Edward Leach Bean.
UNION Edward Leach Bean, 92, longtime Union resident, passed away with his loving family by his side on Friday, April 2, 2021 in Rockport, Maine.
Ed was born on March 10, 1929 in Rockland, Maine to parents T. Lloyd Bean and Gladys Leach Bean.
Ed grew up in Appleton and attended school there. Never afraid of hard work, he started working at B. M. Clark’s in Union at night after school. He worked alongside his father cleaning the shop and learning the trades. Once Ed left school he went to work full time at B. M. Clarks and B.M. took him under his wing teaching him how to weld and to become a skilled metal fabricator. These skills became a sense of pride and served him well throughout his working career. B.M. knew that Ed was ready to strike out on his own and it was then that he bought a tractor and began earth work construction. Ed was self employed – he dug foundations, installed septic systems and earth work in the local area for many years. Ed wa
Kate Flora: I was going to write today about authors sharing some of the best, and worst, writing advice they’ve ever gotten. But something about the impending snowstorm got me thinking about Maine winters of long ago and about the way that growing up in the country and on a farm has had a lingering influence on my life and how I think, especially about land and food.
For much of my adult life, I’ve lived in a suburban community where I can see the lights of my neighbor’s houses at night. That wasn’t the case growing up. We lived in an 1811 farmhouse on a hilltop overlooking Sennebec Pond, with fields stretching out like wings beside us and thick, green forest rising up a hill across the road. We couldn’t see a neighbor to the north, and a barn kept us from seeing lights from our nearest hilltop neighbor to the south. We could see lights in the houses across the pond, more in summer when people were at their camps. But they were distant lights.