Last week, Rep. Ann Peoples of Westbrook died unexpectedly at age 72. Reading about her life, we were struck by a story about her and her husband in the Bangor Daily News several years ago — and the reminder it continues to provide about the humanity of others.
In 2013, Peoples and her husband, Patrick, were profiled by then-BDN State House reporter Chris Cousins. After suffering a debilitating stroke in 2012, Patrick Peoples would accompany his wife at her legislative work in Augusta, offering a personal example of the caregiver challenges that face many Maine couples and families in an aging state.
“It’s just what you do,” Ann Peoples said at the time. She and her husband met while working together at the S.D. Warren Paper Mill in Westbrook, and married in 1981. “You just keep putting one foot in front of the other. I consider myself fortunate because I have a roof over my head, food, work that I love and a companion who I love very much.”
Patrick Peoples died in 2017. And Cousins died of a heart attack in 2018, so both the subjects of the 2013 story and the author are no longer with us. But the humanity on display in the Peoples’ care for each other, and in so much of Cousins work, remain.
Take this excerpt from the 2013 piece, for example: “When the Maine House of Representatives is in session, Patrick sits at the rear of the chamber, behind the glass wall that separates lawmakers from the general public. When his wife is listening to hours of testimony in the Transportation Committee, Patrick sits next to her through it all, slumped over in his wheelchair. But there’s no question he’s listening. Later in the State House cafeteria or on the ride home, he and his wife banter about that day’s debate. Patrick’s speech is blurred by his physical condition, but not his mind.”
Above all, the unshakable bond between the Peoples shines through — with a refreshing directness from two people going through a challenging time, as told by a journalist who had an amazing capacity for both fairness and empathy.
“One of two things is going to happen to you at an advanced age,” Ann Peoples told Cousins. “Either you’re going to need long-term care or you’re going to die. There is no alternative.”
She spoke, it feels now, almost preciently of the inescapability of death, and through her and her husband’s actions — along with Cousins’ reporting — also emphasized the necessity to recognize the humanity of others during the time that we do have together.
That’s an important reminder in today’s political climate, where people with different ideas so easily become enemies. Even in the most emphatic debates, elected officials and members of the public generally must strive to recognize that people on the other side are still human beings who, in most cases, are trying to do what they believe is right.
At the national level, where we’ve had very little to be thankful for as of late, there was at least one recent example of politicians being able to disagree — and disagree forcefully — while keeping friendship and human decency intact: the relationship between the late Rep. Elijah Cummings and Rep. Mark Meadows.
Cummings, a Democrat from Maryland, and Meadows, a Republican from North Carolina, frequently disagreed and sometimes sparred as members of the House Oversight Committee. But they forged a strong friendship and mutual respect in the process.
“He’s called a number of things, father, husband, friend, chairman. For me, I was privileged enough to be able to call him a dear friend,” Meadows said at a memorial service for Cummings in October. This type of across-the-aisle affection seems saddeningly rare today, when it should be the rule rather the exception. In political disagreement and in everyday life, people should not lose sight of each other’s humanity.
Ann and Patrick Peoples, Cousins, Cummings and Meadows each offer important lessons: We should all strive for the bravery to meet unexpected hurdles with resolve and compassion, to find friendship with those we disagree with, and to tackle difficult truths with empathy and an appreciation for the human condition.
