Sherwood “Mickey” Maquire (I knew him as “Pa”)
Sherwood was born in Leeds, Maine in 1917. He was the second born of four boys and one
sister (the sister being the youngest).
Being born into a family with an alcoholic father, during
prohibition, Pa had to grow up quickly.
I remember him telling me once his father broke an axe handle over his
back. Another time he was given a job to
do being promised a bottle of pop as a reward.
He was quite disappointed; after anticipating a nice bottle of cold
orange pop he was handed a warm Moxie.
Needless to say Pa did not have a fun-filled childhood. At
the age of 12 Pa had to leave home to go to work on a dairy farm. He sent all the money he made home to his
mother to support her and his siblings.
I remember him telling me that the schoolmarm would get
upset with him for not getting his homework done. He tried to explain to her that he had to
milk 15 cows both morning and night and did not have time to do homework. But, she had no mercy—telling him that he
simply had to milk faster!
He later attended and graduated from Monmouth Academy. He was the starting quarterback on their
varsity football team. The football
coach assistant happened to live next to the dairy farm Pa worked at. He got to know Pa—noticing that Pa would
practice his sprints after finishing his milking. His hands were also the size of man’s twice
his size. The assistant coach told the
head coach to try Pa out at QB, he was sure Pa would be the man for the
job. During his senior year, Monmouth
Academy won the state championship with Mickey at the helm. Monmouth Academy is also where Mickey met his
beloved Isabelle. After graduating high
school Isabelle went off to college and Mickey joined the CCC’s. While in the CCC’s he eventually became head
cook of his camp, all the while sending most of his pay home to his mother.
After the CCC’s Mickey got a job in Kennebunk cooking at a
restaurant. It was here that, by chance,
Mickey ran into his beloved Isabelle.
They were later married and spent 73 years together. She was also the one who introduced Mickey to
his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Over
time, Jesus came to be the center of his life, but we will get to that later.
After getting married Mickey and Izzy landed and settled in
Falmouth, Maine. Mickey went to work as
a farm hand part-time and also worked full-time at Morrell’s Coal and
Grain. At Morrell’s he started out as a
delivery driver. Pa tells a story about
dumping two tons of bulk coal into the wrong cellar. He had to hand shovel it all back out again,
“I only made that mistake once!” Mickey would say with a chuckle. Whenever the boss needed someone to work late
to hand unload a train car of coal or grain Mickey was always the first to
volunteer. He soon was promoted to
assistant store manager.
In the fall of 1911 Coleman Allen, Lewis Sterling, & Harry
Lothrop opened a farm and garden supply store on Exchange Street in Portland,
Maine (Allen, Sterling, & Lothrop, Inc.)
In 1914 Mr. Allen and Mr. Sterling left the company. Harry Lothrop ran the company from 1914 to
the mid 1950’s. In the mid ‘50’s the company was still staggering from the Great
Depression of the ‘30’s. Mr. Lothrop was
also getting along in age. At this time
Mr. Lothrop was in his mid 70’s and looking for someone to manage his
business. He had heard about Mickey
Maquire, so Harry called Mickey in for a meeting. Harry’s offer was for Mickey to pay him a
certain amount every week until the day he died and the company would be Mickey’s. A hand shake later, the deal was done. Mickey was then the new General Manager of
Allen, Sterling & Lothrop.
After things got rolling many of the employees were unhappy
because now, under Mickey, you actually had to work. After a time he got the company back on its
feet and operating in the black again after years of running in the red.
In 1969 Mickey was forced out of his Middle Street location
by urban renewal (the old location was where One City Center is now). Mickey
needed to find a new location for Allen, Sterling & Lothrop. He narrowed it down to two possible
locations. Route One in Falmouth or
Route 100 also in Falmouth. With some
thought, professional studies and lots of prayer, God guided him to Route One
in Falmouth. Initially, this location
was a higher investment but in the end a much better investment.
I remember Pa telling me he questioned his decision at
first, but over time he could see it was, without a doubt, the best decision.
Mickey ran Allen, Sterling & Lothrop at its Falmouth
Location for about 10 years. In 1980
Mickey sold the business to his daughter and son-in-law—Shirley and Tony
Brannigan. After retiring Mickey did not
spend a lot of time sitting around. He
still drove the truck for AS&L during busy season. He put in a bigger vegetable garden than he
had ever had in the past. He would spend
a month in Florida watching the Red Sox spring training. He and Isabelle would do lots of local day
trips or overnights.
They were both also very active in their church, West
Falmouth Baptist Church. Their faith in
Jesus Christ was rock solid. When there
was something that needed to be done or money needed to be given Mickey and
Izzy could be counted on. They
understood the simple fact that if you put Jesus first everything else will
fall into place.
Mickey also had an unbelievable love for Isabelle. A love like I have never witnessed. You would have had to know Mickey and Izzy to
fully understand. In Mickey’s younger
days he was loud voiced, aggressive, and had a bone crushing rip (from all the
milking I would suspect). Izzy was
gentle, soft spoken and didn’t say a lot.
But, in Izzy’s hand Mickey was putty.
As the years pased Mickey and Izzy stuck closer and closer
to home. Mickey eventually had to give
up driving the delivery truck and had to head into the seed room to pack seed
with Izzy. That is, pack seed and tell
stories. Man could Mickey tell a
story. He was so good at it you could listen
to the same one over and over. He was as
happy sitting there packing seed as any man. He loved being around his family
and friends.
In the end Mickey and Izzy shared the same room in a nursing
home. In 2008, with Mickey at her side
Izzy was called home to Jesus. In the
next year, surrounded by family in the same room, Mickey went to dance with
Jesus and, of course, Izzy.
I would sit in that room with Pa after Nan left. Sometimes talking, sometimes listening to
stories and sometimes just sitting. At
this time in his life Mickey couldn’t see, couldn’t stand up straight, and
couldn’t walk on his own—but, he always had a smile on his face.
When I would arrive to visit I would ask Pa how he was and
always with a thumb pointed up he would answer with a loud “Great!” Always at least once during our visit he
would point a crooked finger to the sky and say “He’s been awful good to
me.” Man how he loved Jesus and, of
course, Izzy!
