Ed Werler died at 102 years of age, in Waldoboro, Maine, on February 5th.http://stronghancock.frontrunnerpro.com/book-of-memories/2374246/Werler-Edward/obituary.php He was a gentle man and lived a good life. Ed was an early fire warden on Deasey Mountain, now on the route of the IAT; a Baxter Park Ranger managing the burros that transported gear to Chimney Pond from Roaring Brook; a Maine state park manager; and subsequently the state park system’s southern district supervisor. In his book, The Call of Katahdin, Ed vividly recounts his move to Maine with his wife, Mary Jane, in 1947, his love of the outdoors, and his work in the north woods. Following the death of his wife of 50 years, he married Martha Day, who predeceased him, the widow of artist Jake Day.
On his 100th birthday Dick Anderson presented Ed with a photograph of the fire tower cab on the summit of Deasey Mountain, which had been newly painted by an IAT work crew, and an insulator from the former telephone line to the cab.
A routed sign, ED WERLER TRAIL, has been placed at the intersection of the original fire warden’s trail to the summit of Deasey and the Old Telos Tote Road along the East Branch of the Penobscot River, by the mountain’s owners, Elliotsville Plantation Inc.
