OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine — Zack Kaliher visited Maine for the first time on his honeymoon. Urged by his fiancee before the wedding to drive up the coast in lieu of a trip to Hawaii, the Colorado-born 20-something gave in.
“It was the beginning of me giving in for the next 25 years,” said the burly man inside the cozy home he shares with his wife, Mary Ann, and dog Elvis in Old Orchard Beach.
Joking aside, something happened when the newlyweds crossed the bridge from New Hampshire to Kittery that autumn day in 1989.
“He fell instantaneously in love with Maine,” said Mary Ann, who grew up in Philadelphia but spent memorable summers in Northeast Harbor, where her mother worked for a family part of the year.
Meeting and courting in Chicago, the couple had never visited the Pine Tree State together. His impression of Maine, like many people from the Midwest, was foggy. “Maine?… Uh, moose? … Lighthouses?”
But she knew it well.
“It’s a really breathtaking, beautiful place. I tell friends that have never been here [that] it’s God’s country,” said Mary Ann, 54. “My favorite place in Maine is in Northeast Harbor. There is a parting in the trees and it’s your first shot of the mountains dropping into the sound. And it’s the most gorgeous, gorgeous view. That’s what made me fall in love with it even when I was little.”
Zack’s father’s job for Caterpillar Inc. had his family in constant motion. He grew up in exotic locales such as Singapore and Japan, where he was exposed to the ocean. When he arrived in Maine he felt a primal connection. “I knew it was a special place and a great place to raise a family,” he said.
Something touched the young groom as he drove up Maine’s craggy coast with his bride by his side. They visited Belfast, Mount Desert Island and Cadillac Mountain. At the summit, they held hands and stared out at the briny Atlantic. Vibrant fall foliage exploded all around them.
“I can remember, as we drove all the way up to Northeast Harbor and the leaves were changing colors, I kept jumping out of the car and taking pictures on the highway,” he said. “Later I realized there were better places to take pictures.”
But, like their wedding song by the Smithereens, he was spellbound.
“Everybody knows you come over that bridge [into Kittery] and there’s that sign ‘The way life should be.’ It’s like Colorado but with the ocean,” he said. “It’s the best of both worlds.”
Both worlds, love and Maine, have been coalescing for this couple ever since. They have raised three children in York County, found meaningful work and a peaceful existence steps from the ocean they cherish and longed for when they met.
“There is no water where I grew up, except for the Delaware River,” said Mary Ann. “I had a mission to be near the water.”
She felt at home in Maine, but “never knew we would end up here. But when I saw how he was when we crossed that bridge. He said to me, ‘Wow this is so beautiful,” she was not surprised he would work to make it happen.
Upon returning to Chicago, where they lived steps from Wrigley Field, Zack tried diligently to land a job in Maine. That was her condition to make the move.
Six months later he accepted a job with the Department of Health and Human Services where he has worked ever since. “You dragged me here on our honeymoon, I dragged you here six months later,” said Zack, 54.
They settled in Old Orchard Beach and have two daughters and a son between the ages of 18 and 22. Though their children are all living on their own, the Kalihers still have swingsets in their backyard. This winter they are remodeling their kitchen. Grandchildren, says Mary Ann, will complete the picture.
“What a great place to bring my grandchildren when I have them eventually. The beach is just down the street,” she says.
Though Zack would be content living in a condo on the water, at an age when some couples downsize they are expanding their home. One thing they are clear on is their unwavering love of Maine, its mystique and majestic beauty.
“A lot of people who are from Maine don’t appreciate it until they leave and come back,” he said. “What I love is the fact that it doesn’t look like Saugus, Massachusetts. It looks like Maine and that’s a special thing.”
