Page 51 - Newsletter_Winter_2021

Meet Your Board - Behind the Scenes

Written by Rachel Fitzpatrick '93

This is the fifth installment in a series of articles to introduce, honor and thank an exceptional group of individuals. These
individuals have been, or are currently, members of the HHSAA board. Many have been members of the board for a prolonged
period and a few for only a couple of years, but all have added to HHSAA and where we are today as an organization. The
first installment looked at our beginning and founder, Lauren Peabody Fitzpatrick ’86, and current president, Nancy Ketch
’82. The second installment paid tribute to the lives of two former members who both enjoyed the multi-year reunions, Paul
Porter ’51 and Nancy Russell Hutchinson ’56. The third installment was on a couple of our “strong but silent” members, Jerry
York ’70 and Patricia Donovan Fitzpatrick ‘63. The fourth installment you met Lorraine Davis Quint ’55, who has been with
HHSAA since 1997 as class rep, and Jon McLaughlin ’73, who is behind the Newsletter getting published and the Planned
Giving Publication. This installment looks at two people with the same last name but different generations. I have been busy
this summer/fall and ran a little short on time to meet the newsletter deadline, but I hope you enjoy it just the same.

Peter Fitzpatrick ’59

2002-Present / Class of 1959 Newsletter Rep

Peter came onto the board in 2002 when HHSAA was only 5 years old.
Twenty years later, he is still bringing ideas and lending a helping hand to
events. Peter’s background is in trucking and mechanics, and he is a tough
one to nail down for an interview, but at 9 PM on an early November
evening, he called me from the cab of one of his trucks. He was getting a
trailer ready to haul Christmas trees for the upcoming holiday season. Thank
you, Peter, for taking the time out of your schedule.
Peter and I may share a last name, but that connection goes back to Peter’s
Photo courtesy of Linda Fitzpatrick father and my grandfather (Fred ’37) being brothers. Peter is the son of
Easterbrooks ‘81
the late Gordon ‘30 & Frances (Wall) Fitzpatrick and graduated with the
class of 1959. His three brothers are William “Billy” ‘56, Garrett ‘57, and the late John ‘62, plus a sister, Mary Ann Stewart
‘65. For five years after high school, Peter worked for Houlton Motors before starting his own trucking business. During this
time, he married Joyce Monk, and they raised four children together, Steven ’86, Peter, Kevin ’88 and Linda Easterbrooks ’81.
After 58 years, Peter and Joyce are still married and enjoying the company of each other plus their grandchildren and great
grandchildren. They are proud to say that four of their grandchildren are studying at the University of Maine at Orono this
fall: a Freshmen, Gabe ’21, two Seniors in Engineering, Zachary ’18 and Philip Easterbrooks and one studying for her Master’s
degree, Teresa Easterbrooks. Peter mentioned a time in the 80’s when he managed a potato house crew for Eastern Potato
Dealers and Hapco while still running his trucking company.

When asked about a memory from his years at HHS, Peter first spoke about a basketball trip to Bangor. Back in those days,
they took their own cars to games instead of buses. Peter recalled he was with the coach, Wes Hussey, when the water hose
on the car blew somewhere around Lincoln. Thanks to the friendly people along the road, Peter was able to find material and
water to repair the hose and get the team to Bangor. It was a different time back then, when a stranger came to the door asking
for water or to use your phone, most would give them what they needed without hesitation or fear. In today’s world, you
would not see that happen as much. Peter’s second memory was also about Wes Hussey and how Peter spent three summers
during high school working with Mr Hussey painting houses in the Houlton area. Peter spoke about other memories but asked
me not to print them; as he said, “there were good times and sad times,” which I agree we all have happy memories and sad
memories. I think most of us were in the office at least once or might have struggled with a class, teacher, or student, but some
classes lost classmates way too early, but all these moments make up our memories of HHS and create its history. Peter recalls
losing his friend and classmate, Richard McCready ’59 who passed February 17th, 1958, during his junior year.

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