AUBURN — The Alden Gayton Post 31 American Legion Hall has a knack for getting its chairs in the news.
Several months ago, the post came to the rescue of a Harrison summer camp looking for wooden folding chairs made by the Paris Manufacturing Co. About 25 of them, stacked in a back room next to the furnace, were sold to the camp at a discount.
Now, two more chairs that have been sitting around the Post for decades — oak mission-style desk chairs — are being donated to help family members of a post officer get a financial boost after a serious health issue.
“We’re here for the vets and their families,” Post Finance Officer Matt Hyndman said. “The chairs are antiques. We didn’t know what to do with them. It’s a small gift but it could be a means of survival.”
The recipient is the nephew and godson of Post Chaplain Paul Farrell, a well-known figure in the Lewiston-Auburn area not only for his work with the American Legion but as leader of The Silvertones. The group of musicians and singers, including his late wife of 57 years, Gil, have been singing old country western tunes, Irish ballads and French songs for decades.
Their son, Gary Farrell, a 65-year-old resident of South Portland, has refurbished furniture as a hobby for more than 30 years. He worked for 16 years in the Herman Shoe Shop in Scarborough as a side blaster and then 24 years in maintenance at an apartment complex until his health started to deteriorate about five years ago.
Last June, with only 18 percent breathing capacity in both lungs, Gary was put on a waiting list for a lung transplant. Four days later they received a call at 11:45 p.m. from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts where he had been receiving treatment.
“I almost didn’t answer it,” said his wife, Barbara, who was exhausted from a weekend of family commitments and the grueling rides back and forth to the Boston hospital. “It was them calling saying you need to come.” At 3:20 a.m. he was on the operating table.
His new lung worked, but other complications, including heart problems and the need to be on oxygen 24 hours a day, have kept him from making a living.
“He’ll probably never be able to work,” his wife said.
Paul calls his daughter-in-law “Gary’s bride,” and when asked if she is a new bride, Barbara smiles.
Gary and Barbara began dating as students at South Portland High School, she said. He was 18 and she was 14. Four years later they married — a union that has lasted 44 years. They have two daughters, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
“We wanted to donate the furniture. It’s his only means to survive. It’s the only way he can really work,” Hyndman said.
Anyone who would like to donate pieces of small furniture or give a financial donation to help Gary Farrell should contact Hyndman at 207-576-1495.
ldixon@sunjournal.com
-
- This oak, mission-style desk chairs will be refinished by Farrell and sold.
-
- Gary Farrell, center, with his father, Paul Farrell, chaplain of the American Legion Post 31, and wife, Barbara, has been refinishing furniture as a hobby for 30 years.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
