When Jim Pritchard of Chapman was growing up in New York, he never imagined that life would take him to numerous states as well as across the ocean to faraway countries. Nor could he have guessed that after a 40-year career in power plant engineering he would become known to many people in Aroostook County as a community volunteer and advocate for local writers.
“I think we’re placed here to help other people,” Pritchard said, while reflecting on one of the common threads of his life’s work. “I think of that as part of my life’s mission.”
Pritchard’s call to help others began with a seven-year commitment to the U.S. Navy after he graduated high school in 1963. His interest in submarines and nuclear power led to him serving six patrols on the U.S.S. Rayburn, a fleet ballistic missile submarine, off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina.
During a patrol, the 425-foot-long submarine would remain submerged underwater for 70 days. Though Pritchard’s duties did not involve potential missile firing, he said that the crew’s submersion underwater would have allowed them to fire nuclear weapons if Soviet Union forces attacked U.S. soil. He remembers that the crew had around 16 missiles and three nuclear warheads on board.
“We had pride in the fact that we were helping to defend our nation,” Pritchard said.
In 1986 Pritchard received a phone call from two Soviet Union officials, who were dealing with the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion in the former U.S.S.R. At the time Pritchard was the vice president of a hazardous waste treatment company in Michigan. He and colleagues had patented a process for treating radioactive waste.
“They [the Soviet Union officials] asked us for our help in minimizing the impact of the Chernobyl incident,” Pritchard said. “We drove from Michigan to Ottawa and spent a good part of the day at the Soviet consulate giving them detailed recommendations.”
Until his retirement in 2016, Pritchard spent his career managing power plant, coal, biomass, gas-turbine and wind projects, writing technical procedures for fossil-fuel, nuclear and pharmaceutical projects and creating maintenance procedures for gas-turbine and cooling tower facilities.
In the late 1980s, Pritchard moved to Stockholm, Maine to work as a training instructor for a power-plant project. While there, one of his students, Paul Brabant, invited him to dinner at his home. That’s where Pritchard met Brabant’s sister, Martie, who became Pritchard’s wife.
The couple would later move to Presque Isle, then to their current home in Chapman. Martie worked as a teacher for local schools while Pritchard often travelled throughout Maine, the U.S. and to other countries including Canada, Mexico and Indonesia for his career. They raised four children and now have 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
“We love the solitude, the beauty and the people,” Pritchard said, about why he and Martie enjoy living in Aroostook County.
Since retiring, Pritchard has served as a board member of the Grace Interfaith Food Table, a board member and past president of the James School Cooperation, the president of the Central Aroostook Kennel Club and a deacon for the Presque Isle Congregational Church. He and Martie own a “hobby farm” on their Chapman property — Barking Barn Properties — where they raise chickens, horses and other farm animals.
Martie’s involvement with the Leisure Village Writers, a group of senior citizen writers at the Leisure Villeage Retirement Center in Presque Isle, has inspired Pritchard to delve into the world of book publishing. After working with a professional designer on their first Leisure Village Writers book, the Pritchards self-published the second Leisure Village Writers collection and a tale about the James School in Presque Isle through their new imprint, Bright Star Publishing.
Pritchard is now the official owner of Bright Star Publishing and hopes to use his newfound editing, proofreading and design skills to help local writers experience the joy of seeing their words in print.
“We’re not looking to become a large publishing house. We want to work one-on-one with writers,” Pritchard said. “We want to help people who might not have been able to publish before.”
