Commentary

What I like about Gray
By Denise Duda

It's funny how some small impression can stay with you for years even though it doesn't have any connection to your day to day life.

The summer before last, Gray's water main was being extended down Rt. 100 South resulting in one lane traffic and even more delays heading in and out of the center of town than normal. Like many of you I had to travel through this area several times a day, waiting in long lines in the hot sun for our turn to go while the other lane seemed to let through thirty cars to our ten.

The temptation to boil over was real. I normally follow my own plan of attack to get through any one lane construction site as quickly as possible. This includes sticking to the bumper of the car in front of you, moving into the other lane as soon as possible and definitely not making eye contact with the flagger who is looking for a good place to step in and stop traffic again.
That was until I noticed one particular flagger. Middle aged, tall and sandy-haired, he had the sort of weathered complexion my grandmother always warned me about. He was smiling. In fact he seemed to be having a grand time.

He directed traffic with a flourish, sometimes using short, smart precision-like arm motions that would make a marine proud. Other times, he wore the same smile but motioned like a third base coach, arm spinning frantically, urging us to round third and head for home. My favorite was when he would theatrically step aside as he pointed two fingers up and then around to the lane ahead as if he was introducing Johnny Carson.

After the first couple of times I went through he began to nod at me like a neighbor he knew well. I started slowing down ever so slightly as I approached the site, sort of hoping the traffic would stop where I had a good view of the show.

Now maybe you don't remember him like I do, what with all the dirt and dust, the giant pipes and the weeks of long lines. Or maybe you traveled through at a different time of the day and never saw him, but his dedication to his job impressed me. For me at least, he made Gray a great place if you had to get stuck in traffic.

Thinking of him, I'm reminded of other people whose dedication to their job has made Gray a better place for me. I've never lived anywhere else that I could just go down the street for my doctor, dentist, glasses and car repair.

Dr. Van Mourik at Gray Family Health has treated just about every imaginable problem that we've had in our family and continues to do so without the patronizing attitude I'd come to expect from many doctors. Dr. Pound has been our family dentist since we came to Gray eleven years ago and found his new practice. I have seen him walk into the waiting room with a mullet style wig, baseball cap and hillbilly teeth, but when my boys were young he got them to stay in the chair by joking with them, challenging them to take him on in basketball and even inspired the occasional water fight by squirting them with a rinsing hose. He gives the most painless Novocain shot I've ever had.

Although not entirely painless, my ordeal with bifocals was significantly improved by the treatment I received from Gray Family Vision. As a senior at USM I had tons of reading to do and panicked when that reading gave me monster headaches. They walked me through four sets of bifocals before I found ones I could wear, tweaking the prescription to get it perfect.

With all the health care and other costs of raising a family, we drive our cars into the ground before replacing them. At Walker Tire, we have an honest mechanic who fixes our cars and keeps them on the road as long as possible. He even gave emergency advice over the phone when I mistakenly poured power steering fluid into the wrong hole in the engine.

While these examples are great, I have heard others rave about their favorite people in Gray and I'm sure I could find others, just as dedicated, around the corner without heading to Portland or Lewiston. It is just one of the things I like about Gray.

Ms. Duda is an intern with The Monument Newspaper and a Gray resident