In last year’s Valentine’s Day edition, reporter Johnathan Riley shone the “Characters of the County” spotlight on Jefferson couple Jarrod and Cheryl Pinkham, bringing a local love story to the column. Readers responded overwhelmingly, many sending in recommendations for other local couples to profile. Clearly, love is plentiful in Lincoln County.
Inspired by last year’s outpouring, this year, we are extending our focus on local love to a month-long series, “Couples of the County,” featuring the local pairs who show us that life is often better together.
In our Feb. 6 edition, Somerville’s Anil Roopchand and Kelly Payson-Roopchand showed us that love often grows from shared passions. This week, we heard from Dresden’s Jeff and Ann Pierce, who showed us that love can be nurtured from friendship and shared goals. In our remaining two February editions, we will continue to hear from Lincoln County couples about what makes – and keeps – their love strong.
In the meantime, this Valentine’s Day, there are other iconic Lincoln County couplings that can show us a lot about what it means to act with love.
In this week’s edition, we featured the inaugural James Hall Community Service Day – a timely demonstration that, in Lincoln County, where there is a need, there is often also a group of people attempting to meet it. Love sees gaps when they appear, and works hard to remedy them.
Love, too, is strengthened by time, as exemplified by the love of our local historical societies for our region’s past, which bridges generations.
Some love is literally bridged, as are the members of what is perhaps our county’s most iconic duo: the Twin Villages, via the Damariscotta-Newcastle bridge.
Love is nourishing, like alewives to lobster; having it within your grasp can feel like winning the lottery, like when a fisherman receiving one of the few elver licenses offered each year. Love can also make us do extreme things, as diners waiting in line at Red’s Eats on searing hot Wiscasset afternoons show us every summer.
Though love is rewarding and sustaining, it can also be laborious and slow. Everyone who has sat through an hours-long town meeting or watched budget drafts pile up throughout springtime knows that, in our small towns, a sometimes cumbersome process is inextricably coupled to change and progress.
Of all these Lincoln County couplings and more, one partnership we’re particularly grateful for at The Lincoln County News this Valentine’s Day is between ourselves and you, our readers. We share the belief that true love is curious; it evolves every day, always seeking a deeper level of understanding. To love requires a commitment to lifelong learning, as our team, and you, know well.
Happy Valentine’s Day, and thank you for committing alongside us to learning about, and loving, Lincoln County.
