Talk to Kay, Mike Thayer’s wife, and she’ll tell you how he’ll sit in a chair, just pondering a chemistry problem. Mike Thayer’s love for chemistry dates back to childhood, to the day the day he discovered his aunt’s old chemistry textbook on his parent’s bookshelf. And then, through chemistry, being able to take something and turn it into something else. Mike pursued chemistry though high school, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and into the world of work. It wasn’t long before he was immersed in water and wastewater chemistry, which led to his expertise in wastewater. By the time he and Kay retired to Waldoboro, he’d either managed or designed a number of state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plants, from Boston to West Palm Beach to Detroit, among others. His plants reduced emissions and improved fuel and energy consumption. He’s rightfully proud of this work. Mike and Kay have lived in Waldoboro for over ten years. For the past three, he’s sat on Waldoboro’s Select Board. This year he’s retiring from that. But he’s not leaving water and chemistry entirely.
I grew up in blue-collar Dorchester, and I’m still most comfortable around working-class people. It was a neighborhood, with lots of kids. And because there were also lots of baby carriages in disrepair, we kids would take off the wheels to make primitive racers that we’d take to the top of Huntoon Street where we’d race to the bottom.
In addition to the chemistry textbook, my parents had these bound volumes of Popular Mechanics. I loved looking at them and thinking about making things. One time I decided I was going to make a boat. I biked the two miles to the hardware store to buy a piece of plywood. Then I tied it to my bicycle and walked my bike home. The boat was not successful. But later on, I did succeed.
I became kind of a handyman. That’s why, when Dick Markey at St. Denis said they needed volunteers for Community Cares Day for CHiP, Inc., I thought, “I’m retired. I have time.” And that morphed into plumbing and more specialized repairs for CHiP(Community Housing Improvement Project).
Kay volunteered right after me. It was a little bit like in the Book of Ruth: “Whither thou goest, I go.” I build things and do basic repairs, and she is now a Trustee and Treasurer.
Our first time out, I worked at Skyview Mobile Home Park. We built a couple of sets of stairs for a trailer. Then, as CHiP got to know what I could do, we did different projects, like fixing a faucet for someone with stage four cancer and then fixing the bathroom so he could take a shower. Or heading up to Lady Slipper Lane to fix someone’s stairs and skirting. That day, though, someone got sick so the skirting couldn’t be completed. And winter was coming. So, Kay and I went back and completed it.
It’s emotional, doing this work. Imagine having little kids and earning minimum or part-time wages, and then having to pay rent just to live in a trailer park and there are so many people like that.
It’s people just scraping along! If a faucet starts leaking, they can’t afford to pay a plumber. That’s why I volunteer. But there are people who struggle in so many ways that it sometimes makes me wonder, “Am I just enabling someone?” You don’t always know.
I had a friend in Boston who used to shoot heroin. I looked all over for rehab for her, and we went to High Point, Spaulding, Gosnold, and who knows where else. Only after I broke off the relationship did she get clean. She’s still clean today. You just don’t always know what’s going to happen. Some people recover.
No matter what, your heart just breaks to see how people are living, how it’s affecting their kids, and how their grandma’s surviving. You try to be up-beat, but it still gets to you.
I see people struggle and struggle, and then offer their couch to a friend in need. I’m in awe at people’s generosity, and I’m in awe of how they manage. They are so strong. But it’s still hard.
It’s been that way on the Select Board, too. And I didn’t expect that. I ran because Pam Jameson suggested and then a few others, too. I put a lot of effort into running. We put up signs, but I also stood outside the post office and the library and on corners introducing myself and shaking hands.
But on the Select Board, you have to make judgements, and some of them are very, very difficult. Here’s an example: the town needs committee members. And there are people who want to serve. But then, in the interview, I’ll learn that the candidate has totally different views on housing than I do. But on the warm body theory, I will recommend the candidate. We need qualified people on these committees. But that is never easy for me. I do it for the greater good.
Every year, budget decisions challenge me. The Town needs a fire truck badly. And then there are the schools that are in such bad shape that they’ll be out of certification if we don’t fix them.
The bond proposal a couple of years ago would have meant $400 extra in taxes on a single-wide. On a single-wide! I can pay the extra $400, but for the people whose homes I work on, that’s a lot of money to them!
So, to me, it always feels like a zero-sum game. How do you make that decision when some people can’t afford it? Those things grind on my soul.
That is why I’m backing away from it. I want to spend more time with my children and Kay, and maybe we’ll travel, too.
But I’m not resigning everything. I’ll still do plumbing for CHiP. I’m staying on as a trustee of the Waldoboro Utility District as well as the Waldoboro Day and Water Committees. I’ll still shoot pool on Wednesdays at Sammi’s. I’ll attend church at St. Mary’s in Augusta. And at home, I’ll still sit and ponder chemistry and water problems and things like that.
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