On each end of the bridge spanning over the Sheepscot River between Wiscasset and Edgecomb is a plaque, written on each of those plaques are the words “Donald E. Davey Bridge, in memory of Detective Sergeant Donald E, Davey, Lincoln County Deputy Sheriff who died while serving his county, 1947 – 1984.”
The plaque tells about a man born in 1947, and whose life ended in 1984 in the line of duty. This article is an attempt to tell about the life of Donald Davey, who is described as an outstanding individual by all who knew him.
Davey was the middle son of Donald and Laura Davey, with an older brother Daniel, and a younger brother Dennis. His father, a veteran of World War II, served 24 years in the U.S. Coast Guard. Although the Davey family roots were here in Maine, because of his dad’s military service the family traveled. Young Donald attended schools in New Jersey, Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, and ended up graduating in 1965 from St. Georges Valley High School, in Thomaston.
According to his brother Dan, and Donald’s widow Laurinda, Donald’s professional calling was in law enforcement, a job he dedicated his life to. After graduating from high school he became a constable for the town of Warren. He served as a Thomaston police officer for three years and joined the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office in 1972. He was also a six-year veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve.
Donald was a decorated law enforcement officer, and received many citations for his work in investigations, According to his brother Dan, Donald was a man with integrity; always looking for the good in all people, and never saying a bad word about anyone.
This past week Dan, Dan’s wife Vickie, and Donald’s widow Laurinda, sat down to talk about the life of a man, who despite being gone for 29 years, never feels far away.
“I still miss him,” Dan said.
“The good memories I have, help me to deal with the grief of his loss,” Laurinda said
Laurinda and Donald were married in 1973, they had two daughters, Jessica, who was nine, and Cecily who was five years old when their father was killed.
The Daveys lived in Friendship, in a log cabin house built by Donald four years before his death. Laurinda still lives there today.
Dan and Donald were very close growing up, they both enjoyed many of the same interests. Dan was also a Deputy Sheriff at Lincoln County before he successfully ran for Sheriff of Knox County. The two brothers enjoyed scuba diving together.
Dan recalls the two of them scuba diving for scallops in the 1960s and ’70s at Owls Head and Southport during the winter months.
“I remember laying there in the water looking up and snow was falling on my face,” Dan said, “It was so cold, we had to help each other get out of the wet suits. It is a wonder we ever survived. We certainly didn’t know what we were doing to our bodies.”
“I haven’t been able to eat scallops since. They were so fresh they were still squirming in the pan while we were cooking them,” Laurinda said, with a chuckle.
Donald was a dedicated member of the United Methodist Church of Friendship, where he taught Sunday School, sang in the choir, and participated in many other aspects of church life.
Family and friends describe Donald as a very caring man; a loving father and husband. About a week and half before his death, Laurinda’s grandfather died. Apparently it was very upsetting to the two Davey daughters. When it was time for the girls to go to bed, Donald went up, as usual, to tuck them in.
This night he was there a little longer and Laurinda went up stairs to see what was keeping him. She said, he was explaining death to the two girls, telling them not to be sad, because now their great-granddad was in a better place, he had gone to live with Jesus in Heaven.
“It was like a divine appointment,” Laurinda said, “Unknowingly he was preparing them for the loss of a man they loved dearly. The girls always remembered that conversation with their father.”
Donald and Laurinda had moved into their new home about four years earlier, and during that time, she had been unable to find her grandmother’s old bible. The night before he was killed, Donald found it in the cellar and brought it up to her, pleasing her immensely Laurinda said, because he knew how much her grandmother’s bible meant to her.
Dan Davey recalled a conversation at the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office between the “three Ds,” Donald, Dan and Dick Brault. The three were talking about the two near misses that Donald had had with trucks.
When Donald was a police officer in Thomaston, he was on his way home in a bad storm. A car had slid off the road. Donald stopped to help and a truck came along and skidded off the road pinning Donald between the two vehicles.
His second accident with a truck happened a few years later when Donald was turning left off Route 1 to Nobleboro; a truck came up over the top of the vehicle he was driving. Dan said Donald never made anything of the two incidents. “But nevertheless, the third one got him,” Dan said.
Laurinda said she will never forget the morning of July 30, 1984. Donald was called out on a case early that morning, and two hours later four men knocked on her door. Donald’s brother Dan, Sheriff William Carter, her father, and Rev. Mike Henderson had come to tell her that Donald had been killed in an accident. She said her first thoughts were for her children.
According to the reports at the time of the accident, sometime around 3 a.m. Donald was driving toward Wiscasset when his car was struck and run over by a tractor trailer truck that had crossed into Donald’s lane killing him instantly. The driver of the truck was also killed.
After his death, a supervisor at the Maine State Prison Bolduc Unit, Fred Upham, suggested to Representative Joseph Mayo, D-Thomaston, the new bridge being built in Wiscasset, should be named in Davey’s memory. According to the family, when Mayo contacted them to ask what they thought of the idea, he was told it was a great idea.
Mayo introduced a resolution in the legislature to rename the Wiscasset Bridge. The resolution was co-sponsored by Senator Jean Chambers, D-Rockland, Representative Carol Allen D-Washington, and Representative Jeff Mills D-Bethel.
On September 28, 1986, the Donald E. Davey Bridge was dedicated with keynote speaker, Governor Joseph Brennan, and Mayo as Master of Ceremonies.
Mayo was only 23 years old when he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1983. His life was also taken at the young age of 42. He died May 23, 2002, after suffering with Lou Gehrig’s disease for several years.
Donald’s two daughters are now grown with families of their own, Jessica, is now living in New Hampshire, and Cecily lives in Friendship near her mother. Laurinda has remarried, and there are seven grandchildren, one of whom is named Donald.
