Dear Editor:

Mary Brewer's death has had a deep effect on me and countless others. In my years of going into the Register office to deliver articles since 1988, she was always agreeable, available, diplomatic, and reasonable; and I could see it was so with all the others she dealt with. Her judgement was so good I never had a reason to question it. Egalitarian to the core, she worked right alongside the crew proofing and pasting-up to get the paper out, not presiding from her office when production started.

With all those calm, peaceful virtues, she still was spirited, even fiery, and side-splitting funny when things called for it — she was good, energizing company. Through it all, she never lost her rooted, down-to-earth viewpoint. And despite her decades of authority, she was incapable of being self-important or arrogant. For all these qualities she topped the list of people in town I most admired.

Barbara Rumsey

East Boothbay