Caren Clark

Caren Clark enlisted in the military as a way to fund college since her parents couldn’t pay for it, nor she.  Once in the Air Force National Guard, she learned to repair large electronic computers -- as well drive a two and a half ton cargo truck for transporting them.  After college, she found work at Digital Equipment Corporation, then some years later, at Canberra Industries in Connecticut where her family was from. She and her long-term partner Edward Fisher visited and fell in love with Waldoboro in 1992 -- for the river, the kayaking and the astounding low tides. They retired here in 1997.  Within a few years Caren was volunteering for numerous groups, commissions and projects including the Pemaquid Lighthouse, Medomak Valley Land Trust, Waldoboro Day, the Waldoboro Business Association and the Comprehensive Planning Board.  She was one of the founders of the Waldoboro Farmer’s Market.  For many years she was a full-time volunteer.  These days she gives her time to the Pemaquid Lighthouse as a docent, the Medomak Council of the MidCoast Conservancy, and the Waldoboro Conservation Commission.  Caren credits Edward for her exuberant participation in town life.  He died in 2018, but he is never far away in any conversation with Caren.

At the top of my list is completing three trails – the first, to link the pocket parks from Elm Street to the Rest Area which would include rebuilding the foot bridge.  The second, to connect the Elm Street Park to Jefferson Street to the George Gould Trail leading up to AD Gray School.  And the third, a walking trail that goes from the Sylvania site all the way to the Friendship Street School.  And I have one more — I’d love to see vibrant businesses in downtown Waldoboro along Friendship Street.

To me, volunteering is about seeing something come to fruition. Like customers showing up at the Farmer’s Market.  That’s what gives me a sense of accomplishment.   That, and the people I am working with.  I remember in the 2016 election how strong the emotions were, but it didn’t matter when we were at the Market.  We were working together. And we supported each other.  I think, if you can dissolve dissent by having a common goal, you can do really well together. 

Volunteering was easy for me.  I learned that you pick and choose the jobs you’re good at, and then you help direct people to the jobs they’re best at.  Or better yet, you let them find out. 

Committees are where decisions are made.  Are you going to have a Waldoboro Day?  Will you have a parade and games for kids? Will there be vendors?  Will there be fireworks?  You, the committee, decide that.   A lot of things won’t happen unless you get a committee together, and with different tasks assigned.  

However, you need to go to meetings.  And there, you decide on your purpose.  You decide on which offices you’re going to have.  On the Conservation Commission we did away with the secretary and treasurer and now have only a chair and vice-chair.  You decide about associate or honorary members.  Joan Ray, part of the Medomak Valley Land Trust, joined our meetings.  She didn’t have a voting right, but she knew the parks, the recreation areas, all about abutting properties and what trails existed, and she knew about the wooly adelgid that is killing the hemlocks in the Town Forest. 

You decide how you’ll run the meetings, whether with Roberts Rule or Consensus Rule.  We went with Consensus.  You decide what responsibilities members have. You decide if you’re going to have subcommittees like a planning committee or acquisition committee or maybe an education committee. And you decide how many meetings are you going to have.  With the Conservation Commission, we chose to meet in an office once every quarter and meet for trail work once a month.  That way when we were on-site, we could do both committee work and park work together.  Right now, we’re concerned about the condition of the Town Forest, so we’re talking about holding our meeting there.  One thing on the agenda is raising funds to mitigate the wooly adelgid.  And we can do that right there, because it’s a meeting.  And we’re all present to vote. And at the same time, we’ll replace some of the boards in the bridges and put planks over the trail’s swampy spots.  The meeting after is about improving the trails at Dutch Neck Marine Park.  So maybe we’ll have our meeting there. 

But for the moment, I’ve cut back on volunteering.  I think I’ve been needing more quiet time.  I’m exploring different things like quilting and painting, too.  And returning to cross-stitching.  But no matter what it is I’m doing, I always try to follow Edward’s philosophy.  He was a Taoist, and he used to say “Life is an adventure.  You have to savor it to the fullest.” 

I’ll tell you a story.  Edward believed every New Year should be memorable.  So one year he decided we should paddle out to our camp on Friendship Long Island in our 2-person kayak.  Well, there were 2-foot seas.  And a small craft advisory.  Well, that didn’t stop us. I made a lobster bouillabaisse and we put it the crockpot in hold along with a couple of bottles of champagne and took off.  I was in the front so I was soaking wet by the time we got there, but we started the woodstove, we heated the soup on top as I changed clothes, and we slept on the futon next to the stove because it was winter and the camp was not insulated — you could even see the snow outside through the boards.  But it was an experience, and we were doing something memorable.  And the next day it was 2002, and we paddled back in absolutely calm waters.  I’ll never forget it.  It was all Edward’s idea.