Portland Harbor lobsterman, wharf owner, retires after 75 years hauling traps
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Falmouth Forecaster] By David Harry - October 29, 2014 -
PORTLAND, Maine, David MacVane, 81, is a Cliff Island native, one of three owners of Portland’s Widgery Wharf. He recently retired from a life of lobstering that began when he was 5.
MacVane lives in Windham. Until a couple of years ago, he was hauling the maximum 800 traps allowed by law, even after heart surgery, a new knee and cortisone shots in his shoulders.
His wife of 57 years, Patricia MacVane, died Aug. 12. Shortly after, he decided to step off his lobster boat, Empty Pockets, and into life on solid ground.
Tucked between Union and Chandler’s wharfs, Widgery Wharf dates to 1776 and remains a working waterfront, to the pride of MacVane and a co-owner Peter Kelly. The partners resisted sales offers, such as the one that led to the construction of the Chandlers Wharf condominiums.
“We wouldn’t sell. ‘You can’t buy us out, you haven’t got enough money,’ we’d say,” Kelly recalled.
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