My Uncle the Governor

Growing up I never really thought of my family as different than anyone else’s. Family Histories vary over everyone and everyone’s story is unique and different. Some go through struggles to be where they are now, some have famous ancestors, and some (like me) have a politician in their family. This is the story of how My “Uncle” became Maine’s 74th governor after a life of hardship and hard work. This story starts a long time ago when My dad’s Grandfather who would be My great grandfather (Pepere Eddie) owned a successful restaurant in Lewiston. Edwards restaurant was a spot where locals loved to hangout and eat great classic american comfort food. Back then my Pepere was hard working and never would have thought in a million years that he would adopt a child. My Pepere Eddie had two sons, my Pepere Collins and my Monocle Jim. At the time my Pepere noticed a young man working in the streets, he stopped to meet the young man who had had a lot of hardship in his life. This young man had run away from his abusive home after having a very hard childhood. He lived at home after with his abusive biological parents and 18 other siblings. You could imagine that this young man was frightened to be out in the streets by himself at such a young age but he knew that his life could be more than all of this neglect and abuse and he was determined to get out of that situation and make life better for himself. After running away he spent two years on the streets supporting himself by shoe shining along the streets until he was noticed by a man walking down the street. He started to ask the young man a little about himself and how he found himself being so young shining shoes on the street. This man saw a potential in the young man and after much discussion offered him a job at his restaurant, that man was my Pepere. My Pepere saw how hard working this young man was and after learning so much about his history he wanted to help this poor young man who he knew deserved so much better than what this life had given him so far. He helped to get him back on his feet by letting him work at the restaurant and even gave him a roof over his head. He was ultimately “adopted” by two separate families one of which was mine (obviously) . He grew up with so much love surrounding him with both of his families. He grew up to marry his Wife Anne. He went to college at Husson and got his B.S. in  business administration and finance and got his MBA from the University of Maine. Before he was governor he was lesser known as a general manager for Mardens and he served as the Mayor of Waterville from 2004-2011. After this he went on to serve as Maine’s 74th governor from 2011-2019. He has been my(great) uncle Paul for all of my life and served as a big part in my dad’s life as his uncle. I have many fond memories of being a young kid and spending Christmas in New Hampshire at my Monocle Jim’s house with all of my family. I’ve never had a super close relationship with that side of my family (most of them live out of state) but when you get us all together again it’s like we never even skipped a beat. Some of my best memories were spent eating Easter dinner at the Blaine house, a place I thought that I would never be able to visit. We sat around the table and just talked and laughed like any normal family would do but it was in a Home that is much respected and very much of importance and power. I remember there being a red velvet rope on the stairs inside the home that blocked the stairs to their personal space, seeing this made me giggle a little bit because being here in the presence of people of such high power didn’t feel real. Having my uncle be the governor is just a piece of my family history that is interesting to me and I will never take for granted the opportunity that I had knowing (and being related to) Maine’s 74th Governor.

photo by: Jada Collins