When she was eleven years old, Emma Pelletier’s family left their home in St. Ludger, Canada for Lewiston. She began working in Bates Mill as a battery hand as soon as she was big enough to work, eventually becoming a room girl. Pelletier describes her roles at the...
Upon graduating from university, David Quinn was drawn to Maine’s natural beauty, and left his home state of Connecticut to teach tennis and work in a local mill in Augusta. Inspired by his childhood nostalgia for slipper socks, and with the help of Ted Johanson at...
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...
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...
