From treating townspeople to her Christmas cookies, to helping Wiscasset Public Library and other local institutions, including First Congregational Church's Summerfest fundraiser for area charities, Linda Winterberg "will long be remembered for her countless hours of volunteering and dedication to the Wiscasset community," Selectmen's Chair Sarah Whitfield read May 20 from the annual town report. It is dedicated to Winterberg, who died last November. With family and friends of Winterberg in the town office's meeting room for the presentation, Whitfield called her an incredible woman. Then Whitfield read from the dedication.

It states Winterberg got involved with the community soon after she and husband Fred moved here from New Jersey in 1987; at First Congregational, she sang in the choir, was active in the Ladies Organ Society, served as a deacon and long volunteered on Summerfest, including helping start its popular dog parade.

The dedication notes Summerfest's proceeds have benefited programs including Feed Our Scholars, Habitat for Humanity, Healthy Kids, Lincoln County Dental Clinic, Mobius Inc., New Hope Mid Coast, St. Philip's food pantry, Tedford House and more.

It also notes Winterberg was a longtime member of Garden Club of Wiscasset "and many areas in town have been touched by her green thumb"; she also was an active member of Lincoln County Historical Association and the Wiscasset Female Charitable Society and, at Wiscasset Public Library, she served as president and as secretary of the board of trustees, plus volunteered to Friends of the Wiscasset Public Library, including her many hours helping organize its big fundraiser Bands for Books. 

And Winterberg was a "loyal member" of, volunteer for, and board secretary of Wiscasset Yacht Club, the dedication states.

When the family and friends accepted the town report's first official copy, Selectman Pamela Dunning, Wiscasset Public Library's longtime director, thanked them for sharing Winterberg with the town all those years. "She was an amazing person."

Also recognized May 20 was Wiscasset Ambulance Service's director, Erin Bean, for making the town's Scout Hall into a training center and a space for other uses, such as the planned historical exhibit May 31 during Wormfest. 

Wiscasset Police Department Administrative Assistant Callie Fairservice told the meeting, Bean "literally put her blood, sweat and tears into that building ... There were text messages that (said) 'Hey I don't think I can do this. I can't paint another wall, I can't lay another floor.' But many of us stepped up to help her because she is who she is. Erin is not only a great leader but she is a person that, whether you encounter her or she encounters a space or a thing, always leaves them better than she found them."

The Scout Hall that people turned out to see at an open house May 17 is a "beautiful space," Fairservice said. (Bean) didn't just come up with an idea. She followed through, and within three months she was able to have her class there because she got the floors laid the walls painted and the smell out, and since then has just been doing more and more."

Town Manager Dennis Simmons drew laughter and smiles when he commented moments later, "Not to take anything away from Erin, but I would point out that I did hire her."

The board nodded a liquor license for Panacea, 100 Main St.; pier vendor applications by Optionz ATM, 357 Pool St., Biddeford, and 3 Away LLC, as River Shack, Gardiner; and a business license for Gray Treefrog Guides, LLC, 227 Old Sheepscot Road. And the lone commenter in a public hearing on the June 10 town meeting warrant articles, Richard Riese from Maine Art Gallery, 15 Warren St., said the proposed, up to $15,000 match toward cupola repairs would go with the non-profit gallery's $25,000 grant from Davis Family Foundation and $10,000 from Maine Preservation in partnership with The 1772 Foundation. MAG leases the building, the former Wiscasset Academy or Red Brick Schoolhouse, from the town.