She touched many lives: Windham and Raymond remember educator Jani Cummings

 By Brian Bizier

Longtime educator taught first grade and second grade for
38 years at Raymond Elementary School and later became
a member of the RSU 14 Board of Directors. A memorial
service will be held on Sunday afternoon at Jordan-Small
Middle School for Cummings, who died in April of 
respiratory failure at age 67. COURTESY PHOTO 

Every town holds its share of inspiring citizens who seem to know everyone, who manage to stay in touch with friends and relatives all over the world, and who have a gift for bringing the community together. For Windham and Raymond, Janis Elizabeth Cummings was that amazing person.

Born April 9, 1954 in Beaufort, South Carolina to Samuel Cummings and Lou Nerren, who were both U.S. Marines, Janis, known to her friends and family as Jani, and her brother, grew up traveling all over the world. Her family eventually settled in Raymond, and Jani attended Windham High School, where she was very active in drama productions. Upon graduation, she enrolled at Westbrook College and the University of Southern Maine, where she received her teaching degree.

For Jani, teaching meant following in her family’s footsteps.

“In my first year of teaching, Jani’s mother, Lou Cummings, was also a teacher,” said Bill Diamond, Maine State Senator’s from Windham. “Lou was a former Marine, she was someone I respected, and I always did whatever she told me.”

Upon earning her teaching degree, Jani joined Raymond Elementary School, where she taught first and second grade students for 38 years. She was a beloved teacher with a gift for bringing community members into her classrooms and interacting with students.

“She had this amazing way of getting you outside your comfort zone and encouraging you to just be better, in a way,” said Jessica Fay, a Maine State Representative from Raymond. “Jani was one of the first people that I met after we moved here and I opened the flower shop, so we met because of flowers. She loved flowers, and I was a florist. I didn’t have a lot of experience with young children, but one of the things that she did, is she said, ‘I would love for you to come to my class and teach Japanese floral design to my first-graders.’ Which was terrifying! She encouraged me, she kind of told me that this was something she’d really like to have happen.”

Eventually, Fay did agree to join Jani’s classroom.

“I did it,” Fay said. “I went into the class and taught the kids while they were studying Japan. That was how Jani taught. She was a teacher of young students, but she was also a teacher for the adults around her.”

Diamond shared similar memories of Jani’s classroom.

“She was a teacher in Raymond when I was Maine Secretary of State,” Diamond said. “And she’d invite me down to talk to the students. Even when I finished as secretary, I kept visiting her class.”

Fay recounted that Jani was an amazing teacher.

“She had this way with kids, and adults too, and their parents,” she said. “I think a teacher needs to be able to have a relationship with an entire family, and she really did.”

Deborah Hutchinson, former principal of Raymond Elementary School, agrees with Fay’s assessment.

“She could make the school come alive,” Hutchinson said.

Jani’s ability to form relationships extended far beyond the walls of Raymond Elementary School.

“Something that was super sweet with Jani, on a personal note was that out of the blue, you’d get a note from Jani that she was thinking of you or just wanted to encourage you” said Chris Howell, RSU 14 Schools Superintendent. “She really cared about those personal relationships and did all she could to foster them.”

For Jani, those personal relationships took many forms. She was very active in the local Democratic Party, and very supportive of women in politics.

“I can’t remember who encouraged who to run for office, but she was always very supportive of and encouraging of me when I decided to run, and when she decided to run for School Board,” Fay said.

For many, Jani was also a part of many Raymond residents’ more romantic moments.

“She was a notary public, so she married many of the people in town,” Hutchinson said. “She married my daughter and her husband and she performed the ceremony.”

Once she retired from teaching, Jani opened a bed and breakfast in her Victorian home, which was across the street from the Raymond Village Library. She loved connecting to visitors from around the world, and she also loved welcoming Raymond’s children into her yard on Halloween.

“Halloween will never be the same down in the village,” Hutchinson said. “Jani would have 300 or more kids come to her house, and she always made sure she had enough candy for everyone.”

Jani also continued her involvement in education by becoming an active and vital member of the RSU 14 School Board following her retirement.

“She had an absolute love of children,” Howell said. “She would do anything possible in her power to help a kid out and to make sure that a kid succeeded and, to go along with that, to make sure the teachers had everything they needed. It didn’t matter if it was in her classroom or doing policy and procedures for the School Board.”

Her commitment to caring for others continued throughout her entire life, even toward the end. Howell described School Board leadership meetings on Zoom which Jani attended from the ICU when she became ill.

“She couldn’t speak, because she was on a ventilator,” Howell said. “So, she wrote messages on a whiteboard.”

Jani also expressed concern for the hospital’s staff during her stay.

“Even in the ICU, Jani was thinking about the staff at the hospital,” Hutchinson said. “She asked me if I would go out and get some ‘fancy candy’ for them. So, I got a couple dozen boxes of fancy candy and passed them out.”

Jani Cummings passed away on April 24 after a courageous battle with respiratory failure. She was 67 years old.

“Jani was our conscience,” said Diamond. “No matter who you were, she was a consistent conscience for all of us. She was an example of how to live right and care for others. When she passed away, and I think a lot of people feel the same way, we lost a piece of what’s really good.”

Fay agrees.

“It’s very difficult for me to imagine Raymond without her,” Fay said.
“She really was one of those people who connected different people in different parts of the community and brought them together. She taught us the importance of community and connection. I think when we are committed to each other, and to our community, we’re honoring her.”

Howell said that he’ll miss Jani’s dry sense of humor, which he appreciated.

“I’ve heard, since her passing, just countless people in the community who’ve said she was able to touch their lives over the years,” he said. “She was wonderful presence for both communities, Windham and Raymond. I definitely will cherish the time that I had with her. And I miss her.”

A celebration of Jani’s life will be held at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 8 at Jordan-Small Middle School in Raymond. The event is open to the public, and everyone is invited.

Additionally, Jessica Fay is inviting members of the community to donate flowers from their garden to make community flower arrangements to honor Jani Cummings through the flowers that she so dearly loved. Please call Fay at 415-4218 if you have flowers to share. <

Work on Windham Middle School construction advancing

Portland's Lavallee Brensinger Company has been selected
as the architect of the new Windham Middle School
construction project and joined RSU 14 representatives at
a meeting in Augusta this week to discuss what needs to be
done to get the project started. The new school is expected
to be completed by the fall of 2026. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE
 

PROJECT EXPECTED TO BE COMPLETED BY 2026

By Ed Pierce

The plan to renovate and build a new Windham Middle School remains at the forefront of RSU 14’s agenda this summer and an architectural firm has been chosen to lead the project.

In June, the RSU 14 Board of Directors voted 8-0 approving the Lavallee Brensinger Company of Portland to serve as architects for the project and this week, RSU 14 Superintendent Christopher Howell, Bill Hansen, RSU 14’s Director of Facilities, Property Services and Special Projects, joined representatives of Lavallee Brensinger at a meeting in Augusta with the head of school construction projects for the state of Maine.

Howell said that the pre-design meeting in Augusta clarified how much in depth of a study that RSU 14 will need to complete for an analysis of potential renovation of the current WMS building and discussed the possibility of constructing the building on the current WMS campus across from Windham High School.

“Since this is a state funded project, we will be working with the state to negotiate the project fees associated with the first two steps,” Howell said. “The fees for the final construction project are based on a percentage of the total cost of the project.”

He said Lavallee Brensinger architects will be working with the Windham Middle School Building Committee while RSU 14 works through the construction process.  

“Bill Hansen and I will be acting as liaisons between the committee and the firm,” Howell said. “The first step of the project will include a new versus renovation analysis of the current Windham School Building that will be completed by the firm. If the data points to new construction, which we are anticipating, we will work with the firm to complete a site analysis for a new building.”

According to Howell, the RSU 14 Board of Directors chose Lavallee Brensinger as the project architect based upon their extensive experience with high quality school construction projects and their proven ability to complete projects efficiently and economically.

“The firm has demonstrated an ability to work with clients to help them fulfill their visions for a school plant and has a reputation for completing high quality school buildings,” Howell said. “Most recently, the group completed Sanford High School and Morse High School. They are currently building a middle school that is similar to our project for the Oyster River School District in New Hampshire. They have a reputation for shepherding projects that are completed on time and on budget.”

Howell said the project remains on track to be completed for students by the fall of 2026.

After several years of being ranked at Number 5 overall among state-approved and subsidized construction projects, RSU 14 learned in March that the highly anticipated project was greenlighted by the state to move forward although how much actual funding for the project is yet unknown. The determining factor for funding depends upon whether the aging 44-year-old school will be rebuilt or renovated.      

Howell said that the original Windham Middle School was completed in 1977 and was built for a capacity of 483 students.  In the past year, that number has now grown to 636 students, with sixth graders housed for some classes at the adjacent Field Allen School, originally constructed in the 1930s.

“Over the years, the Field Allen School has had several minor renovations and has been incorporated into the programming of the school.  Most recently, two new classrooms were added to the building to accommodate a large sixth-grade class,” Howell said. “The building has served the district well over the years but is starting to show signs that it is reaching the end of its usable life cycle as a school building.  Aside from the inability to have all students in the building under one roof, the main middle school building has small classrooms, outdated science rooms, restroom facilities that do not meet modern requirements, a worn-out heating system, outdated windows, and a less than adequate electrical system.”   

During the 2020-2021 school year, more than 200 students had to transition back and forth from Field Allen School to Windham Middle School for classes in art, music, science, STEM, gym and other activities including the school cafeteria.

Howell said that RSU 14 originally applied for the Maine Department of Education’s Major Capital Construction Program in 2016 for funding for construction and was ranked as the fifth-highest priority among 74 proposed school construction projects statewide each year before being greenlighted for funding in March 2021.

“The program is highly competitive as a positive rating in the process can lead to a significant financial savings for school districts,” Howell said. “A majority of construction costs for school projects selected through this program will be covered by the state.”

Once a district applies for funding, Maine DOE reviews and rates the project based upon need. The State Board of Education then funds as many projects from the list as available debt limit funds allow. Working with the State Board of Education, Maine DOE establishes both size and financial limits on projects.

Local school districts may exceed these limits at local expense through municipal bonds, but the state bears the major financial burden of capital costs for approved school construction projects. As such, Maine DOE first looks at the possibility of renovations or renovations with additions and new school construction projects are only considered in instances in which renovation projects are not economically or educationally feasible.

According to Howell, there are 21 steps in the school construction process for state funded projects.

“The first three steps are steps related to the application for a building.  The project started step 4 last week when an advertisement was completed for architectural services for the project,” he said. “Once an architectural firm is selected, the district will work with that firm to complete an analysis of new versus renovation and to conduct an analysis of possible sites in the district to construct a new building.”

He said specific work by RSU 14 toward developing a vision for the new school building started in 2019. 

“The district engaged the services of an experienced school planner named Frank Locker who has worked with teams across the world to design and build new school buildings,” Howell said.  “Frank has been working with a group of stakeholders through a process of examining middle level programming, student grouping, functionality and equipment, environment in the new learning space, future learning, and how the building can be used for all members of the RSU 14 community.  A final report from the work of this group will be presented this spring.  The document will be used by the architects to develop concept designs for the new building.”

This spring WMS Principal Drew Patin said he was thrilled that the project is now moving ahead.

“Not only will we be able to create a safe and welcoming school, but we will have the opportunity to design a building that meets the educational needs of our students in this current age and for generations of students to come,” Patin said. “We will create spaces that promote lifelong skills, such as collaboration, problem-solving, creativity, and perseverance.” < 

Windham Center Stage Theater reopens with Edges: A Song Cycle

Cast members of Windham Center Stage Theater's production 
of Edges: A Song Cycle rehearse for their upcoming shows on
Aug. 6, 7 and 8 at Windham Town Hall.
PHOTO BY JOCELYN FRENCH

By Elizabeth Richards

The stage lights will come up at the Windham Town Hall for the first time in over a year when Windham Center Stage Theater presents Edges: A Song Cycle on Aug. 6, 7 and 8.

Edges is the first live show WCST has performed since they closed their children’s show, Pinocchio, in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  In early July, Edges ran for a weekend at the Gendron Franco Center in Lewiston. Now, WCST is bringing it home.

Pinocchio ran for one weekend before they made the difficult decision to close.

“We put everything on pause,” said Laurie Shepard, co-chair of the WCST board, who was also the director for that show.  “It was hard for the community, the kids who had worked so hard…but safety came first.”

Although they couldn’t reopen the show as they’d hoped they might, they did hold a drive-by awards ceremony where Shepard took the time to thank each child and celebrate the work that they had put in.

While closed, WCST held a virtual Winter Wonderland performance, something they’d never done before.  Shepard said there was a learning curve, and they had to really step back and change their thought process a little. 

As they open their season, they are still thinking outside the box, and trying to do whatever they can to offer great theater to the community, she said.

Because WCST performs at the Windham Town Hall, they did not have a building to sustain through the pandemic. That allowed them to concentrate on providing whatever theater experience they could during the pandemic, Shepard said. 

“We did the virtual production, and it was just about serving the community, not about ticket sales,” she said. 

Rachel Scala-Bolduc, music director for Edges, said that was one thing that WCST was really fortunate for.

“We didn’t really have to worry about maintaining our own space and not having any revenue,” she said.

“Like everybody else, we’re charting a very different way of looking at things,” Shepard said. “We’re just plugging away and excited to be back on our home base stage.”

Director Darnell Stuart said that originally, the group had talked about streaming Edges online.

“Things started changing with Covid, and we were able to change our direction and be able to put it on the stage, which has been a great, great experience for all of us,” she said. “All of us are seasoned theater people, so it was a great thing to be able to come back and do something we all love so much.”

The show is quite different from a typical WCST production said Scala, who is also one of the four-member cast. Part of the appeal was the small cast, she said.

“From the very beginning safety was our number one concern, so just the fact that it’s a small cast and it’s just singing felt very safe to us,” she said.

Her husband, Jon Bolduc, her brother, Matt Scala, and Bryanne Miller, make up the remainder of the cast. 

Scala-Bolduc said the close relationships that already existed between much of the cast also helped them feel safe performing together.

The show is unique in that it’s a song cycle, not a traditional musical.  There’s no dialogue, but instead a continuous sequence of songs, and cast members don’t play just one character throughout the show.

“Each song is a different vignette,” Scala-Bolduc said.

Scala-Bolduc said Edges is a fun show, meant for an adult audience, written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, well known for their work on Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land, and The Greatest Showman. 

Though Edges is not a well-known song cycle, she said, it’s one of the first things written by those famous writers, and the audience may hear a familiar sound in the music. 

Stuart said the show is centered around college students and the choices and decisions they have to make upon leaving school.

“It’s about commitment, love, the meaning of relationships…” she said. 

Although the show was written about coming of age, Stuart said, “When I first started listening to the music, and really delving into the lyrics, I realized that we are all at point in our lives, with coming out of Covid. We are all struggling with commitments, and identifying ourselves, and the meaning of things…the expectations of life as it has changed in the last year and a half.

“For me a big part of this production was saying we’re at a starting point again in our lives and now we’re taking this journey,” she said. “It’s just been a really incredible journey and we are so excited to be back on our little stage in Windham,” she added. “We have a wonderful theater community, and we want to get back in the game and do what we love doing the most, and that’s theater.”

The remainder of the season for WCST will include the Great American Trailer Park (also meant for more mature audiences), the children’s show, Madagascar, in March, and Steel Magnolias to end the season in the spring.

“We’re very excited to start our children’s show back up,” Shepard said. “We’re excited to get that program up and running again serving youth in not just Windham but surrounding communities.”

Tickets for Edges: A Song Cycle can be purchased on the WCST website (www.windhamtheater.org) or at the door.  Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for seniors/students.

Friday and Saturday performances are at 7:30 p.m. The Sunday performance is at 2 p.m. <

Love of cinematography inspires Windham filmmaker

Windham cinematographer Filipp Kotsishesvkiy films in
the jungles of Reserve Zorzal in the Dominican Republic.
Moving to the U.S. from Russia, the acclaimed filmmaker
now lives in Windham. SUBMITTED PHOTO

 By Lorraine Glowczak

How can I, as a writer who is fascinated by local life stories, ignore the excitement of a neighbor as he approaches me after a job he has just completed and exclaims, “I got to meet and talk to Yo-Yo Ma at Acadia National Park this weekend!” (Ma is an internationally known American cellist who was highlighted in various local news sources recently for his impromptu performance at this very venue).

And then, after a few minutes of conversation, I also discover he is traveling to the Dominican Republic in a few days to film a documentary about rainforests and birds. He has captured my attention when I discover that this is a normal, everyday experience in his life as a cinematographer.

I could not pass up an opportunity to get to know this person and share his fascinating life story. Although his role as a successful filmmaker is important to note, his journey to become such needs a bit of recognition too.

The intriguing person in question is Filipp Kotsishevskiy of Windham and his account as a flourishing filmmaker begins at a very early age.

“As we were packing our bags to move to New York City; my mother asked me to look at everything in the attic to determine what I thought were the most important things to take with us to the U.S.,” Kotsishevskiy said.

As the then six-year old roamed the dark and dusty loft, Kotsishevskiy discovered two heavy leather cases that once belonged to his grandfather who died before he was born. He opened the containers made of rawhide and discovered metal cameras with rolls of film tucked neatly inside. Kotsishevskiy learned later that the still images captured family memories and stories that only the Kotsishevskiy family knew and loved.

“While I touched the cold metal of the camera and smelled the scent of the film, there was something that opened up in me. I knew at that moment that I would be working with cameras and film in some way – I just didn’t know how it would come about,” Kotsishevskiy said.

The year in his memory is 1996 while he, his mother and grandmother were preparing to leave Moscow. His mother advised that the cameras should remain in the family’s attic. His mother owned this home in Moscow and planned to rent it while living in New York. She feared the equipment that held relics of a country in turmoil would be confiscated at the airport but would remain safe in the dark crevasses of the family’s attic. She promised her son she would return someday to retrieve them.

New life

Kotsishevskiy’s story begins in 1990 when he was born to a single Armenian mother who moved to Russian from Baku, Azerbeajan as a young actor and dancer. Much like Millie Dillmount in the musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie” who moves from Salina, KS to NYC to seek fame and fortune, Kotsishevskiy’s mother moved to Moscow in the late 1980s with dreams of her own. Those dreams shifted when she gave birth to Kotsishevskiy. Her aspirations changed as she felt called to provide the best possible experience and home life to her new son during difficult times.

“I was born during the collapse of the Soviet Union and there was very little food available – including baby food,” Kotsishevskiy said. “My grandmother who lived with us waited in bread lines to feed the family and my mother relied on her friends who lived in Europe and sent baby food to feed me.”

Kotsishevskiy’s mother supported him and his grandmother by working as a VIP Restaurant Manager. This gave him the opportunity to make his own money and prepared him to meet ‘famous’ people that would obviously be a part of his future career.

“Instead of going to a day care, we all went to work with our parents. We were considered the ‘kitchen brats’”, Kotsishevskiy said, referring to the children of the kitchen staff. “We got to meet famous politicians and other big names of that time. We washed their big, fancy BMW’s, Mercedes, etc. and would get paid for it. For me, it was a fun adventure while hanging out with friends.”

As the political, social, and economic difficulties continued in what is now formally known as the Russian Federation, Kotsishevskiy and his family accepted the invitation by his mother’s sister to live with her in New York City. Kotsishevskiy began his American life in the Bronx when he was in the first grade.

Although he experienced many ups and downs during his first year, Kotsishevskiy quickly adjusted to American life, speaking, and understanding English by the second grade. He refers to his early and teenage year experiences as being a ‘typical American kid’.

By the time he reached sixth grade, his interest in the theater arts and cinematography expanded and took hold, first writing plays and casting his friends as the stars of the show and then eventually creating silent movies with a friend during his high school years.

But like almost all youth who enter the arts as a profession, he was persuaded and pressured by well-meaning adults in his life who encouraged a more steady and solid career path.

“In New York, a student must begin thinking about their future and choose a high school that accommodates their career choice,” Kotsishevskiy said. “I wanted to attend LaGuardia High School because its focus is on music, art and the performing arts. But because I was advised that a career in the arts would most likely keep me poor for the rest of my life, I decided to become a lawyer and choose the more prestigious Stuyvesant High School instead.”

Stuyvesant High School is a public magnet and college-prep school that groom students for ivy league education and a solid future that most often comes with financial success.

It turns out, Kotsishevskiy, who disliked all his classes, failed in almost every subject. As a result, he had to meet with the school’s counselor.

“After meeting with the counselor and my mother, it was decided that I should participate in a local theater group,” Kotsishevskiy said. “This is where I started to bloom and I as a student thrived.” 

Kotsishevskiy graduated successfully in 2008 from the elite Stuyvesant High School but his experience in the local theater group is where his ‘real’ education occurred and was the contributing factor to his success.

He applied to and was accepted by State University New York (SUNY)- Purchase, a liberal arts college and film conservatory. This gave voice to his true innovative and creative endeavors.

First documentary

“My first documentary [to be graded] was on homelessness in New York City,” Kotsishevskiy said. “The title of my film was ‘Out for Days’ and I lived the life along two individuals who chose homelessness as a lifestyle.”

His choice for a school assignment took notice by the professors which gave him the confidence as a student to keep moving forward professionally. After graduating from SUNY-Purchase with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film and marrying a fellow SUNY-Purchase classmate who hailed from western Pennsylvania, Kotsishevskiy found his way to Maine to work for Maine Media Workshops as a cinematographer. This is where his journey as a filmmaker expanded exponentially.

“I was paid to learn from some of the world’s best photographers and cinemaphotographers,” Kotsishevskiy said.

After working three years fulltime as a news cinemaphotographer with WGME-TV and winning an Emmy for a News Historical Feature story on the Great Fires of Portland Maine, Kotsishevskiy set out on his own and now works for Peel and Eat, a video production company based in Boston. He is also a freelance film artist during his time off.

This experience, along with the experience of living in Maine with all its lakes and the ocean that sits along the rugged coastline, has captured his soul. He and his wife now live near the shores of Highland Lake, and he plans to continue his work in cinematography. One day it is quite possible that Windham will be able to claim the fame of Kotsishevskiy – who will be the equivalent of the next Yo-Yo Ma.

As for his grandfather’s leather bags filled with old film and heavy metal cameras that once sat in an attic in Moscow, Kotsishevskiy’s mother kept her promise. The artistic work of his grandfather that inspired Kotsishevskiy to pursue his current life journey - now lands permanently in his hands. <

Upcoming bridge work to detour Route 115 traffic into Windham

By Ed Pierce

For thousands of motorists who rely on Route 115 to get to their destination daily, the commute in and out of town is about to get a little trickier for a few weeks.

Last week the Maine Department of Transportation revealed the start date for a project to shore up the Narrows Bridge on Route 115, which spans Ditch Brook. Work on the bridge was originally scheduled to take place in the spring of 2020 but was postponed because of school schedules and resulting traffic delays and detours for school buses.

MDOT construction crews will begin work on the Narrows
Bridge on Route 115 in Windham starting on Monday, July 26.
The work will cause the reduction of traffic on Route 115 to
one lane eastbound. Vehicles entering Windham westbound from
Gray will be detoured onto Route 202. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE  

The $150,000 project will remove the east bridge joint and replace it with a new armored joint, removal of the west bridge joint and replace it with a new APJ asphaltic plug joint, applying sealer to wearing surfaces of the bridge, and extensive repair of the abutment over Ditch Brook. Work on the project will begin on Monday morning, July 26, and is estimated that the work will take about three weeks overall to complete.

The Narrows Bridge is located some 250 feet west of Running Brook Road on Route 115, also known as the Tandberg Trail and just west of the Falmouth Road intersection. Thousands of vehicles use Route 115 and cross the Narrows Bridge each day as it connects Windham to Gray, the Maine Turnpike and points beyond.

According to Maine DOT officials, work on the Narrows Bridge will force the reduction of traffic on Route 115 to one lane for the duration of the project.

MDOT says that vehicles entering Windham from Gray on Route 115 will be detoured onto Route 202 to either Falmouth Road or Route 302 to reach their destinations. Traffic on Route 115 will only be allowed to travel east away from Route 302 for the duration of the Narrows Bridge work. 

Traffic signs for associated project detours were put in place several weeks ago and will be uncovered Sunday, Maine DOT says.

Residents of the Running Brook, Collinwood and Wedgewood neighborhoods in Windham will be able to access Running Brook Road from both directions, according to Windham Public Works. A sign on Running Brook Road indicating “No Outlet, Residents Only” will be posted there at the entrance from Route 115 throughout the duration of the project.

Earlier this week, traffic on Route 115 in the area was limited to one lane briefly as Windham DPW workers repaired some erosion damage adjacent to locations the state project will tackle near Ditch Brook.

Because of the proximity to the Narrows Bridge, the Windham DPW erosion work was necessary prior to the Maine DOT project launch because of accessibility issues once the state begins work there, a representative of Windham DPW said in a social media posting.

In March. State Rep. Patrick Corey, R-Windham, said that the three-year MDOT Work Plan from 2021 to 2023 would include seven different projects totaling more than $2.5 million.

Among the projects included in the three-year plan was the Narrows Bridge repair and numerous improvements to Route 302 in Windham such as rehabilitation and construction to the roundabout there as well as safety improvements made possible through the municipal partnership initiative program.

“MDOT Work Plan projects will benefit our local communities in many ways,” Corey said in a press release. “I am pleased to see several MDOT projects scheduled for the next three years in our area. They will make our roads safer and benefit the local economy.” 

According to Paul Merrill, Maine DOT public information officer, detours associated with the Narrows Bridge repair project will end by Friday, Aug. 13.

“Some ancillary work, requiring an alternating single-lane traffic pattern, may occur after that date,” Merrill said. <

Raymond grandfather adopts and rebuilds an 'ordinary' family life for four grandkids

The extraordinary circumstance that has brought the 
Wallace family together has turned into ordinary
family adventure. From left are Jameson, Dylan,
Jaelynn and Aubriana with their grandfather, Mike
Wallace, as they celebrated becoming a legal family
on May 10, 2021. SUBMITTED PHOTO   

By Lorraine Glowczak

Imagine living in a 37-foot Silverton boat along the Florida’s gulf coast as a bachelor who is living the life of his dreams with no thought of abandoning the carefree and adventurous lifestyle that he’s established for himself.

Now imagine four young children who live in Maine who haven’t seen their mother and father for days and do not know where they are. The parents are missing due to their lifelong substance misuse. The children are left with their grandmother who is not capable of keeping them for an extended period. Texts from the oldest child, age 11, to her parents are returned with broken promises of their imminent return.

Within a week, the children are taken into custody by Child Protective Services and the bachelor receives a phone call he never imagined he would receive, ever.

“When I got the call that my grandchildren were in Maine state custody, they told me that if I didn’t come to get them, they would remain a ward of the state,” 58-year-old Raymond grandfather, Mike Wallace said. “I was called on a Wednesday and by Thursday morning, I was in Maine to give my grandchildren a family life they deserved.”

That was in 2018. In the past three years, these five individuals have experienced many unknowns, some ups and downs and loads of “ordinary” family fun that also includes the typical family quarrels.

Wallace, who grew up in the Gray/New Gloucester area, had been living in Florida for 14 years when he made his sudden and unexpected move back to New England. Longing for the warmth of winter months in the Sunshine State, Wallace considered returning to Florida with his grandchildren until his oldest grandchild, Aubrianna, who is now 14, reminded him of his promise.

“But grandpa – you promised we wouldn’t have to move again,” she said. Wallace remembered his pledge to the children and honored it by purchasing a five-bedroom home in Raymond on a piece of land that provides roaming adventures for Charley, the four-legged member of the family that moved with Wallace from Florida.

“There has been nothing about this that has been easy,” Wallace said. “But like I have always said, ‘Nothing in life is supposed to be easy – it’s just supposed to be worth it.’”

Wallace and his four grandchildren, who in addition to Aubrianna, include Jaelynn (13), Jameson (11), and Dylan (7) have rebuilt their lives together, and so far, all the work it has taken to do so, has been worth it in more ways than one.

Wallace shared some challenges they have faced as they came together as a new family and ways that they have made an adventure out of the life they were given.

“It is important to say that these children have never experienced a birthday, a Thanksgiving, a Christmas or any other holiday in the same place because there was never stability in their lives – they were always moving,” Wallace said. “Since we’ve been together, we have managed to establish a routine like any other ‘normal’ family, but it has taken us a bit to get to that point.”

The first challenge the family of five faced is the actual meeting of one another when Wallace arrived in Maine. It had been a while since Wallace had last seen his grandchildren. He said that due to his daughter’s chosen lifestyle and their personal disagreements, he had yet to meet Dylan and had only seen Jameson once when he was a baby. Both grandfather and grandson Jameson admitted the family reunion was a bit awkward.

“It didn’t take long for us to get to know each other but it didn’t come without our arguments and misunderstandings,” Wallace said. “We had to get to know each other in unusual circumstances. First, I had a difficult time finding a place to rent. No one wanted to rent to a single grandfather with four grandchildren and a dog in tow.”

The first living arrangement was in a RV that Wallace purchased and parked in his brother’s yard. A handy man among many of his professional skills, Wallace worked as an estimator for his brother’s roofing company. Ironically, that job led him to the house he purchased in Raymond when the company was hired to replace the roof.

But perhaps the greatest challenge for the family occurred in March 2020, when the schools closed due to COVID, and it was up to Wallace to act as a home-school teacher.

“Here I am a high-school dropout teaching my grandchildren their assignments from home,” Wallace said. “But somehow, we made it through, and the children are doing quite well in terms of their education. I don’t know how it all came together, but it did. There is one thing for sure that I am proud of, they definitely know their fractions.”

Wallace is referring to the fun family summer project they began last year when they embarked upon an entrepreneurial adventure, building and selling picnic tables.

“We decided that we wanted to make extra cash to have fun as a family during the summer,” Wallace said. “We made enough money last year to purchase a grill and other outdoor picnic items. This year, we made enough money to purchase a pop-up tent and we are going camping in the next couple of weeks.”

Wallace said that the picnic building venture has proven to be successful, selling 120 tables this year with only Facebook posts and word of mouth as their marketing strategy.

“We’ve sold picnic tables to individuals across the state as well as to the Raymond Library, Raymond Parks and Recreation – and even the Raymond Town Manager purchased one!”

The new family of five became official when Wallace signed the adoption papers on May 10 this year. “Can you spell Wallace for me?”, Wallace asked his grandson Dylan during this interview. “W-A-L-L-A-C-E,” Dylan said without hesitation, spelling out his new last name.

It does seem that all five individuals have faced their share of trials and difficulties as they have come together through extraordinary circumstances to become what most humans desire, a simple and an ordinary family experience. 

But like Wallace always says, “Nothing in life is supposed to be easy – it’s just supposed to be worth it.” <