Roy Barrette got his first glimpse of Maine in 1919 while working as a deckhand on a coal barge. In 1958, after ten years at sea and a career as an insurance salesman in Philadelph...view moreRoy Barrette got his first glimpse of Maine in 1919 while working as a deckhand on a coal barge. In 1958, after ten years at sea and a career as an insurance salesman in Philadelphia, Barrette and his wife, Helen, moved to a coastal farm in Maine where he tended his garden, kept a few barnyard animals, and wrote an award-winning weekly column for "The Ellsworth American" and "The Berkshire Eagle." His essays also appeared in "Down East" and "Yankee" magazines. Barrette penned two more books, A "Countryman’s Bed Book" and "A Countryman’s Farewell," before his death in 1995 at 98.view less