Roy and Mary Tassinari have been involved in the shoe industry for a very long time, even their parents worked in various shoe mills both in Maine and in Massachusetts.They share a lot about the process of shoemaking, going over everything from wooden heels, shoe...
Moving as a family across Maine, Mary Jane Gervais and her family were looking for work from Houlton down through Biddeford, eventually setting in Lewiston at the age of 12. She had started working at the Bates mill at the age of 16, and has been working on-and-off at...
The owner of Pamco, Maurice “Moe” Cote worked at the shoe machine part facility with his father Paul Cote. Both of his parents worked in the shoe industry, his mom worked at one of the shoe factories as a stitcher and his father was a carpenter who worked...
Dot McAtee works for the Maine Heritage Weavers today after working for Bates Mill for about 20 years. Dot worked first in the shoe industry at the age of 16 working part-time with her mother who worked making heels. Starting in 78′, she worked at the Bates Mill...
The youngest of ten, Anthony Shostak talks about growing up here in Lewiston. He remembers going down to the library, and to the Bates Pond to go find crayfish and frogs. The alderman or the police would come by whenever they got too reckless. The summer after...
