What is the key to a long, happy, and healthy life? It’s been the subject of study for ages. Almost 20 years ago, Dan Buettner, National Geographic journalist and explorer, went off on an adventure, traveling the globe in search of some answers. He wound up compiling the results of his study into what is now referred to as the Blue Zones. In brief, the Blue Zones are areas where people tend to live fully and longer than in other parts of the world. The five locations were Ikaria (Greece), Loma Linda (California), Sardinia (Italy), Okinawa (Japan), and Nicoya (Costa Rica). I’m thinking our community should aspire to adding Rangeley, Maine to that list. It seems more than entirely doable as the study concluded that while location played a certain role in longevity, it also had a lot to do with lifestyle. In other words, these locations supported and encouraged a certain healthy lifestyle. I won’t go into the nitty gritty details as you can read the book, go to the website, sign up for the newsletter or watch the mini television series to find out more.

However, for the purpose of this article I will very roughly simplify it to the following nine main traits. 1) Moving naturally (regularly, like walking, gardening, hobbies) 2) Waking up with a sense of purpose 3) Making time to relax. Think naps, siesta, downtime, happy hour, prayer, daily mindful contemplation. 4) Not overeating. The suggestion was to eat until you’re 80% full. 5) Eating a mostly plant-based diet- (significant amounts of legumes, veggies, fruits, herbal tea), with smaller percentages of meat. 6) Sensible intake of good wine 7) Being part of a faith-based group 8) Familial commitment (Prioritizing parents, children, your spouse, your friends who are like family to you.) 9) Being a part of a caring group. Like your own social tribe of caring people who regularly touch base and look out for one another.

So you could see that Rangeley could most certainly become another Blue Zone. Maybe someone from Buettner’s team will study us in a decade or two.

A perfect person who is a great example of most, if not all of these Blue Zone lifestyle habits, is my friend Mary Hembrow. If you know Mary, you must know that she is one of the warmest and friendliest people you will ever meet.

“I think we should have more people contact. I find it interesting when I get on an elevator and I’ll turn around and I look at the people and say, ‘Well, good morning or good afternoon. What a day it’s going to be out there!’ and people, some of them smile and some of them are like, is this woman crazy? But I just love doing that.’”

Like Buettner, Mary has traveled quite a bit. And like Buettner she too went off on her own adventure just over 20 years ago, because that’s when she moved here to Rangeley. She grew up in Florida, amongst other towns of the south as well as more urban settings like Massachusetts and New York City, so she knows and appreciates the best of both cultures.

Hembrow, “Yeah, I think I look at myself sometimes saying I’m a little bit city slicker and a lot country as I’ve had both worlds.” She loves the country and even put ‘BUMPKIN’ on the front of her license plate of her old orange ’76 Corvette. “I loved cruising around in that car,” she recalled.

Nowadays her cruising is a bit different. Besides traveling with her husband Chick, for their business selling all sorts of knives and guns at various shows, (a business they have been running for over 40 years!), Mary also drives as a volunteer for Community Rides.

This is for people who cannot drive themselves locally for one reason or another. This could be for going to Rangeley Family Medicine or even just to a movie at Rangeley Friends of the Arts Lakeside Theater. Volunteers like Mary do not get paid for this and even use their own vehicles.

“There’s a group that does in-town. One coordinator. He will call me and say ‘Mary, can you cover someone in town that needs to go to the IGA or the post office and I’ll go ‘Oh, sure.’”

Besides volunteering for Community Rides, Mary also volunteers for HELP (Helping Elders Live in Place) Adult Respite Care or HARC.

She gave the example of helping caregivers of relatives with dementia.

“It gives their loved ones 4 hours to do whatever they might like to do, and that’s very rewarding. I enjoy that so much and I’ve been there since day one.”

HARC was established here in Rangeley in 2016. “It’s very heartwarming to have a loved one bring their loved one to us and they’re of course afraid- not knowing what’s going to go on, but once the loved ones can see how we are so compassionate to their loved one, I think they’re at ease more, and they’re welcome to stay with us through the day- just to make sure their family member is happy. I had one lady come in last year (and I’m not there every week, we all take turns, volunteers), but I had one lady come in and she shook my hand. I said her name, told her mine, and I said, ‘Oh my goodness, you have got the strongest handshake!’ and she said, ‘Well, I lived on a farm.’ So I pretended I was milking a cow, and I said, ‘You know what? I know how to do that too. I used to milk cows.’ And well, she laughed and that broke that tension. Like a brand new place and new faces, ‘I don’t know these people’… well, she laughed and that was our thing. Every time she would come in, I’d say. ‘Okay- let’s go find ourselves a cow! Again, it’s the same as in bingo. It’s all heartwarming.”

Yes, besides volunteering as a driver and for respite care, she is also celebrating the 20th anniversary of running the bingo at the Townhouse Apartments.

“I started in 2003. I had moved up here permanently in 2002 and thought. ‘Well, let’s see. What shall I do with myself?’ I went to the gym. That was boring. I didn’t feel like I was getting connection. You know, the people were very nice and very friendly, but there was something missing and I really liked going to the townhouse to just chat with the folks and I thought, ‘Wow, I think I’d love to own this building and I had so many ideas of what I would do with it. But then of course it got sold. And then I thought I have to do something with these people. I want to make them happy. So I decided I’m gonna start a bingo game and everybody said it was okay that I did that. So, in November of 2003, I started it and the first bingo game I had 18 people. And Gordon Haley was one of my first. And Kathy Stewart was one of my first and then a lot of the residents that lived there came down and they seen how silly I can be, and we all laughed and they enjoyed their chocolate milk and goodies. And they could have as many bingo cards as they wanted. But I said you can only win one time on one card. So then I just kept it on going, I say well once a month, we’ll do this and they kept coming in and having a great time.”

Mary has a different theme each month. She recalled one Easter. “One of my favorite memories is Betty Lempke for Easter time. I wanted the ladies to do an Easter bonnet. Well, Betty Lempke comes walking in with a loaf of bread all decorated up as a hat. Of course, she won first prize.”

Then, this past November it was all about giving thanks and for December she asked folks to wear their sparkly Christmas bling. “You know, I’m a bling lady. I said, ‘Oh ladies, wear your pretty things. Don’t hide!’”

Besides treats and special themed surprises, there is always a gift card from IGA. Originally Mary went to Bob Wentworth to ask for a donation, and it rose with inflation, and fortunately the new owners continue to honor it.

She happily recalled the many people she has come to know over the decades. “Every so often I’ll open up my book when we’re playing bingo and I’ll say ‘Time out’, and I’ll go back to a certain year, and just open up a page and I’ll say, ‘Oh my goodness. Do you all remember Betty Quimby, or Dick VanAmburg or Jack Roth, some of the old names.’”

Mary continued, “Anyways, I think there’s a bond between the people and there’s a lot of hugs when they first walk in. To me, getting those hugs from the people, I think that’s the richest blessing a person can have. For someone to show their affection. It’s very special.”

Mary’s tendency towards volunteerism didn’t just surface when she moved to Rangeley. Back in Massachusetts, she was the chair lady of a senior citizen center and led a team to winning the Golden Apple for her Johnny Appleseed themed parade. “I had my grandson, who was in his 30’s now, as the Johnny Appleseed and the city, our Senior Center, won the Golden Apple. So, I was pretty proud of that.”

She also led a bunch of other endeavors including getting some covered walkways, something she is hoping she can help happen here soon. “Actually, I’m working on that now for our own townhouse. I think we need some covering over our walkways to make it safer.”

But wait, there’s more. Like some other busy and generous folk in our town, she has done so much and always remains busy.

“There is no grass growing under my feet.” she laughed. In addition to her other volunteer efforts, I recalled she started a program with Western Maine transportation a while back that gives rides to Farmington. You need a minimum of four passengers for that to work, so it waned. “They’re after me to get it back up again, and I’m working on that program for them. So that’s another issue that I’m working on.”

I think perhaps part of the reason Mary is so generous in spirit is because of her upbringing. From the time she was around three years old and for a long time she was raised by her aunts and uncles and lived with her grandmother who lived in a senior home.

There’s a picture of Mary at that time. She had a mild case of polio and she is leaning against a white birch tree. “I think that’s how I ended up here in Rangeley, because I have so many white birch around me.

I suggested that living amongst folks who have experienced decades more than yourself would teach you a great deal about compassion.

“Yes. I grew up with seniors. I lived in many places in the South, and I was always with older people. I think that’s probably why I have such a passion for older folks, even though I’m one of them now. Mentally, I don’t think so, but I do have a strong passion for older folks.”

Mary and her husband Chick have been together since Mary was 16 and they worked together at Cluett and Peabody where they made Arrow shirts. Mary was a seamstress and Chick a floor boy who brought supplies to everyone. They married when she was 19. Come May they will be celebrating their 60th anniversary. Commitment. There’s one of those Blue Zone traits again.

I asked her if she wanted to add anything and of course she found a way to make me laugh.

“I’m just very happy to be here and people have accepted me. I know it’s hard for true blood Rangeley people to take in someone from another state, but I feel like I’ve been welcomed. So I’m very happy here. And like I say, I feel like I’m really blessed when somebody on Main Street just gives me a hug right in front of the world. My thing is, let’s give somebody a break. Let them talk about us hugging on Main Street.”

Mary hadn’t heard about the “Blue Zone” study but I gave her the rundown and my guess that she naturally had a large percentage of the healthy lifestyle habits that leaned toward great longevity. She agreed, “Well, I’ll tell you. I plan on it. I’ve already told my kids and grandkids ‘Grandma’s going to be around for a long time. I’m gonna stay pickled and preserved.”

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