By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

Merrill Currier died Sunday, Feb. 24 at age 89 after living on Ross Road in Kennebunk his entire life. Currier was no stranger to local attention, often from neighbors discontented with his living methods, Kennebunk Board of Selectman Chairman Wayne Berry said.

  “Merril was very old school,” Berry said. “He didn’t throw anything away, and if he did it was on his own property.”

Berry said the home was subject to several inspections by the code enforcement officer, who found various concerns with the health hazards Currier’s lifestyle posed to himself and others.

In additions to neighbors’ health concerns, Currier sparked further debate when he began raising chickens in his back yard, Town Manager Barry Tibbetts said. The controversy became a matter of ethics for town selectmen, who actually held a public hearing in Currier’s home one evening.

“We all sat on egg crates and talked about it,” Tibbetts said.

The town had a special coop built for the birds, and despite neighbor’s continuing concerns about Currier’s living environment, selectmen decided it was not their place to tell residents how to live, Tibbetts said.

“Who are we to say what is acceptable and what isn’t in peoples’ lives? I’d have weekly talks with him, help him clean up around the place,” Tibbetts said.

Although the town was eventually forced into foreclosing on the Currier residence after he failed to pay taxes in the 20 years following the expiration of a town lien on the property, Currier was never officially evicted from his home, Berry said.

“We said, ‘We can’t kick him out of that house. No way,’” Tibbetts said.

Berry said it wasn’t the first time the town of Kennebunk has allowed residents to remain in their homes once the town owns the property.

“We’ve never kicked anybody out,” he said, recalling a similar situation in the late 1970s when the town had allowed an elderly woman to stay in her home until she decided she wasn’t going to return. “We just don’t do that.”

The town even worked with the local rotary to arrange renovations to the building five years ago, Berry said.

“We cleaned the place up a little, did some waterproofing on the roof and built him a new outhouse too,” Berry said. “Eventually it just became a bit much for Merrill; you could see how tired he was walking around town.”

Once Currier left the building for health reasons, renovations were made and it became part of an affordable housing project. The town awarded the home through a lottery last year, which was won by a young couple who currently live there, Tibbetts said.

Tibbetts said it was not uncommon to spot Currier walking or riding his bicycle around Kennebunk, “doing the rounds” about town, during which neighbors would offer him coffee and other food in addition to a friendly ear.

“I know lawyers who would leave out brand new jackets for him to pick up,” Tibbetts said.

Wendy Lank, Arundel Social Services Administrator and an extended relative of Currier’s, said he was an extremely modest man.

“He was a good person,” she said.

Wanda Cannel, director of Kennebunk Social Services, said she knew Currier well, and he was always extremely polite to her.

“He was a fixture in Kennebunk,” she said. “Route 1 is really missing something now.”

According to Bibber Memorial Chapel’s obituary, Currier was the caretaker for Hope Cemetery for more than 50 years, where he will be buried in the spring.

Memorial donations may be made through the Animal Welfare Society at P.O. Box 43, West Kennebunk, Maine 04094. 

To contact Nate Jones call 282-4337, ext. 233 or email news@kennebunkpost.com.