Retired couple take to the road
By Tomi Henderson
BOUND FOR ADVENTURE — Ray and Judy Mersereau pose in front of their “traveling home” as they ready to leave on an extended tour of the United States. They left town on Monday, Aug. 2, and expect to return by early November. Happy trails!
MARS HILL — Raymond Mersereau and his wife, Judy, have left town — but don’t worry, they will return.
Ray has retired after serving 18 years as the Mars Hill town manager. He and Judy are traveling literally around the United States — from Maine to Washington State to California to Colorado to Florida and back to Maine. They will enjoy their “new” travel trailer as they camp their way around to places that they have always wanted to visit but never had the time to enjoy.
Although they had camped quite a bit years ago, they haven’t been able to do it for years. They tried out their camper over the Fourth of July weekend on the Maine coast and had a great time — with no problems at all, except that Judy had forgotten to pack a can opener!
Ray was born in Mars Hill to Roy and Bertha Mersereau in 1942. He enjoyed school, playing on the baseball and basketball teams, and also was on the Student Council and National Honor Society. His yearbook noted that he had the “cutest smile,” his ambition was “to be a millionaire” and his favorite expression was “Oh, yeah? Well,.” He and his ACI classmates recently enjoyed their 50th reunion. He attended the University of Maine at Orono, graduating in 1964 with a BS degree in business management.
He graduated college on June 5 and married Judy, daughter of Frank and Geraldine Burtt of Mars Hill, on June 7. Ray went to work for SS Kresge (K-Mart), in the management training program, on June 15, 1964. Following training, the couple went to Philadelphia, where they both worked for a short while. But big city life wasn’t something that Judy enjoyed, so they returned to Aroostook County and Ray worked in sales for H. Smith Packing for 13 years. Ray and Carroll Carvell started Green Valley, Inc. in 1977 and ran this potato sales company for five years. Ray started his own company, Harvestime Sales, in 1982 and ran it for five years, before starting Mars Hill Furniture in 1987 with Dale Henderson. Selling his part of the company to Dale’s son in 1992, Ray then became the Mars Hill town manager.
Through the years, Ray has been on the State Board of Environmental Protection, on the Advisory Board for Houlton Trust, Merrill Trust, and Katahdin Trust, a member and chairman of the Mars Hill Utility District, on the ACAP Board of Directors, and served on the Northern Maine Development Commission Board of Directors. He is also an active member of the Full Gospel Assembly and is a member and past president of the Mars Hill Rotary Club.
Mars Hill is a unique town, celebrating many “firsts”: the first town to see the sun on some mornings of the year, the first town to have a commercial wind farm in New England and the first town in the world to utilize Snowfluentä in a commercial application, in waste treatment at Naturally Potatoes. The plant has a zero discharge license from the DEP. All items Ray has been proud to promote these points of interest during his tenure as town manager.
In additions to the above “firsts,” some of Ray’s best memories as town manager are the people that he has worked with over the years. In the 18 years he has worked as manager, there have only been a total of 15 town councilors. Many have served the maximum amount of time allowed — sat out for a year or two, then ran again. The town highway department, fire department and the office staff have all been great to work with, and he will miss seeing them every day.
Their daughter, Holly, was born in 1966, with son Marc joining the family in 1969. Holly and Tom Trafford live in Massachusetts with their children: Amber, 19, and Brandon, 14. Marc and Janice (Carter) also live in Massachusetts with their children: twins Sam and Nick, 10; Jordan, 3; and Eli, 2. Ray and Judy will visit them on their travels.
Once they return home, Ray and Judy plan on enjoying their retirement — skiing in the winter, golfing in the summer and going camping when the mood hits them. Ray still plans on being a very active participant in the community.
Stay tuned to the Mars Hill column for periodic updates on “Where in the USA is Ray?”
