Ray Berube was born in Danville and grew up in New Auburn, sharing his experiences growing up in the French community of Auburn. Around the time he was 12 or 13 he started working in the brickyard, where he would cover the bricks in sand so they wouldn’t dry out too...
Henry Gilbert was born in Lewiston and worked in the brickyards for the summers, lumber for the winters. He shares a lot of details about the brickmaking process, as it was all piecework and they would get paid for the quantity of bricks made. He was a striker and...
John Allard started in the shoe industry at the age of 15, swapping locations here and there. He then worked at Falcon Shoe for about four times, coming back several times after either being fired or quitting. He was a shoe cutter and also a leather assessor. He...
Ralph Metayer started work at 15 for the Dennis Brickyard that was a five minute walk away from his home. He jumps right into explaining the brickmaking process, detailing the kiln process specifically. He goes into a lot of detail about the kilns such as the way they...
Ray Brackett was born and raised in New Gloucester, finding work at the Morin Brickyard in Auburn for quite a while by the age of 18. He shares a few stories about his time working there, with the heat from the machines and the work conditions being some highlights....