James Harold Wait

Jim led a very full life. He was born in Lackawanna, NY, the son of Harold Arthur Wait and Matilda Mary Bomhower. He grew up in Palmer, MA where he attended Park Street Primary School and later transferred from Palmer High School to Monson Academy where he graduated first in his class in 1952. Jim attended MIT with a scholarship, transferred to Bates College, majored in geology and graduated from Bates in 1956. He attended MIT summer school, studying geology in 1955 and was elected chairman of the student government.

He served in the U.S. Army from 1956 to 1959 and received a master's in geology from Boston University in 1961. He attended Harvard Graduate Business School from 1961 through 1963 and received an MBA from there in 1963, specializing in marketing and human resources. Jim taught general sciences and geology part-time at 4 universities including Boston University, Northeastern University and Husson University in Maine.

Jim worked for several companies including Maytag, Eastern Gas and Fuel Associates and Stone and Webster Engineering. He worked for a number of years as a Management Development Consultant, specializing in the development of Totally-Tailored Management Development Programs for numerous corporations and government agencies, including Gillette, Ford Motor Company and Exxon. Jim established his own Boston-based consulting company and served the needs of numerous Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, including Continental Can, The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD and West Point. He took great pride and joy in his many consulting assignments in this country and abroad.

He retired from consulting in the late 1980's and moved to Bucksport, ME in 1990. He assumed the role of Executive Director of Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine for several years and later a similar role with other groups. Jim served on the Board of Directors of a number of profit and non-profit corporations which he enjoyed a great deal. He was elected chairman of the Board of The Resource, Conservation and Development Corporation, a federally-funded organization which met the needs of the Downeast Maine Community. As a member of The Friends of Craig Brook, Jim wrote the Memorandum of Understanding between the friends and the hatchery and helped found the Craig Brook Hatchery Salmon Museum.

In Bucksport he established his own custom sawing and lumber company with over 100 customers in the Downeast area with his sawmill, which was the first all-hydraulic Wood-Mizer custom sawmill in Maine. He sawed close to a million board feet of lumber before retiring the mill.

Jim has a daughter, Catherine Lee Manwaring of Sudbury, MA; a son, James H. Wait, Jr. of Ingleside, TX; a stepson, Scott Meenan of Purdys, NY; six grandchildren; and one great granddaughter.

He was married to the former Louise "Rusty" Farmer of Providence, RI which he consistently determined to be the greatest accomplishment of his life.