TOPSHAM

He was tenacious, loud and often in your face if it meant getting what he wanted — helping veterans.

A 22-year Air Force veteran, Chick Ciciotte of Topsham was also a 112-pound flyweight Golden Gloves boxing champion. When he retired, he became more renowned for helping veterans in the state. Maine veterans lost their champion Sunday when Ciciotte, born in 1933, passed away.

Recently, he helped bring the once defunct American Legion Post 20 in Brunswick back to life, working to draw in younger members.

His American Legion involvement was widespread, having filled every office at the post level, according to Paul L’Heureux, the state adjutant for the American Legion. At the state level, he was a Department Commander, and nationally he reached the rank of Vice Commander, responsible for more than a dozen states.

L’Heureux and Ciciotte drove to American Legion posts all over the state and someone always knew Chick, or of him. Of the 174 posts, he had been to more than 100.

Ciciotte and fellow local veteran Gil Ormsby, a Purple Heart recipient who died in June 2017, were often at the State House in Augusta lobbying for veterans issues. And it made a difference — the Legion was a driving force in establishing a veterans cemetery in Maine as well as eliminating taxes for veterans’ retirement pay.

“He could (change things) and he instilled that in other people,” L’Heureux said.

Veteran Read Rich of Brunswick worked alongside Ciciotte to establish the Mid-Coast Veterans Resource Center at Brunswick Landing. One of the first things they did was find an apartment for a homeless veteran in Bath — and even came up with furnishings for it.

“You could say, without exaggerating a single bit, thousands of veterans have been impacted by him directly,” said Rich. “He was a rock-hard marshmallow.”

Ciciotte worked with legislative committees in Augusta and spent time at Togus working on the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury issues, making sure veterans were getting needed services.

He was also close to Gov. Paul LePage and would be known to barge into his office.

“Chick was a persistent and strong advocate for military causes as well as a great Mainer and American and a close friend to the First Lady and me,” LePage said in a statement to The Times Record this morning.

“Chick was a tireless advocate and met with the governor and first lady on many occasions,” LePage press secretary Julie Rabinowitz wrote in an email to The Times Record. “He worked closely with the many state agencies that were available to them to ensure that veterans needs were being met.”

As Ciciotte’s health declined, Rich said his doctors would tell him to slow down. Those warnings went unheeded.

“He had one speed,” Rich said.

L’Heureux noted that Ciciotte once said he’d rather die helping people than sit at home doing nothing. In fact, Ciciotte told him that as he was having congestive heart failure and was on the way to the hospital in an ambulance, “he turned to the EMT and said, ‘Listen, could you come over to Post 20 sometime in the near future and give us CPR training?’”

He is remembered for dropping everything to help a veteran.

“We have some others like Chick, he’s just been doing it for so long,” L’Heureux said. “If you look at them, they don’t have snowmobiles, don’t have campers. They don’t have those things because their passion is to help people.”

Ciciotte also was known for eschewing technology, preferring paper and pencils for notetaking over tablets and computers. His pockets were full of business cards. And Ciciotte would show up to take photos of events with his pockets full of disposable cameras — earning him the nickname “Two Click Chick;” L’Heureux remembers driving around to multiple stores so he could buy them on his own dollar.

Always ready to head to Augusta to lobby for favorable legislation, his absence is already being felt. While there are others trying to fill in, L’Heureux said, “he used face-to-face, whereas they use technology.”

Former state Sen. Stan Gerzofsky of Brunswick, who was termed out of office after 16 years, put forth many bills for which Ciciotte advocated. The former legislator said Ciciotte stayed focused on his mission, frustrated when the process stood in the way of helping veterans.

“He kind of had a short fuse,” Gerzofsky said. “He was an idealist, but that’s what we need because they tend to keep the rest of the machine working better. We need somebody to keep our toes to the fire.”

Rich said he’d been thinking about the Ormsby and Ciciotte duo in the wake of the latter’s passing: “I was thinking the first thing that happened was that Gil Ormsby went over to him and said, ‘Where the heck have you been? We’ve got work to do.’

“Augusta better be on their toes,” he added, “because he’s working from a higher position now.”

dmoore@timesrecord.com

Celebration of life

• ACCORDING TO AMERICAN LEGION POST 20, a celebration of William “Chick” Ciciotte’s life will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 2, at Stetson’s Funeral Home in Brunswick. A reception will follow from noon to 3 p.m. at American Legion Post 20 in Brunswick.