Greg’s Used Cars and Service has been a piece of the Wiscasset business community for over 35 years and when owner Greg Lemar died in a snowmobile accident last February, wife Wanda wanted to ensure his spirit lived on. Instead of flowers, those wanting to honor Greg were asked to give to a scholarship fund for high school seniors.

The Greg Lemar scholarship will go each year to a Wiscasset Middle High School senior continuing on to an automotive technology program or entering employment in automotive repair. Wanda Lemar said in a phone interview, “What better way to carry on my husband’s legacy than to start a scholarship for what he enjoyed and was good at: Buying, selling, and fixing cars.”

“He had always said there needed to be more people in the field. With all the new technologies and changing times, we definitely need more techs…and he would have liked to see someone carry on that tradition.”

According to information the school gave Wanda, the first recipient is Joshua Jones of Westport Island. Jones has been pursuing a path in automotive technology through the automotive program at Bath Regional Career and Technical Center the past two years and will continue his studies in automotive technology at Central Maine Community College. His goal is to open up a shop one day, according to WMHS’s information Wanda shared. She said, “It warms my heart to think that there are kids out there wanting to pursue this and wanting their own business…and (Jones) has already worked so hard.”  

Jones will receive $500 towards his studies. Wanda said she would like to give the scholarship as long as she’s able, “to carry on Greg’s legacy ... He started out in a mud puddle, he’d always say, and he worked so hard to get where he was for 35 years. He really loved it.”

The day of Greg’s burial, Dresden Takeout ran a special of Greg’s favorites: Ham pizza and steak bombs. Wanda matched the sales and those funds were added to the scholarship fund. “It was just amazing what the community did,” she said.