To the Editor:
On Friday afternoon, Aug. 26, I arrived at the Hannaford’s Supermarket at Damariscotta Plaza to pick up some last-minute items for a late afternoon puffin boat tour planned with my friends and family.
It was the last day of our relaxing and rejuvenating week long vacation at a cozy cottage on Pemaquid Lake. I parked my van and as I exited, the keys slipped off my lap and disappeared, clicker and all, down a storm drain. I was so surprised, shocked and then dismayed because we did not have a spare key and it was my husband’s set of keys I had dropped with other important keys attached.
I hurried in to the Customer Service counter at Hannaford’s to see if there was anything that they could suggest or do to help me. The managers were all in a meeting when I arrived so I phoned Anne Pinkham at Lakehurst Camps where we were staying, to see if she could suggest anything. She said that she would make a few calls and get back to me. At that time, the managers’ meeting finished and a very kind customer service representative explained that someone would be coming to talk with me.
I learned that the storm drain was 5 1/2 to 6 feet deep and that there was 1 1/2 to 2 feet of water at the bottom, which sounded pretty challenging, but I was overwhelmed with what happened next.
A team of Hannaford employees: night manager Dan Smith, Rachael Sloat and Chuck (who works in maintenance) came out and assessed the situation. They spent a lot of time on the pavement and were able to locate the keys using a flashlight, even with all the water. They used a long wire to drag the bottom of the storm drain and added a magnet and then Chuck brought a crowbar to lift the grid off the storm drain.
At this point, Anne Pinkham arrived to see how things were going. It seemed that the magnet was just not quite strong enough to do the job. Anne noticed a plumbing truck driving by in the parking lot and she immediately recruited the driver, Jim Ready, a plumber from South Bristol, who taped a strong magnet to a copper pipe with duct tape which he then lowered into the storm drain and raised it up with the keys attached, just as my husband and a friend pulled into the parking lot to see what was happening. They had brought their fishing rods to try to snag the keys.
Everyone involved in the rescue of my keys was so good-natured and patient and helpful, and no one would accept any remuneration. What was amazing to me was that, after this adventure, we still made it to the wharf in New Harbor in time for the puffin trip.
I just want to express my heartfelt thanks and deepest appreciation for the people who bailed me out of a difficult situation. It could have been the incident that spoiled a great vacation but, instead, it was a wonderful experience of neighborliness: people caring and working together and being happy to help and celebrating victory. It is this memory that is the highlight of my summer vacation in Damariscotta.
Gloria J. Murray, Braintree, Mass.
