I’m sure Parker Laite had an enemy somewhere. I never met one.
Parker, 82, died June 6, a week after riding in the Memorial Day parade as grand marshal. His car drove under a banner erected across Main Street that said, “Thank You, Parker.” He lived just long enough to greet his first great-grandchild, Maxwell Stone Laite.
Not a bad way to go. Name an organization in Camden and Parker had served on it, probably chaired it. In 1994, he was honored as the Rockport-Camden-Lincolnville “Townsperson of the Year.” No one was surprised.
If you mentioned “Parker” in the midcoast area, the last name was not required.
My connection with Parker goes back to my very first night as an intrepid reporter for the Gloucester Times, covering the Rockport, Massachusetts, selectmen. The memory has withered but I would guess it was 1969.
Parker arose to speak to the selectmen on an unusual errand. He wanted to hire people to rake seaweed for his firm. That certainly got my attention. I had never heard of anyone raking seaweed for money.
He explained that he represented a firm from Rockland, Maine, called Marine Colloids. That firm collected types of seaweed from across the world to create a mysterious product called carrageenan, which you find in almost everything you use, from toothpaste to custard.
I remember that meeting as the one where a single Rockport resident complained about excessive noise from a boarding house that abutted town hall. Didn’t sound like much to me, but the selectmen quickly voted to rescind the operating license. I was mystified by such swift action. Months later, the boarding house property was purchased by a bank, which built a new facility on the spot. Only later did I discover that the chairman of the selectmen was married to the president of the bank.
My first lesson in small-town politics.
When I ended up covering Camden Board of Selectmen (later the Select Board) I asked Parker about his vote to approve a condominium complex on Bay View Street, since it was being constructed by his brother. There might be a conflict of interest, I argued. Parker advised me about the methods in small-town Maine. The measure passed, of course.
I reported it in the newspaper. But Parker never held a grudge. He was the happiest person I have ever met. You were always glad to see him.
He built a development up the hill from Cobb Manor. We used to walk the streets, past the signs that said, “Speed limit: Whatever Parker Says It Is.”
When they planned a nursing home development in my backyard, I was one of the opponents. It was simply too big for the neighborhood, I argued weakly. I think Parker was on the planning board or the Board of Selectmen at the time. He was always on some board. He took to the map and designated my brook as “Meara Stream.” It became Meara Stream for the rest of the discussion and probably is on town maps under that designation.
Parker had that power.
He was born on Bay View Street in Camden, and graduated from Maine Maritime Academy in 1954, then attended Harvard Business School. He joined the merchant marine followed by the U.S. Navy. In 1961, he joined Marine Colloids and traveled the world (even Rockport, Massachusetts) to purchase seaweed for the firm. In 1972, he started Laite Construction Co. and later became part owner of Wayfarer Marine.
Some fear that Camden might crumble without Parker. He served on the Board of Selectmen, planning board, land use committee, post office committee, comprehensive plan committee, harbor committee, the committee which formed SAD 28, and the library board of trustees. He served on the committee to restore the Camden Library, Pascal Fund, cemetery association, veteran’s honor roll committee and the Camden Area History Center.
In his spare time, he served as trustee of Pen Bay Medical Center and the Camden Health Care Center. The 2007 town report was dedicated, not surprisingly to Parker.
When they erected that “Thank you, Parker” banner for the Memorial Day parade, they were not kidding.
Emmet Meara lives in Camden in blissful retirement after working as a reporter for the Bangor Daily News in Rockland for 30 years.