GRAND ISLE, Maine — When Richard Corbin was 22 years old, he was diagnosed with Stage IV Hodgkin’s Disease and told by doctors he had less than a year to live.
Corbin immediately set out to prove them wrong, and he did. He finally succumbed to the disease last December — at 71 years old.
Along the way, Corbin got married, fathered two children and underwent decades of radiation and chemotherapy treatments, hip replacements, removal of cancer-affected organs and a diabetes diagnosis.
“All through his dark years and low points of his cancer existance, he kept asking the man upstairs that if he would spare his life he would build a place for cancer survivors,” Roger Corbin, Richard’s younger brother, said. “He kept his promise and started building it in 1991.”
Corbin started the retreat on 15 acres, which he purchased from a man who needed money to buy a car, according to his youngest brother, Mike Corbin. He did so imagining a place of reflection and peace with the name Mizpah, meaning “helping another” in Hebrew.
Over the years, more land, more buildings and a pond were added. Today more than 4,000 people visit the expanded 109-acre site annually, and Richard Corbin’s dream is kept alive through his family. Located about a half-mile down a dirt road 3 miles off U.S. Route 1 in Grand Isle, the retreat is open to the public from May to October. Visitors are welcomed by a small spring-fed pond, upon which floats a huge red and blue rosary. There is a chapel, and there are cabins that can be used overnight.
The retreat has a Way of the Cross through the woods, another chapel for children and a welcoming lodge.
A Road of Reflection meanders through the woods. It allows visitors a chance to reflect on the crosses they bear in their lives. The road includes 15 sites for reflection on some personal crosses of life, including addiction, rage, gossip, honesty, vengeance, jealousy, control and playing the victim.
Statues of the Virgin Mary, Jesus, the Holy Family and saints are everywhere, in the buildings and along pathways. Park benches allow for places and times to sit, rest and reflect and religious music is piped throughout the property. Golf carts are available for people who need assistance walking.
“Dick always wanted to keep it nondenominational,” Mike Corbin said. “He always said cancer doesn’t discriminate.”
There are heavy Catholic influences, which Mike Corbin said is to be expected because of the area’s Catholic roots. A First Friday Mass is celebrated during the summer months at 1 p.m., and the public is invited to a saying of the Rosary every Wednesday at 1 p.m..
“It’s really a place for cancer victims and survivors to come to just relax,” Mike Corbin said.
For 24 years, Richard Corbin — in addition to visiting cancer patients in their homes — made a daily appearance at Mizpah and was responsible for the site’s day-to-day operations.
“I remember, I once told Dick, ‘When you go, what are we going to do? We have not lived what you have lived and won’t know what to say to these people dealing with cancer,’” Mike Corbin said. “Dick just looked at me, made the ‘locking key’ motion at his lips and said, ‘Sometimes you just need to listen and not say anything.’”
According to Mike Corbin, it was his brother’s last wish that his family take over Mizpah.
Mike Corbin is now the president of Mizpah’s board of directors. His brother Roger is vice president. A niece, April Levesque, is treasurer and another niece, Kim Ezzy, is secretary. Several other relatives also serve on the board.
Funding for the retreat is through donations and the annual luminary walk fundraiser.
“I know Dick would want us all pitching in,” Mike Corbin said. “I believe his spirit is still very much there.”
People visiting the retreat, in addition to finding peace, also have claimed to experience miracles, Mike Corbin said.
“I had one couple tell me they had been trying to have a baby, and when they came to Mizpah they found a baby’s pacifier on the trail,” he said. “Three weeks later, they were pregnant. Who am I to say if that is a coincidence or a miracle?”
Admission to Mizpah is free of charge, and young and old are welcome.
“Every year the guys from [Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife] come and stock the pond with fish so cancer patients can come and go fishing,” Mike Corbin said. “Dick had a real soft spot for children, and when kids started just showing up with fishing poles, he could no say no.”
Families are welcome to claim a spot of land and create memorial gardens for loved ones lost to cancer.
“We ask they bring their own mulch and plants,” Mike Corbin said. “And they are responsible for the upkeep of their gardens.”
This weekend the Corbin family plans to hold a celebration of Richard Corbin’s life at Mizpah, starting at 1 p.m.
“Everyone is invited,” Mike Corbin said. “We will turn off the ‘Ave Marias’ and put on the 1950s music, because that is what Dick liked.”
Local businesses are supplying many of the late Corbin’s favorite foods, including chicken stew, pizza and chicken wings.
“We miss him for sure, for sure — for sure,” Mike Corbin said. “There have been some changes this year at Mizpah — there have been changes for all of us since his passing — but we have to adapt and run things without Dick.”
Information on regular or special programs at Mizpah is available online at mizpah.us/ or by calling 207-728-3129 or 207-316-3477.
