Credits and Contact Information
QUOTE: " Had we not faults of our own, we should take less pleasure in complaining of others ".François Fénelon
The official Complaint Department of the Wesley Porter website at Weebly is temporarily indisposed.
However, if you have a complaint, criticism, gripe, moan or feel I have incorrectly used information,
or better yet, if you really like this site, please hit me up on the contact form below.
I will respond as soon as I've had my coffee, thank you. Remember, patience is a virtue.
My name is Susan Roy Morrison and I built this site-- any errors are mine.
Parties noted below were innocent bystanders and gave me stuff to shut me up.
I'm a relentless nag and scrounge. Just sayin'!
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However, if you have a complaint, criticism, gripe, moan or feel I have incorrectly used information,
or better yet, if you really like this site, please hit me up on the contact form below.
I will respond as soon as I've had my coffee, thank you. Remember, patience is a virtue.
My name is Susan Roy Morrison and I built this site-- any errors are mine.
Parties noted below were innocent bystanders and gave me stuff to shut me up.
I'm a relentless nag and scrounge. Just sayin'!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
CREDITS
My deepest thanks to these fine folks:
My deepest thanks to these fine folks:
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David Palmer - Patten, ME Manages the "You know you're from Patten" Facebook site which has over 2,000 members and that's where it all started. We have a wonderful lively online community to share stories, memories and photos of a lovely little town called Patten, nestled in the bosom of the Traveler View Range Mountains in northern Maine, in the shadow of Mount Katahdin. Thanks, David! Eleanor Grace Sargent 1925-2020, age 95 Eleanor instigated the whole thing when she asked if we had any information or magazines about Wesley Porter's murder. Why yes, Ellie, yes we did--and because you asked, we tracked some more down for you. The result is this web page, and thank you! Eleanor is a retired registered nurse anesthetist (with the world's coolest glasses, I might add!) and my father's first cousin by marriage. She was my idol as a child and I always admired her white hat, crisp uniform, nursing pin and exhuberant personality and vowed someday I'd be just like her. I eventually wore a police uniform with a badge, but she was my original inspiration to do good things in this world. She gave us ether when we had our tonsils out as kids. We got over it because Eleanor gives wicked good hugs. She's been all around the world and knows how. Ellie left this world for her next Heavenly nursing gig in 2020 and she is deeply missed and fondly remembered. Eleanor Sargent obituary Donna Porter Roach (L) and Linda Porter (R) Granddaughters of Wesley Porter, and when I told them I was building a website,they gave me pictures of Wesley and some magazine articles. You gals rock! Donna has always offered me encouragement and thanks for telling the story of Wesley, because many of the family members never really knew the entire tale, or the tremendous amount of investigative police work and unrelenting searches that led to the capture of the fugitive. It's also readily apparent these ladies have inherited the kind nature and generous ways of their grandfather Wesley. Donna never even got upset with me when I misidentified her as "Nancy" after a long night at the keyboard working on this website and my brain misfired. Martha Alward Albee Martha Alward read my initial postings about the Wesley Porter murder, and put me in touch with Retired Maine State Trooper Mark Nickerson who had written an article about the Wesley Porter murder and manhunt for the Knox County Republican Journal. In the world's realm of amazing coincidences, here's one for the record books. Martha, who is the granddaughter of Wesley Porter, married Eric Albee, who is the grandson of Lieutenant Merle Cole of the Maine State Police who investigated Wesley's murder. Small world, huh? Mark E. Nickerson - Retired Maine State Trooper Mark was gracious enough to share the story he'd written about Wesley Porter for the Knox County Republican Journal. We became friends and he later wrote about Wesley Porter's murder in his book, "Behind the Blue Lights." The area around Webster Lake was part of Mark's patrol area as a Trooper at one time and maybe one of these days he'll actually learn how to spell the names of some of those geographic landmarks, LOL. Mark is currently president of the Maine State Trooper's Foundation, which raises funds to support many of the Maine State Police programs of public safety and crime prevention. Maine State Troopers Foundation Thomas Fiske - Active Maine State Trooper and State Police Historian Tom provides vintage pictures and background stories on Maine State Police to the Maine State Police Headquarters Facebook page. I always swipe the good stuff he posts, and he doesn't seem to mind as I haven't been arrested. Yet. Tom's wife Jen is also a Maine State Trooper and apparently, Norman Rockwell has put this amazin' couple on a magazine cover! Tom Fiske owns a vintage 1940's era Maine State Trooper's uniform and has rebuilt a vintage Maine State Police Harley Davidson motorcycle which he exhibits at many police functions in Maine. Many of the vintage Maine State Police photos featured on the AGENCIES page of this website are thanks to Tom Fiske's historical photo collection efforts. Maine State Police vintage photos Jane Macomber - Daughter of Maine State Police Trooper James Mealey Jane Macomber is a registered nurse who worked in public health for many years, and Mark Nickerson met her when she used to draw blood samples for his OUI (drunk driving) arrests. In Maine, OUI is the law enforcement acronym which stands for "operating under the influence". Jane provided many of the Maine State Police historical photos from the files of her father Trooper James Mealey and Mark shared them for use on this website. Dave Porter - Great Grandson of Wesley Porter After I published an post about the Wesley Porter website on the Patten page, Dave told me he now owns the .20 gauge shotgun that caused the death of his great-grandfather Wesley and sent me a photo. From the size of his catch in this photo, it seems he's inherited some of Wesley's skills in finding the best fishing and hunting in the state! And now I'm wondering how he got that bear mounted on his wall! Craig Kennedy - Retired Baxter State Park Ranger and carpenter Here's a funny little story about coincidence and consequences. Back in the 1980's I was one of the first female municipal police officers with the Lewiston, ME Police Dept. and one evening I stopped a vehicle for operating 10 miles over the speed limit in a warehouse district that was part of my patrol area on outer Lisbon Street. When I checked the driver's license and registration, it was Craig Kennedy, and I noticed he was from Patten, my home town, and he explained he was headed back to Patten (a 4 or 5 hour drive, and back then the I-95 speed limit was 55 MPH)--he'd been working a 40 hour week at a snowplow factory as well as going to college at CMVTI Central Maine Vocational Techical Institute). I checked his driving record on the radio and learned he'd had a few small prior speeding tickets from the State Police on I-95 on his past commutes back to Patten, but nothing earth-shattering or criminal--that 55 MPH speed limit on the interstate "back in the day" was usually responsible. Long story short, I gave him a verbal warning to slow down instead of giving him a ticket. Craig was ribbed unmercifully by all his pals who kidded him that they wished THEY were from Patten to avoid a ticket. Now, why in the world did I do that? Well, each police officer has a certain amount of discretion in writing traffic tickets. There were no other cars around, he hadn't endangered anyone, he hadn't been drinking or being a nuisance, he stopped as soon as he saw my blue lights and didn't try to outrun me in a high speed chase and he and his passenger were polite and didn't have any "goodies" in the trunk, and I know how l-o-n-g that drive is to Patten, so I cut him some slack--would it really have been fair of me to penalize someone who was working a 40-hour week and going to college, while trying to get home to see his family??? Craig got in touch with me on the Patten Facebook page a couple months ago about the Wesley Porter story to introduce me to Andrew Vietze (see below) and altho I didn't recognize Craig from back then, he told me how I saved him a speeding ticket and higher insurance rates years ago and thanked me, and told me after our encounter, he had remedied his somewhat leadfoot ways and has NEVER gotten another speeding ticket in his life. Andrew Vietze - Award-winning author and Baxter Park Ranger Andrew Vietze is the former managing editor of Down East magazine, and now a best-selling freelance author of five books and a seasonal Baxter State Park Ranger. Andrew had heard about the story of Wesley Porter from Craig Kennedy and had viewed this website and reached ne after I gave Craig my contact info to pass along, so I sent him my resource materials, vintage detective magazine articles and photos used to develop this website and Andrew wrote an intriguing true crime story for the August 2023 issue of Down East about "The Phantom of the Allagash", as Wesley Porter's killer was known. Andrew Vietze author website Phantom of the Allagash article in Down East magazine July 2023 issue Tom Johnston Tom contacted me via email after viewing the Wesley Porter website and related that he had spent summers in the 1970's working at the Boy Scouts of America canoe base at Matagamon Dam, and had spent many enjoyable evenings with Fran and Chub Foster. Tom also sent me a great story he wrote about Chub Foster and shared a letter he received from Chub, which I'll try to get posted here soon. Since Tom has paddled a canoe thru most of the area around Webster Lake, Telos Dam and Matagamon, he's quite familiar with the terrain and he's helping me try to determine the original location of the camp where Wesley Porter was shot and the geographic coordinates of places mentioned in the various national detective magazines. Laurie Johnson Libby I saved one of my favorite people for last. When I need some help to do a last minute cemetery run to check a headstone or visit the Patten Library when I have another stupid question, Laurie is the gal to call. She was my best friend when I was 10 years old and moved to Patten. Her sweet dad Pop Johnson named a yowling cat after me. Laurie won the Homemaker Award in high school and was a member of Dirigo State and National Honor Society. Besides being smart as a whip, she has a huge heart and is so talented, she knits sweater sets for most of the newborns in Patten, and they are a true labor of love. Laurie knows her way around the library, "Paper Talks" magazine and most of the history of Patten. We go back a ways, kiddo. 50+ years and counting. You're the best! Susan Roy Morrison - Former Law Enforcement & web developer I'm the developer of this website. I did a lot of research and built this website as a tribute for Wesley Porter's descendants and later wrote a song about his murder. Wesley's story is an incredible moment in history, Patten lost one of its dearest people and Maine had the longest manhunt on record, 66 days for 73 years, until 2015. The story of Wesley Porter reminds me that the good people of Patten, and of Maine, always take care of their own. I'm formerly Sue Daigle from Patten, Maine, but now live in south Georgia. I served in law enforcement for nearly eight years in Maine Deputy Sheriff - Androscoggin County (1976-1979) Municipal Patrol Officer - Lewiston, Maine Police Dept. (1979-1982) |
If you have information you'd like to share or issues with the website I can be reached via the contact form below.
Thanks so much for visiting Wesley's site!
Goodbye - Au Revoir - atieʼwit (pronounced Ateaye wit)
(That's goodbye in English, French and Mi'kmaq)
Thanks so much for visiting Wesley's site!
Goodbye - Au Revoir - atieʼwit (pronounced Ateaye wit)
(That's goodbye in English, French and Mi'kmaq)