Lucy Belanger, born in Canada and raised in Lewiston, Maine after a brief period in New Hampshire, speaks in this interview on her and her family’s experience in working with the mills. She talks about growing up and going with her father to work, and becoming a...
In this interview, Hermance, or “Penny,” Drouin speaks about her time working with Knapp Shoe. She explains her experience entering the shoe industry at a young age, her early life in the Lewiston-Auburn area, her children and family life, standards, benefits, and pay...
Within this interview, Monique Young of the Lewiston-Auburn area talks about her family, and their movement from Lewiston, Maine to Connecticut, and back to Lewiston-Auburn following employment opportunities and relatives. She talks about her parents’ work in the shoe...
Fred Lebel has worked within the mills since he first started working alongside his father. In his interview, he talks about a few different jobs he held, however sums it all up to say that he ended up right back at Bates Mill. He worked his way up the totem pole...
Ray D’Amour was born in Lewiston, Maine, after his parents migrated from Canada. He explains in this interview that from Lewiston he moved to Auburn, which is where he lived until he married in 1951. His mother did not work, but his father worked in the shoe industry...