Page 6. MAINE COASTAL NEWS April 2018 Seventies Memories: Stanwood "Les" King Teacher Mentor By Lee S. Wilbur A fi nal chapter came to it's inevitable
end this past week. End of a story begun some sixty years ago when I entered Pe- metic High School in Southwest Harbor and met S. Leslie “Les” King. Two days ago, Les' wife Betty passed, following Les by several years For the many of us who passed through
Pemetic to graduation, or who had taken Manual Arts classes from Les, we realize and appreciate what an experience this was and what it came to mean in later years. Les's classes were not only how to use power tools safely and their abilities, nor were his classes in Mechanical Drawing, fi rst being how to draw a three dimensional box. He also included comments of life's lessons. As two of my friends have suc- cinctly put it, “He taught us about Life.” I have considered myself more fortu-
nate than many who came to know or to have one or more of “Mr. King's” class- es. Though I stayed at Pemetic for just two years, the beginning of my circuitous journey toward a fi nal college degree, Les took me “under his wing,” as he did several others, and nurtured a lifetime enjoyment of crafting, and woodworking, a direction
which was to be of tremendous help in my 30 year career in boatbuilding. Whenever I'd come home on vacation from school or the Army, one of the places I'd invariably head was Les and Betty's house at Manset Corner. Les would be sitting in his favorite chair, We'd talk of how school had been go- ing, the local gossip in town, and of most importance what the hunting was like if it were the season for ducks or rabbits. Les had a beagle dog named “Cindy”. Cindy wasn't all that fast, but she was clev- er, stayed with the fi rst rabbit she'd jump and invariably bring the rabbit around so we'd get a shot. Lessons learned, patience and trust. Another was if Cindy were to chase out on an extra long circle when time had passed and we needed to head home, Les would say, “Don't worry, no problem. I'll leave my jacket. She'll have my scent and hang around. If not she'll fi nd her way home.” In other words....” There's a way. Think about it and don't sweat the small stuff .”
1965. I'd returned from Germany, new-
ly married, tour of duty with Uncle Sam completed. Picked up where I'd left off from college that next year. Saw and par- tied with Les and Betty often. Les asked me
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one day, mid winter, if Heidi and I'd consid- er running the restaurant operation at “The Moorings”, historic summer hotel on the ocean in Manset which he and Betty were managing and planning to purchase. I must have looked at him with total
disbelief. Closest I'd ever been to running a restaurant was my great enjoyment of cooking and making up recipes. Told Les I didn't have a clue where to begin and his
reply....total Les, “You'll fi gure it out.” And we did. Third season we returned to college and graduation with more money than I'd ever thought possible. Twice what I made later as a teaching principal. And, that position I took on with encouragement from Les without ever being in front of a classroom. Only credentials, two ridiculous teaching courses for cheap college credits. Wasn't long, year or two of “teach-
ing,” when Les and I were talking about the tenuous situation with Southwest Har- bor's Town Government. Old guard were retiring. Les' father, who'd been Chairman of Board of Selectmen had stepped down and Les had been elected. Year or so later he convinced me to run for offi ce as well. I did, and as I described in a previous ar- ticle, learned more about human nature in the following six years than I could have learned from any school. When my two and a half year career as a teaching principal came to a close, and faced with another challenge, “Lessons from Les” were long in place. With help from others in boatbuilding we managed to fi gure it out again. We were thirty years in what became the most rewarding time of our lives, contending with daily challenges, meeting new customers, fi guring out hour by hour the many scenarios, decisions, and employee situations as we went along. Another of Les' lessons, and one which
stands tall, one I remember when at vari- ous times an outlook appeared bleak or I couldn't see a situation improving any time
soon was “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” I've certainly never con- sidered myself tough. Most strength was inner. However, combined with Les state- ment and another, perhaps from Army days, “all journeys begin with the fi rst step,” have both become major pieces of my life's phi- losophy. Even now, at age 75, and I'm not alone,
hardly a day goes by that I and others who were privileged to know Les don't think of him, remember in some way how much he taught us. One other lesson which my good friend Dennis Ellis, “Pharmacist Extraor- dinaire” and I speak of often is how Les taught us to laugh at adversity. Find some- thing of humor in a diffi cult situation. Give yourself a break. Breathing room. No mat- ter how bad things look, or tend to become, there's a bright spot out there somewhere and a bit of humor may help lighten the way.
It's impossible to count how many lives
Les touched throughout his life and teach- ing career. From his beginning in Blue Hill after just graduating from Gorham State Teacher's College then his several years in Pemetic High School, Southwest Har- bor, to the newly consolidated Mount Des- ert Island High School, then “Job Corps”. He retired at age 55, continued to manage Moorings Hotel, owned by he and Betty, until his passing from Multiple Myloma ten years later. Daughter Leslie Lee and hus- band Charles “Chuck” Watson now own and manage the hotel. I took him to Ellsworth a few times for
dialysis. It was diffi
cult....My best male friend, my lifelong teacher wouldn't be around for a question, for his thoughts or observations. He was losing the battle for life.
Thanks again Les King for all you did
for us, your students, and thank you Betty for keeping him going when his days were numbered.
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