Richard Cowperthwaite has spent most of his 84 years living in the community where he was born. In fact, his cozy home on the Station Road sits on property that was once his grandfather’s farm.
Born Dec. 11, 1934 in Monticello, Cowperthwaite grew up in the downtown area near the town’s original schoolhouse and Grange Hall. He attended classes in Monticello and at Houlton High School.
Aside from a few years living in Mattapan, Massachusetts, when he was fresh out of high school, Cowperthwaite has been a lifelong resident of the town in which he was born.
“I worked at a movie theatre there (in Mattapan) for a bit, and ‘Gone with the Wind’ played there for months,” he recalled. “It (city life) was too fast for me, so I came home.”
In high school, Cowperthwaite worked in a potato house. For 13 years, he worked at Houlton Motors, an automobile company in the Shiretown, before taking a position with a potato brokerage in Mars Hill. He then spent 20 years working at Agway in Houlton and another 17 at Scovil Building Supplies in Mars Hill. He also worked as a janitor for the RSU 29 school system for several years.
“After I got my 20 years in, they (Agway) made me retire,” Cowperthwaite recalled. “So Scovil Building Supplies in Mars Hill came right after me, so I went to work for them.
“I’ve always worked, and have never been without a job,” he said. “My doctor told me to just keep on going and not slow down. If I quit and sit around, I’d probably be gone.”
He met his wife Elizabeth, “Libby,” when they were in grade school, but Richard attended classes in Houlton, while Libby went to school in Bridgewater. The couple will celebrate their 64th wedding anniversary on Aug. 27.
“I was brought up in the Methodist Church, serving as an altar boy, but for some reason I started going to the Pentecostal Church, and that is where I met her,” Cowperthwaite said. “It’s funny how things happen when you look back at it.”
The couple have one daughter, CathyJo Moreau, who lives just two houses down from them, along with one grandchild and six great-grandchildren.
A self-taught artist and carpenter, Cowperthwaite spends much of his time crafting with wood. His home is filled with the knickknacks he has made, ranging from small wooden recreations of the original Monticello schoolhouse, to a four-foot-tall flag holder of Uncle Sam.
Cowperthwaite built the home he lives in. Although he had some training with carpentry in high school, much of his knowledge with building came the old-fashioned way: through trial and error. His workshops can be found in the spare bedroom, basement and garage.
Aside from wooden sculptures, Cowperthwaite also dabbles in painting, using old pieces of reclaimed lumber or cedar shingles as his canvases.
His home is filled with many of his creations, and for a recent class reunion he donated a number of items from his collection to be given away as gifts.
“I just love working with my hands,” he said. “I guess I just can’t sit still.”
