Fay Ervin Towle

 Fay Ervin Towle

To say Fay  was a mountain of a man would be an understatement! His towering frame made my 6 foot 2 inches seem small in comparison.  His face and hands were rough and weathered from a lifetime of working outside!  When I met Fay he had already spent 60 years enjoying life! His life was one challenge after another in find things that fit his massive frame! Mostly he would have to adapt things to make them work. He was a machinist by trade and extremely clever at adapting and building things to fit his needs ! He couldn’t find long john’s ( winter long underwear to keep you warm) long enough to fit so his wife Doris would buy two pair so she could cut the top 10 inches off one pair and sew it onto the other. His feet were so big winter boots were impossible to find. I asked him one day what size they were and he laughed and said he didn’t really know.  Doris would buy the biggest set of rubber high top  galoshes she could find  and sew him felt insoles to put inside. These were his winter boots!

He was so tall when he sat on his Ski-doo he head towered above the windshield so what did Fay do ? He added a 12 inch piece of clear plexi-glass to the top of the windshield to protect his face from the elements! He had spent a lifetime adapting the world to his majestic size.

His massive hands would wrap around mine as if mine were not even there. Yet being aware of his size and strength his handshakes were always light and gentle.

I met Fay and his wife sometime in the early 1980’s. They were winter caretakers for a set of cabins Lisa and I used to frequent every winter when we needed a respite from life’s challenges. 

We spent 4 maybe 5 winters visiting, fishing and getting to know Fay and Doris. One week each year .   A couple winters it was just the 4 of us enjoying the Camps.

Fay had a small problem with laws. Especially fishing and hunting laws.  His problem was he didn’t follow them!  He wasn’t a huge poacher filling his freezer with fish. He only took what he needed and never wasted anything but felt government had gotten too carried away with telling him how he could fish and hunt. 

Fay always had a smile on his face  and would do his best to put one on you ! A true gentle giant if there ever was one ! 

The local Game warden did not share my respect for Fay ! He and Fay had an ongoing cat and mouse game with said Warden doing everything he could to catch Fay breaking fishing laws.  This Warden was obsessed with Fay as his illegal activities were well known around those parts. I remember on one cold night in February about 2 Am I woke to the sound of a snowmobile coming across the brightly moonlight lake. The temp was well below zero and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out who would be out so far away from civilization on this frigid night. Well it was our old Warden friend racing in to try to catch Fay leaving his ice traps out all night on the lake (which was a violation).   To the wardens frustration  the holes hadn’t frozen much but the traps had been removed. Fay had gotten up in the middle of the night and taken them in somehow knowing he might get a visit from his old adversary. Needless to say the warden was angry and sputtering as he headed back to town cold and unsuccessful!

That is just one example of a game that went on for decades between those two. Sometimes Fay was the victor sometimes the warden!  

I lost track of my friend when life put an end to our yearly trips to the camps.  I have thought of him often over the years and always wondered how he was doing. His soft caring personality and lust for laughter is something I will never forget.  

I was doing a google search the other day hoping to find out any news of my old friend. I finally found what I was looking for yet saddened at the outcome. My friend had died in an ATV accident at his home in 2011. He was 85.  The Obituary read as follows. “Fay loved  hunting, fishing, gardening and telling stories. He also loved to make people laugh”   And that he did!

I spent many hours in the north Maine woods listening to his stories of life and his many adventures.  Although I am deeply saddened by the fact that I never stayed in touch with Fay, I am forever thankful for the one week each year we spent together in the frozen north woods! 

Fay Ervin Towle  (May 2,1925 –April 29, 2011)

Away, Really Away !

 As I sit and look out the window of our small and humble cabin the snow has started to fall on the wilderness landscape. Mt Nesuntabunt towers to the right of our cabin as our lake follows along its base to the south. Our lake for the week is not very big,  maybe a half mile wide and 6 miles long. Deep and cold it’s great for ice fishing which is part of our plan for the week. 

The weather man out of Millinocket who is barely understandable from the static filled battery operated radio struggling to pull in the distant signal , he claims it hasn’t quite reached 0 degrees yet and its almost noon!  It sounded like he said low over night about -25! I will have to be extra diligent with the wood stove tonight! He did say we would get a reprieve from the cold tomorrow and it should hit mid-teens. Tomorrow we will try to snowmobile to the next pond over. I hear the ice fishing is good there! 

The air is still and crisp as the tiny flakes of snow slowly make their way to the ground. The snow is falling so slowly it almost looks like it’s in slow motion as it makes it way to the resting place of the ones who came before. 

As I strain to peer through the falling snow  I see a dark small figure down the lake moving out from the shadows of the shoreline and making its way across the snow covered ice. Although I am too far away to see exactly what it is I know from the shape and color it is a coyote making its way to the other side of the lake. A welcome guest in the retreat from “Our” reality. 

A quick glance at the old couch reassures me that my new wife is still napping as the time slowly passes in our own private paradise.

We are alone in our vacation cabin. The type of “alone” most folks never get to experience!  We are the only humans on the entire lake. The closest plowed road is 35 miles by snowmobile. The closest town is nearly 100 miles away.  Closest human? Could be 50 miles or more as the crow flys.  You see alone takes on a new meaning when you are in the North Maine woods. 

Our humble cabin has no electricity, no running water . We heat with an old wood stove and a pile of seasoned wood stacked against the outside of our late 1800’s log cabin. The stove casts shadows and flickers of light all around our one room cabin from the holes that have formed in its old and tired frame. At night our old stove casts a light show that can sooth one to  sleep in no time !  We do have the luxury of propane lights and a propane stove to cook with. And yes the outhouse trips are quick and calculated when the mercury hits negative numbers for those already wondering!

We won’t see another human for 8 days, no  phones, . no alarm clocks ,no meetings, no commitments, no deadlines , no responsibilities. Simple existence at its purest form!   We packed our way in with snowmobiles and sleds and we will pack our way out when we leave. No help, no support. No one to call if things go wrong, no one to help if life throws you an unexpected challenge.  Alone!

It was 1985,  Lisa and I deep in the North Maine woods. It was a cold  February week In a cabin far from civilization. 

A peace few understand today!  A calm few ever experience. Oh to look out that window again!