Wing named after Mapleton couple
PRESQUE ISLE — The business technology wing at Northern Maine Community College was dedicated in honor of Raynold and Sandra Gauvin of Mapleton during a special noontime ceremony at the college April 19.
TAKING PART in the unveiling of the new lettering dedicating the Raynold & Sandra Gauvin Business Technology Wing at NMCC were, from left: Maine Community College System President John Fitzsimmons, Ray and Sandy Gauvin, and NMCC President Timothy Crowley. 
More than 100 college faculty and staff, community leaders, family members and friends gathered to take part in the ceremony. They gathered first in the main lobby of the Christie Building, just below the entrance to the business wing, which is located on the second floor of the building. After welcoming comments from NMCC President Timothy Crowley, those gathered watched as the Gauvins and John Fitzsimmons, president of the Maine Community College System, unveiled the new signage above the south entrance of the wing.
The unveiling was followed by lunch and the formal program, which included comments from Crowley and Fitzsimmons, as well as humorous and heartfelt remarks by family friends Steve Richard and Jason Parent. The event culminated in the unveiling of artwork that will be hung at the north end of the wing in honor of the Gauvins.
“Our campus community has benefited time and again from the generosity, benevolence and unwavering support of Ray and Sandy Gauvin,” said Crowley. “This is a most fitting gesture to recognize their support, the impact they have made on our campus community, and their legacy that will live on for generations to come.”
The Gauvins have long been supporters of NMCC, both as major donors and as active and involved members of the NMCC Foundation board of directors. The two were also driving forces in the $2.5 million Campaign for the County’s College, the first-ever major gifts campaign undertaken by the college and the Foundation in 2006.
“First, let me express my profound gratitude to NMCC and the Maine Community College System for bestowing this tremendous honor upon Sandy and me,” said Ray as he spoke to the group. “We are humbled and touched, not only by this amazing gesture of having the business technology wing bear our names, but by the outpouring of support from so many people present today, sharing this most meaningful occasion with us.”
When Sandy spoke, she contemplated a quote by tennis player Arthur Ashe. “From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.” She noted that what people give actually makes more than one life.
“It makes the life of the recipient, obviously. In this case, we’re talking about students. Then, the ripple effect ensures that other people are affected by what the student has learned. On a grander scale, communities are affected by the job these graduates do,” she said. “But what’s not often realized is that the life of the giver is also made. It’s made better, stronger, more satisfying. There is no better medicine than giving — in whatever way a person is able to give, whether is of their time, their knowledge or their money.”
