Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – For 120 years, Presque Isle Memorial Works has been honoring the deceased by providing cemetery headstones of all different styles.
According to Lee Somers, who purchased the business in 1971, the company not only acquires the headstone, but will also engrave it and imbed it into the ground at the cemetery.
“I still do the lettering on the headstones,” said Somers, 78. “We have brochures here that people look through to find the style that meets their needs. We get them from Barre, Vt. and they’re very nice. We used to get a lot from South Dakota, too.
“Some of the headstones are square or rectangular, others are round, but we even have heart-shaped ones,” he said.
Somers, who used to haul the headstones to Presque Isle from Vermont in the 1950s, said marble used to be quite popular, but black stones are more commonplace today. Other popular colors are dark rose and gray.
“Everyone has different tastes,” he said.
Stencils are placed on the headstone, and then Somers will cover the rest of the stone with rubber and sandblast the engravings.
“Sometimes it takes three or four times per letter to get it to come out the way you want it to,” said Somers, who can even engrave praying hands onto the stones. “I have a 15 horsepower compressor that works pretty well.
“I check them as close as I can,” he said, “but over the years I’ve made some mistakes.”
Somers worked as a potato farmer before getting into the headstone business.
“When you’re a farmer, you can do just about anything,” he said, noting that the company was started by Barney Thompson and his father, F.B. Thompson in Fort Fairfield. Shortly after they started, they moved the business to Presque Isle.
In the Star City, Presque Isle Memorial Works, which was at one time known as Presque Isle Monument Works, was first located at 198 State St. Somers said the city’s code enforcement officer later condemned the building and had it torn down.
“That’s when we moved to Main Street,” he said. “We’ve been here for about 25 years.”
Somers said it can be “a day’s job” to engrave a headstone, but he leaves the cement work up to his son, John, who now runs the business.
“You have to run the cement foundation under the stone and deliver it to the cemetery,” said Lee. “Sometimes you’ve got to go down quite deep to get good ground. It’s a lot of work, so I leave that up to John.”
While many his age would prefer retirement, Somers said he enjoys coming to work each day.
“It’s an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay,” he said. “We pay our bills and that’s enough.”
Inside the 619 Main St. shop you’ll find all kinds of antiques ranging from toy tractors to clocks to irons and military bullets.
“I’d rather look for junk than fish,” said Somers. “I used to have it all stored at the house, but sometimes when I’d go home, there’d be a box of it on the front step. That’s my wife’s way of telling me to get rid of it.”
Though based in the Star City, Presque Isle Memorial Works receives business from the surrounding communities, as well.
“We do business in Caribou, Mars Hill, Washburn and down as far as Bridgewater,” Somers said. “You can make a living at it.”
For more information, call the Somers at 762-1521.
