I was a little sad to hear about M.D. Harmon’s death.

He was editor of my Community Voices column for 10 years, and we never agreed on a single thing except to be courteous to one another. We were at opposite ends of the political spectrum and – had we been in politics – we would have been opponents. But opponents teach you what your friends can’t, because they are your friends.

I learned a great deal from Mike, because I had to write in such a way that I could not give him an excuse to change or edit a single thing in my columns. I couldn’t get lazy, slack off or make unsubstantiated statements. So my columns were exactly to the word limit, factual, correctly spelled, etc.

I also admired Mr. Harmon, though I didn’t know him well. He managed to work for over 40 years in an office where hardly anyone agreed with him, without resorting to rudeness or ill temper. And I’m not sure I could have managed to do that myself.

There is a lot of speculation flying about right now about the manner of his passing, some of it unkind. We don’t know all the facts yet, and frankly, it’s none of our business. A father and grandfather and a co-worker has died. My condolences to his family and friends.

Louise Rocha-McCarthy

South Portland

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