ABIGAIL HOLMAN

FAYETTE – Abigail Mildred Holman died Saturday, April 7, 2007, in a ski accident that happened while participating in a charity ski race at Sugarloaf. Abby was born 1962, in Lewiston, the fourth daughter and fifth of six children of Elaine Libbey Holman and Alexander D. Holman of Scarborough and Cape Coral, Fla. Abby’s roots in Maine go back at least eight generations. She spent her childhood years in Lewiston where her family ran the W.S. Libbey Co. textile mill. Together with her five siblings and many cousins, she summered at the family property in Wayne, where she grew to love waterskiing, boating, picking blueberries and exploring the woods. The winters were spent skiing on Saturdays and skating on Sundays. Those ties to the outdoors were the seeds for a deep pride in the State of Maine which Abby carried with her throughout her life. In her teen years, Abby’s family moved for a time to Asheville, N.C., where she graduated from Asheville Country Day School. While living in the mountains of North Carolina, Abby was the star of the ski team, along with her younger brother Andy. Thanks to their years in Maine, they brought with them an understanding of the sport born from the long winters and big snows of Maine. From North Carolina, Abby went on to study political science at the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Wash. There, her love of politics began to develop in a serious way. She returned to Maine where she became a registered Maine raft guide and spent three glorious summers rafting alongside her brother Dan on the Kennebec, Dead and Penobscot Rivers. Abby and Dan lived first at the family property in Wayne, and subsequently they shared homes in Monmouth and Ferry Village, South Portland. During this time, Abby taught history at Oak Hill High School, Wales, where she loved the kids, but teaching history wasn’t enough for Abby. She was accepted at the University of Maine Law School, Portland. She thrived and it became increasingly clear to her that her interest was definitely in government. After graduating from the University of Maine School of Law in 1991, Abby began her legal career as law clerk to Gov. John McKernan. She quickly became an invaluable member of his staff serving as his legislative director overseeing the legislative agenda for the executive branch of Maine government. During this period Abby contributed her time off as an assistant district attorney, assisting in prosecuting criminal cases in the Bath District Court. With a brief but highly successful role as the press secretary for Olympia Snowe in her first run for the U.S. Senate, Abby’s legal career continued with an associate position at Pierce Atwood law firm in Portland working in both the environmental and insurance practice areas. Abby’s work with the natural resources industries led her to the position of executive director with one of her clients, the Maine Forest Products Council. While serving in this capacity, Abby developed an in-depth knowledge of the legal and business issues facing the forest products industry. The areas of her involvement included negotiating industry regulatory and best practices standards, reviewing permitting requirements before the Board of Environmental Protection, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Land Use Regulation Commission, the Department of Conservation and local municipalities, analyzing regulations and laws and drafting comments to submit to state and municipal agencies. She was well known and respected for her advocacy for the industry, where she made many lasting connections and friendships. But Abby’s life was not only work. She continued her love of the outdoors, and in 1997 she shot her moose. About that time, she also met canoe and furniture builder, naturalist and journalist Andrew K. Weegar, whom she married September 1998. The following spring, their beloved daughter Maura “Molly” Weegar was born. In the fall of 2004, Abby ran for and was elected to the Fayette Select Board where she became the vice-chair-woman and also served on the Fayette Planning Board. She worked hard to make a difference in her town, but was struck by tragedy in April 2005 when she lost her husband, Andrew, when he was pinned under his tractor at their Fayette farm. She was devastated, but never lost sight of her number one priority, the well-being of her precious daughter, Molly. Abby quit her job – she was the executive director of the Alliance for Maine’s Future at the time – and rearranged her life so that she could focus on her daughter, Molly. uring that time, they spent time with family, traveled to Colonial Williamsburg and to Scotland, and worked on their farm and to build a summer house on a four acre island in Passamaquoddy Bay, New Brunswick, which had been a family dream before Andrew’s death. Thanks to Abby’s hard work, their farm was selected through a very competitive process for a Land for Maine’s Future conservation easement. As she and Molly healed from the wounds of their loss, Abby realized that she deeply wanted to have a lasting impact on the state of Maine. She decided to run for the state House of Representatives. Her watchwords were “a commitment to our farms and forestlands, a strong business ethic, and a passion to help our state and its people succeed.” Abby went door to door in her district twice and remarked that everyone should have that experience because she learned so much about how people really live and what their real needs and concerns are. She was very proud to be serving the people of Maine. Abby had found real happiness in her personal life when she became involved with Dr. Jeffrey Timm of Manchester, to whom she was engaged to be married in June. All those close to Abby know that although her death was untimely, her connection with Jeff made her last year of life one of love, happiness and many wonderful plans for the future. Those who knew Abby, whether as family, friends or colleagues, will always remember her as one of the hardest working people ever, someone whose passion and determination were unbeatable. Abby was fiercely loyal, the sort of person who would go to the mat for anyone whom she believed really merited her support. She had no patience for fakes and phonies, and she could always be counted on to stand for her own convictions. She loved her daughter, Molly, just as fiercely, but also tenderly. Molly says her mom was really fun to hang out with, “We played games, we talked and we’d make lots of stuff like cakes together. She was very busy working because she wanted to have the house warm and she always wanted to make sure the world was safe for me.” Abby was beloved by all her family and she will be missed forever. She is irreplaceable. Abby is survived by her daughter, Maura “Molly” Libbey Weegar; her parents, Elaine Janet Libbey Holman and Alexander Davis Holman of Scarborough; sister, Lee Holman of Hartford; nephew, Damon Holman of Phippsburg; sister, Claire Holman and spouse, Mitsuru Saito, of South Portland; sister, Sarah Holman and spouse, Harold Skelton, of Lewiston; nieces, Eleanor and Megan Childs of Portland; brother, Daniel Holman and spouse, Rebecca Dorr, and their children, Zachary and Claire of Mount Vernon; brother, Andrew Holman and his wife, Catherine and children, Natasha, Annabelle and Alexander of Melbourne, Australia and many cousins. She will be most fondly remembered by her special friends, Jen Webber, Kathleen Newman, Cindy Faulkner, Jill Greenstein and Marianne MacMaster. A Mass of Christian burial will be offered 10 a.m. Thursday, April 12, at St. Mary of the Assumption Church, Western Avenue, Augusta. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Abby’s name to Kennebec Valley Land Trust, 134 Main St., Winthrop, ME 04364. Arrangements are in the care of Knowlton and Hewins Funeral Home and Cremation Service, One Church St., Augusta.