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)
