 1952, he was inducted into the U.S. Army, serving 16 months in Korea. After his release from the Army, he was employed at the Jackson Laboratory from April 1954 until his retirement in January 1992.
Larry married Elizabeth “Lily” McEldowney, December 10, 1955, and they most recently celebrated 66 years of marriage. He coached Little League and was a volunteer of the Bar Harbor Fire Department, a past member of the Forty Hayseeder’s, St. Saviour’s Episcopal Church, the American Legion Post #25 and the Bugle and Drum Corps. Larry enjoyed spending time with family and friends at Donnell Pond in Franklin.
He is survived by his wife, Lily: two daughters Betty Dugan and husband Jeffrey of Bloomfield, CT and Judy McGinn of Bucksport; two sons Jeffrey Hall of Bar Harbor and Robert Hall and wife Julie of Trenton; grandchildren Kate Greenbacker and husband Charlie, Michael Thornton, Danielle Graffius and husband Ben, Andrew Hall, Brittany Tyner and husband Andy, Jonathan Hall, Nolan Hall, Sean McGinn and Heather McGinn; great-grandchildren, Taylor Thornton, Ella and Erinne Graffius, Chase, Andrew, Emma and James Greenbacker, Jack and William Tyner; a sister Nancy Dorsey and husband David; many cousins, nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents and sister Venessa McKay and husband Charles.
Graveside services at Bayview Cemetery, Franklin and will be announced in the spring.
Those who desire may make contributions in Larry’s memory to St. Saviour’s Episcopal Church, 41 Mt. Desert St., Bar Harbor, 04609 or the MDI YMCA, 21 Park St., Bar Harbor, 04609.
Condolences may be expressed at www.jordanfernald.com