April 2013 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 5. PASSED OVER THE BAR - ELWYNNE KENNEY & WES LASH
pellers. Survivors include his wife Bernice of 47 years; mother-in-law, Marcia Wilson and sister-in-law, Ellen and Randy Wanser of Wiscasset and their daughters, Rachael Rhonda and Gina Wanser; cousins, Roy and Betty Hicks o f Gorham, Norman and Vir- ginia Kenney of Bath, Donald and Shirley Kenney of Woolwich , Warren and Jeanette Kenney of Brunswick, Daniel and Nancy Kenney of Brunswick and sons, David and April and sons of Topsham, Peter and Shannon and Hannah and Tucker Kenney of Topsham, and Alan Kenney of Brunswick; and several second generation cousins. A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, July 13, at 1 p.m., at the Brunswick Church of the Nazarene, 94 McKeen St., Brunswick.
Elwynne W. Kenney, 70
CUNDY’S HARBOR — Elwynne W. Ken- ney, 70, passed away surrounded by family on Sunday, February 24, 2013, a t Maine Medical Center due to complications of a sudden, short illness.
He was born on July 27, 1942, the only child of Edward A. and Eva V . (Beal) Kenney of West Bath. He graduated from Morse High School, a member of the Class of ‘61; after which he enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard where he served until 1965. In 1965 he married Bernice Wilson of Wiscasset and in 1970 his son Joel was born. He operated his father’s school bus business until working a t Bath Iron Works where he studied blueprint reading, metal- lurgy and welding.
He taught Industrial Arts for one year at Gorham High School , Gorham, and then moved to South Berwick, where he main- tained school buses for Stevens School of the Bible and was a part-time deputy sheriff for York County.
After the loss of his son in 1975, he moved to Lenox, MA, where he was head of security fo r Stevens School of the Bible and a part-time police offi cer for the Town of Lenox.
In 1982, he and his wife returned to Maine and settled in Cundy’s Harbor where he owned and operated Harbor Propeller Service, repairing propellers and doing ma- rine design and fabrication until his death. He enjoyed boats, spending time on the waters of Casco Bay, anything mechanical, and made friends wherever he went. He was a board member of the Cundy’s Harbor Community Church and of the Hol- brook’s Community Foundation. He was predeceased by his parents (1968 and 2002); his son, Joel (1975); and father-in-law, George Wilson (1984) from whom he learned the art o f repairing pro-
In lieu of fl owers, donations may be sent in his memory to: The Cundy’s Harbor Fire and Rescue Care of Burr Taylor; 45 Taylor Rd. Harpswell, Maine 04079; or to the Memorial Roll of the Cundy’s Harbor Community Church, 863 Cundy’s Harbor Rd. Harpswell, Maine 04079
Wesley Lash
FRIENDSHIP – Over the last 25 years one of my favourite spots to stop was Lash Boat Yard just north of the village of Friendship on Route 97. There I could sit for hours discussing boats with Wes Lash, but unfortunately on 25 March he suddenly passed away. Gone is a man who was a fi ne craftsman, whether it is wood or fi berglass, gone is the maritime history he knew so well, and gone is the great sense of humour he possessed.
Friendship is known for the Friendship sloops that were turned out in a number of shops in the late 1800s and early 1900s. When the combustion engine began replac- ing sail the hull design also began to change. Wes’ father, Winfi eld, was an infl uence to this evolution, but he not only was interested in the smaller commercial boats used for lobstering, but the bigger commercial boats used for dragging.
Back in 1990, I interviewed Wes and asked how he got into boatbuilding and he said through osmosis. He added, “I wasn’t raised to do anything else.” Once out of high school, Wes went to
Southern Maine Vocational Technical Insti- tute in South Portland. He said, “I didn’t like it so I went to work for my father and my uncle (Douglas) at Lash Brothers, which was located down in Hatchet Cove, at the time. I worked there a winter and said to myself there has got to be something better than this. So I went back to school and when I got out I came back and started in full-time in 1965. You didn’t have to know too much to chip bungs off, put putty in seams and clean the bilges.”
“One day my father approached me and
said ‘you have to have some tools’ and that was it,” said Wes. Together they did about two boats, sometimes three, a year. Almost all the wooden boats that were built by Lash Brothers were designed by Wes’ father. The largest was the 71-foot swordfi sherman that went to Bailey’s Island. Over the last 25 years almost all the boats that Wes has fi nished off has been fi berglass hulls from various builders.
The average size of the wooden boats was in the 50 foot range. Wes added, “from the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies we probably built as many, if not more, boats of that size than anyone on the coast.” Wes liked building wooden boats, be- cause “you can change just about anything you want to change,” he said. “If you want a 33½ foot boat, you can have one. If a guy wants a boat 10½ feet wide, he can have one. And you can’t do that with glass. We did 14 boats off one model and they went from 31 to 38 feet just by changing the moulds.” Not too surprisingly, Lash Boat Yard
fi nished several pleasure boats. One was a Pete Culler design, which was built in 1968, and the other was a William Atkins design which was completed in 1980 or 81. Both of these were schooners. They have also fi nished off four of fi ve Friendship sloops over the years. Winfi eld Lash built boats for 40 years before retiring in 1984 when he turned to Wes and said, “There it is if you want it.” Wes said, “Well, there wasn’t anything to do. But we got a couple of repair jobs in the fall of 1984 and we completed them. Then later that winter we had a boat that burned and that got us started in the repair business.” Win bought the business from his uncle
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Scott Carter’s family. When Carter died in 1945 there was a boat nearly complete in the shop and Win was asked if he could complete it. He completed the boat and then purchased the business. He had always wanted to build boats, and learned the trade while at the Camden Shipbuilding & Marine Railway Company in Camden during World War II.
Since going out on his own, Wes had
only fi nished a couple of wooden boats. He explained, “I would rather build wooden boats, but there is no call for wood right now and the kids have to eat just the same.” In 1987, Wes lost his shop in a fi re. He
had a boat, a Young Brothers, on the ways in the shop that was scheduled to be launched that day. She was a total loss. Also in the shop was an old wooden launch of about 22 or 23 feet that was lost. The other major loss was
Continued on Page 12.
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