Johanna Gauvreau poses Thursday in front of the Avesta Housing/Community Concepts development at Pine and Blake streets in Lewiston. The project is being named after her father, Paul Gauvreau, a well-known Lewiston attorney who passed away in 2020. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
LEWISTON — Paul Gauvreau loved baseball and studying law. Those are usually among the first things that come to mind when people remember the well-known Lewiston attorney and former legislator.
But, he also loved public service and the Lewiston community, where he was involved with countless organizations, including Tri-County Mental Health Services, Kiwanis, Community Concepts and more.
Since his death in April 2020, his family and fellow board members at the nonprofit Community Concepts have found multiple ways to honor Gauvreau’s positive influence, which will come together — rather profoundly — April 7, the one-year anniversary of his death.
According to those involved, the process has been filled with coincidences. His daughter, Johanna Gauvreau, called it “serendipitous.”
On April 7, after several delays, Community Concepts will officially close on its purchase of the property at Blake and Pine streets, where initial site work on a 35-unit housing complex with Avesta Housing is underway. The development will be named Gauvreau Place.
The same day, an annual fundraising campaign for Community Concepts called the Paul Gauvreau Legacy Fund will be launched.
The property, which has been vacant since fires destroyed several buildings, was once the location of an office building that housed a medical practice owned by Gauvreau’s grandfather and then father. When Gauvreau first moved back to Lewiston in the 1970s, he lived briefly in an apartment there.
Paul Gauvreau
“The idea that this housing is going on a plot of land that’s had so much history in my entire family, it’s just serendipitous really,” Johanna Gauvreau said.
Referring to the annual fundraiser, she added, “The idea that people would be giving back in my dad’s name, in his honor, would bring nothing but joy to him.”
Gauvreau retired from the Maine Attorney General’s Office in 2019 after more than 20 years there. Prior to that, he operated a private law practice in Lewiston before serving in the Maine Legislature – first in the House in 1982 and then in the Senate until 1992.
But during all those years Gauvreau was active in several regional organizations, which also included Legal Services for the Elderly, Boys and Girls Club, Advocates for Children, and the Lewiston Area Public Health Committee.
He was set to become board chairman at Community Concepts in June 2020. The nonprofit works with individuals to help secure housing, transportation, child care and other needs.
Johanna Gauvreau, who is an assistant attorney general, said her father “was incredibly proud of Lewiston.”
“He always had this strong dedication to public service,” she said. “He had a strong feeling that you need to give back to the world. I cannot emphasize that enough. It was the basis of his personality.”
According to his obituary in the Sun Journal last year, his colleagues “described him as putting the needs of the office and the people of Maine above his own needs and as a true selfless, sincere and genuine human being with a wealth of knowledge, wisdom and heart. If you ever spent a moment speaking with Paul (which was likely more than a minute or two since he was so verbose), you instantly felt his warmth, as well as his passion for baseball.”
Asked about Gauvreau, Community Concepts CEO Shawn Yardley mentioned baseball first. Gauvreau could rattle off statistics and talk about players like a broadcaster. He said when the pair visited the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, other guests thought Gauvreau worked there.
“He loved the law, and he loved baseball, and I don’t know which he loved more,” Yardley said.
Here in Lewiston, Yardley said Gauvreau had a “great influence” at Community Concepts, and said when he pitched the idea of naming the housing complex after Gauvreau to Avesta Housing, “they didn’t hesitate.”
Gauvreau also had a hand in the city approval process, going in front of the City Council to discuss the need in the community, and his connection to the neighborhood.
“He was just so thoughtful and grounded, and someone who was so committed to Lewiston and the surrounding area,” Yardley said.
Jennier Boenig, communications manager for Community Concepts, said through working with Johanna, she feels she’s gotten to know Paul. She’s trying to fit his love of baseball into the fundraising efforts.
“Paul was such a part of the Lewiston community and had such a love for it,” she said.
Yardley said the work taking place at the construction site is environmental remediation from the previous properties. He said construction will likely begin on or immediately following April 7. The mixed-income project, featuring 15 one-bedroom units, 14 two-bedroom units and six three-bedroom units, is expected to be complete by next spring.
Referring to the significance of April 7 and everything falling into place, Johanna Gauvreau said, “I’m not a spiritual person, but a lot of this stuff is so weird.”
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