A wonderful call from an old friend!

I first met Barry Beaulieu, when he was on a US mail run with his father, Camille Beaulieu! Camille lived in Lac Frontier on the Maine side of the border! He had a small log camp located near the northwest branch of the Saint John River, where he raised his daughter, Marsha, his oldest son Barry son and his twins Jack & Peter! Camille lost his wife at a young age and raised his 4 children on his own and with the help of his daughter Marsha when became old enough to help out. I am sure he had help from some of the ladies in Lac Frontier also! The children went to school in Lac Frontier and grew up in the small log cabin which I had the privilege of visiting a few times. I had to be careful not to bump my head on the roof stringers and cross roof rafters. The camp had the strong odor of beaver and the logs were smeared with the fat off the beaver from Camille skinning them inside the camp! It was built with a low profile and small in size so it would be easier to heat in the bitterly cold winters of Lac Frontier!

The mail at that time was routed to Clayton Lake via Lac Frontier, Quebec, Canada! It was one of the only places, if not the only place that US mail came to a post office in Canada and then taken to Clayton Lake, using only US postage stamps! This also probably added an extra two weeks for mail to get to Clayton Lake considering the route it took.

At that time there was still a Canadian Customs office located on the Lac Frontier side of the border very near to where the bridge crossed the NW Branch of the St. John River. Camille was the Clayton Lake mailman for many years and was a legend in the North Maine Woods! After the bridge over the St John River, located at Nine Mile being taken out by ice in the spring of 1972, the Canadian Customs closed in Lac Frontier! This led to the US mail to Clayton Lake being routed to Ashland, Maine and then transported to Clayton Lake! At which time Camille would travel to Ashland, Maine and pick up the mail for Clayton Lake! It was on one of these trips that I first met Barry.

Barry joined the military when he was just 17 years old and spent a few years traveling all over the world! When he got out of the Military he came back to Lac Frontier and shortly after started working for International Paper out of Clayton Lake! At that time IP started selling some of its lands in Northern Maine and it sold its lands located in the Blackstone siding area to Irving! This gave IP employees who had more seniority out of the Ashland district a chance to bump employee's in Clayton Lake that had less seniority. Barry had not worked for IP for very long so ended up getting bumped. Barry luckily had a job offer from Emile Dupuis to work for Boise Cascade on their Stetson Lands Located off the Stetson Road in St Just! At that time there was no US or Canadian Customs located at the border crossing in St Just! Today there are both US and Canadian Customs located at the St Just crossing! This is mentioned in my book because I was involved with getting both Customs moved from Daaquam to St Just.

When we first started playing softball against the logging camps in the late 1970's to 1985 Barry played on the Clayton Lake team in those early years! You will see his photo on one of the years Clayton Lake won the tournament! Barry also worked for the Maine Forest Service as a Fire Warden for several years. Barry eventually became a logger and cut wood of Gilbert and Greg Cyr, who was a contractor for Great Northern Paper Company (GNP). He was cutting on a very windy day when a tree fell and hit him, paralyzing him from the waist down! After his accident he lived in Lac Frontier in the summer to be close to his father Camille and would move to Bingham , Maine in the winter to be closer to his sister Marsha.

He made his call to me from the veterans hospital in Togus, Maine. On my next Blog I will give you an update of our two hour plus conversation catching up and our discussion of my book which he had just finished reading!

Until again when the story continues on my next blog!