Ray Croteau

Ray Croteau grew up in a very different Lewiston then today. Born in 1933, his parents worked through the Great Depression with his father as a post-man, the weekly check making sure they didn’t suffer. His mother worked in the Bates Mill from a young age, remembering stories where she would hide from the State Inspectors. She worked as a spooler and yarn winder. Ray started at the Bates Mill himself when he was 18 where he worked temporarily as a helper for the slasher, later as a bobbin boy. He also mentions union involvement in the cases of employee grievances. Eventually he started working in the Industrial Engineering Department where he would observe where things ran and in his own words “If there were problems, you know, you solve problems…”. He then moves on to talk about the end of the mills, and talks about how life has changed as each mill went under one after another. Ray ends the interview remembering his mothers cooking and how hes never had chicken like that ever again.