ROCKLAND, Maine — Jean Chalmers was a pioneer in both politics and law in Knox County.
Chalmers, 88, died Monday at her home in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Born in Wisconsin, Chalmers moved to Rockland from Virginia in 1971 to set up a law practice. At the time, she was the only female lawyer practicing in Rockland, although there was one other woman in the county who practiced but retired soon after Chalmers arrived.
“It took time for people to accept me,” Chalmers said in a 2006 interview.
She shared an office at first on the second floor of a Main Street business block with veteran lawyer John Knight.
“People would come up the stairs, look in my office and not come in, saying they did not want a woman lawyer,” Chalmers recalled.
But Chalmers persevered despite challenges she faced even in the courtroom. She said there was a judge who she had to battle regularly who opposed allowing women to change their last names after divorces. She eventually won those battles, she recalled.
She was recognized by the state for the amount of free legal work she provided to people who otherwise could not afford a lawyer for family court matters.
Chalmers was only the third woman to serve on the City Council when she was first elected in 1981. She was known, and sometimes chided by fellow councilors, for knitting during meetings.
Former Rockland Mayor Tom Molloy on Tuesday recalled Chalmers’ passion for politics. The two served on the Rockland City Council for many years.
Molloy said even though the two were on the opposite ends of the political spectrum — Chalmers a staunch Democrat and Molloy a longtime Republican — the two respected each other.
“She always had the best interests of Rockland in her heart,” Molloy said.
In 1984, she ran for the state Senate against Republican Russell “Rusty” Brace. Democrats had not held the Knox County state Senate seat for 60 years, but Chalmers pulled off a resounding victory and served one-term before being defeated for re-election in a three-way race in which a former Democrat ran as an independent and siphoned off votes she likely would have received.
She served two more terms on the City Council from 1987 to 1993.
When Chalmers decided to leave Rockland in 2007 to move closer to her son in New Hampshire, she said she expected she would most be remembered for her fight against Rockland’s ban on dogs being on Main Street.
In the early 1980s, Rockland was plagued by former motorcycle gang members who walked Main Street with Doberman pinschers. The City Council responded to complaints from residents of being intimidated by these people and their dogs by enacting the ban in 1983.
Chalmers fought against the ban for years and in 1999 decided the only way to effectively challenge it was to commit an act of civil disobedience and walk her miniature collie “Millie the Magnificent” to her Main Street office. She was given a summons by the police chief and was set to battle the case in court.
Before the final disposition of the case, however, in 2000, the council repealed the dog ban.
At a going away party for Chalmers attended by 300 people at the Lincoln Street Center in Rockland, Maine Gov. John Baldacci jokingly issued a pardon to her.
Longtime friend Molly Sholes of West Rockport said Tuesday that Chalmers was passionate about helping people and that is why she turned to the law and politics.
“She was filled with kindness and dedicated to what she believed,” Sholes said.