Dear Editor:

As a summer resident from 1957 to 1969 in Boothbay Harbor in my youth, there was a lifestyle, an aura that existed along the coast, that to this day at the age of 59, leaves an unparalleled memory of happiness that no other place I have visited or lived since, could equal.

Living on the edge of Spruce Point, I remember: seeing lobster traps being hauled on board and the catch inspected; watching the sightseeing boats cruise through past Squirrel Island; fishing for mackerel in June and July from a 10-foot aluminum skiff; jigging for codfish off Pumpkin Island aboard the Elizabeth W. with family; and enjoying neighborhood clambakes on the beach with down to earth people. For a Maine preteen boy it was an unceasing heaven on Earth.

Now, having lived in Florida for the last 19 years and had the opportunity to spend those years teaching marine biology to thousands of youth in the south, I often will share my experiences of Boothbay with the students of the south. They will hear true stories of giant bluefin tuna being hauled onboard by harpoon or rod and reel, they will dress up as a lobsterman (-woman) and have to take a live lobster out of a bucket in the classroom and learn how to sex it and measure it. All of the magic which spoke to me in youth from the waters of Boothbay are now passed on to thousands of children who will never experience its allure.

And so I offer a heartfelt thanks to the spirit of Boothbay Harbor that lives permanently inside me, to the kind people who I met, the waters that fed me and taught me. The deep waters of the Gulf of Maine hold my father's ashes and in time perhaps mine will join his.

Keith Wilson

Sarasota, Florida