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November 24, 2011

Community's 'guardian angel'

By Leslie Bridgers lbridgers@pressherald.com
Staff Writer

As a polio survivor, Lucy Gilmore sometimes has a hard time getting around.

click image to enlarge

Lucy Gilmore of Bowdoinham takes pleasure in helping out her neighbors and is a whiz with plants.

John Patriquin/Staff Photographer

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But that doesn't stop her from doing other people's errands.

A resident of elderly housing complex Bowdoinham Estates in Bowdoinham, Gilmore, 67, can often be found going grocery shopping or picking up pizza for her fellow residents.

If someone has a medical emergency, she's likely to get in her car and follow the ambulance to the hospital.

"We help each other out," Gilmore said.

Although Gilmore contends that she gets as much as she gives, her friend and downstairs neighbor Sarah Siggins said she does much more than most.

"We call her our guardian angel here," Siggins said.

Along with giving residents rides and picking up groceries, Siggins said, Gilmore is known for her ability to work wonders on dead and dying plants.

"Bring it to Lucy, she'll revive it," she said.

She also steps in as the bingo caller at the complex's monthly dinners.

"She gets right into it," Siggins said.

Polio paralyzed Gilmore from the neck down for two weeks when she was 7 years old. It took about a year to recover from the illness, and she still suffers effects including weakness and fatigue.

Gilmore's three children were under 10 years old when her husband died from cancer and she had to raise them on her own.

Now the grandmother of 12, Gilmore said she doesn't see her acts of kindness as sacrifices.

"It's just things I love to do," she said.


 

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