Jenny and Dean Berry smile inside their store, Brown’s Propane, at 3220 Atlantic Highway in Waldoboro. The couple, who purchased the business in 2020, said being a part of the larger community is their favorite part of the work. (Molly Rains photo)
Whether the pair is filling tanks at Brown’s Propane in Waldoboro or grooving on stage at a rock gig, for Wiscasset residents Jenny and Dean Berry, life is about finding moments of joy, connection, and kindness wherever they might be.
The Berrys have been “building a business and making friends” at Brown’s Propane since purchasing the business in early 2020, said Dean Berry. However, their time in the Midcoast stretches back farther: both were raised in the region, although they wouldn’t meet until they were young adults.
Jenny Berry was raised in the Midcoast, moving several times in her childhood between towns including Bath, Brunswick, and Bristol. She attended Lincoln Academy and after graduating felt it was time for a change of scenery.
“It was hard to grow up here as a teenager because you look back on how close the communities are … I could not stand the fact that everybody knew when everybody rolled over at night,” she said.
She attended the University of Southern California, majoring in linguistics, which Jenny Berry said indulged a lifelong love of language. Berry said she still thinks about language all the time and loves to play word games when she gets together with family.
While she enjoyed Los Angeles, after some time away, Jenny Berry began to miss the Midcoast.
“I missed the seasons, and I missed people being nice to each other,” she said.
When she returned after college the move felt purposeful, like she was claiming the region for her home of her own accord, she said.
Meanwhile, Dean Berry was also making a life for himself in the Midcoast.
Raised in Bath, he attended Morse High School and was a musician from a young age. As he grew up, Dean Berry honed his sense of rhythm, getting his first drum set as a young teenager and, with his first band, a standing gig at the former Club Cairo in Lewiston at about 16.
Dean Berry also loved freedom and travel. After graduating from Morse, he embarked on a career in trucking, which allowed him to experience both.
He drove for several companies, hauling cargo that ranged from furniture to shellfish. For one route, Dean Berry took lobster from Stonington to eastern Canada – an overnight drive that typically took him 10.5 hours to complete, just shy of the 11-hour limit on continuous driving set by his employer.
“You had to be hustling. I drove all night long,” he said.
Meanwhile, he was still drumming, playing across Maine with a series of bands.
Music would also bring the couple together, Dean Berry said.
On the night they met, Dean Berry was drumming with a band called Holiday Road, at the former Harbor Light Cafe in Bath. Jenny, a friend of the band’s keyboard player, was in the audience; when the band took a break, she sat down with them to chat.
“The rest is history,” she laughed.
Jenny and Dean Berry said they were immediately drawn to one another.
“I don’t know what it was, but I know that it was strong,” Jenny Berry said. “I felt like he would always protect me. I never felt as though I’d have to worry.”
The couple will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary in April.
Jenny and Dean Berry, of Brown’s Propane in Waldoboro, stand with their dog Annie in 2020 in front of the business’s sign after purchasing it. In the five years since then, some things have changed: Annie’s successor, Freya, now greets customers, and the Berrys have cemented their place in the Waldoboro business community. However, other things are the same, including the Berrys’ commitment to service and love for music, travel, and each other. (Photo courtesy Dean and Jenny Berry)
They purchased the home they still live in today in 1993, when their children were young; the couple has two children between them, and Dean has two children from a previous marriage. Happily, all their children have remained in Maine, the Berrys said.
Ever since moving into the Wiscasset home, the pair said, they felt there was something special about the place: it seemed to carry energy, as if it were haunted, Jenny Berry said.
“It’s for real. There is some sort of … something,” Dean Berry said.
After several years of living in the house, Jenny Berry was researching the building’s history when she made a surprising discovery: the home had been built originally by one of Dean Berry’s ancestors.
The discovery made the home and its energy feel more familiar, Jenny Berry said.
During the early days of their marriage, Dean Berry continued trucking. The time apart that the job demanded was hard on the couple, however.
“I didn’t like him gone that much,” Jenny Berry said.
Meanwhile, Jenny Berry was working the service desk at Wiscasset Ford, retiring in 2024.
“She’s great with people,” Dean Berry said.
The opportunity to purchase Brown’s Propane arose when Dean Berry’s colleague, Randy Brown – who founded the business – shared that he and his wife, Margaret Brown, were looking for a buyer.
At first, Jenny Berry was unsure, but the couple ultimately decided to take the leap.
Now, Jenny Berry’s customer service skills and the knowledge that Dean Berry gained hauling fuel as a trucker both serve them well at Brown’s Propane, the couple said.
At Brown’s, the couple sell propane as well as heating equipment and accessories. The most important part of the couple’s business at Brown’s, they said, is the quality of their service.
“I hang my hat on service. I’m old school. We just don’t get good service any more, at most places, as I see it,” Dean Brown said.
For the Berrys, good service means welcoming customers, being friendly, filling tanks with a drive-thru model and lifting the heavy, full tanks for customers, they said.
It is also important, especially in the fuel industry, to have background knowledge and know what is safe and what isn’t, the Berrys said.
The pair said that longtime customers of Brown’s initially greeted them with trepidation.
“It was cautious at first, with a number of people saying, ‘Where’s Mr. Brown?’” Jenny Berry recalled.
However, they have since been welcomed wholeheartedly to the Waldoboro business community, for which they are grateful.
Every year, the business grows, Dean Brown said. The pair hasn’t hired additional help yet, but they are mulling whether to take that step. For now, they continue to enjoy chatting with customers. Visitors often come inside to greet the couple’s dog, Freya, and just catch up, the couple said.
“If you treat it as a business, it’s not worth it – but it’s socializing, it’s getting to know people,” Jenny Berry said.
Because they deal in propane, which among other uses can power small heaters, the couple sometimes meets people who are living in challenging circumstances. Giving back to their community and trying to help those who need it is important to the Berrys, they said.
Every year, the couple donates propane to the Community Housing Improvement Project Inc., said CHIP Project Manager Brittany Gill. CHIP provides one-time emergency heating fuel donations to people in need across much of Lincoln County, with help from donations from providers like the Berrys.
Gill added the Berrys were “generous and thoughtful people … just really neat people.”
The Berrys also offer a yearly customer appreciation day, which they said is their way of expressing gratitude to customers and friends. On the Saturday before Labor Day, patrons are invited to stop by Brown’s, fill their grill tank for $15, enter a fuel raffle, and enjoy a cookout with possible live music, Dean Brown said.
When they aren’t at their shop, the Berrys enjoy traveling to warm destinations, camping, dining, and playing music together – Jenny Berry is a singer who has provided vocals to some of the bands Dean Berry has drummed for over the years. Dean Berry’s current band, Thunder Bay, is based in Boothbay Harbor and will play live gigs throughout the summer, he said.
However, most days, Jenny and Dean Berry are at Brown’s Propane, ready to greet customers-turned-friends and “shoot the breeze,” Dean Berry said.
“I’m very grateful to this community … I feel really supported,” said Jenny Berry.
“I love it when people leave and say, ‘see you next time,’” Dean Berry said. “Little comments like that, you know you’re doing something right.”
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