From left: Dean Cartier, Bernice Clark, Roy Blomquist, Val Lovelace, and Carolyn Howard attend a garden party fundraiser for Lovelace on Saturday, June 29. The group, who are all former colleagues, organized the get-together, which took place at Blomquist’s home in Nobleboro. (Piper Pavelich photo)
Following a life of constantly finding ways to help others, the community is now rallying together to help Valerie Lovelace, a longtime advocate for end-of-life care who is rapidly losing her eyesight.
On Saturday, June 29, dozens of friends and supporters gathered together at the home of Lovelace’s friend, Roy Blomquist, for a garden party fundraiser.
Guests joined together over light refreshments such as brownies and iced tea to discuss how they know Lovelace, sharing their admiration and respect for her, as well as fond memories they hold dear.
The fundraiser was held to support Lovelace’s family, who is currently working on building a visually impaired accessible addition onto her son’s home in Mechanic Falls, providing a safer place for Lovelace to live as her eyesight deteriorates.
Community members have been fundraising for the cause for over a year, with a GoFundMe page organized by a friend of Lovelace’s reaching over $89,500 since April 2023.
“This has been the most humbling, moving experience that I’ve ever had, that people care this way. It’s been huge,” Lovelace said. “For me to even think about living in a place that has been built by so many caring people, the energy of that place is going to be amazing.”
Saturday’s garden party fundraiser brought in $2,500 and counting; donations are still coming in to the group that organized the event, said co-organizer Carolyn Howard.
Lovelace was diagnosed nearly five years ago with pathologic myopia – a degenerative eye disease – following a spontaneous retinal crack in her left eye while she slept. She woke up with her vision clouded by black swirls, she said, meaning there was internal bleeding in her eye.
The disease leads to scarring and irreversible vision loss. Because of the scarring in her eyes, Lovelace’s vision is distorted, making things look like they were printed on a shower curtain, she said.
There is currently no treatment for pathologic myopia, and no interventions that can stop it or reverse damage to the eyes.
“It’s a grieving process … It’s like any other loss. First, you have to accept that that’s what’s happening, and then you have to say, ‘Ok, how am I going to cope? How am I going to live with it? What do I need to be able to manage?’” said Lovelace.
She currently takes a course through the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in Boston, where she is learning Braille, how to use a cane, and how to complete necessary day-to-day tasks.
Due to her diagnosis, Lovelace soon will not be safe living on her own. She currently lives in an upstairs apartment in Westport Island, she said.
Once Lovelace was told she could no longer drive in 2022, she and her family began thinking about a permanent living situation for her, sparking the idea of adding onto her son’s home.
A painting and pouches made by Val Lovelace on display at a garden party fundraiser on Saturday, June 29. Proceeds from the sales will go toward the renovation of Lovelace’s son’s home. (Piper Pavelich photo)
“So many people have stepped forward to offer help and to help finance it, it’s kind of blown me away,” she said. “It’s an aspect of community that, frankly, I had never really experienced in my life. I’ve been on the other side of that community, helping.”
Often called the mother of Death with Dignity in Maine, Lovelace is known locally for her work with volunteers and legislators to pass the Death with Dignity Act in Maine.
In 2013, Lovelace founded a nonprofit organization, It’s My Death, with a purpose of providing services and education to people who “wished to explore the meaning of life through embracing the certainty of death,” according to the organization’s website, which is now known as Maine Death with Dignity.
Lovelace spent countless hours educating hundreds of advocates and lawmakers from 2013 to 2017, raising awareness that generated support for a death with dignity bill introduced in 2017, L.D. 347.
When L.D. 347 failed, Lovelace pursued a citizen’s referendum effort, applying to the secretary of state’s office to petition along with five other Maine voters. She registered the Maine Death with Dignity Political Committee and led the campaign, collecting more than 72,000 valid signatures.
Just as the group was preparing to submit the signatures, an identical bill, L.D. 1313, traveled through the Legislature. The timing of the new bill combined with a new administration in Augusta created the perfect storm, said Lovelace, and L.D. 1313 passed, with Gov. Janet Mills signing it into law in June 2019.
Outside of this effort, Lovelace spent nearly 20 years in the Navy, where she worked on satellite communication systems and airport runway systems.
She later took a managerial post at The Lincoln Home, an assisted living facility in Newcastle. She raised three children, and she now has two grandchildren.
When she’s not advocating for other people’s rights, Lovelace enjoys using art as a creative outlet. She is an avid sewer and painter, specifically a photo-realistic airbrush artist. A painting made by Lovelace of a sunflower was for sale at the fundraiser. The painting was her first attempt at not painting precisely, something she has to get used to doing now that her sight is deteriorating, she said.
“While I was painting, I just felt this joy coming up in me … I was meant to be with art,” she said.
She also enjoys spending time with her grandkids, something she’s looking forward to doing more when she moves in with her son and his family.
Lovelace said once construction is underway at her son’s home, she plans to take a piece of sheetrock and write the names of every person who contributed to the project, making each person a permanent part of the addition. She plans to host an open house for people to see what they helped build.
Howard and Blomquist said they and their friends organized the garden party fundraiser to support a dear friend and beloved community member through her time of need, and they were blown away by the support.
“(The attendees) were a wonderful group of people, many that I’ve never met … That just stepped up to the plate, never knowing Val, just hearing about her,” said Howard.
The build is estimated to cost between $130,000 and $150,000, according to Lovelace.
To donate, go to shorturl.at/5I5zG.
