Longtime teacher, newsman dies

WAYNE — Richard Plante was an educator in every sense of the word. For most of his life, he taught kids from elementary age to junior high, earning the title of Teacher of the Year along the way.

Plante, who died Sunday at the age of 67, also educated through the written word as a longtime news correspondent for the Lewiston Sun Journal.

"Rich was a character. Everybody knew him," said Heather McCarthy, a Sun Journal editor who worked with Plante as far back as the 1970s. "He was a go-to guy and a stand-up guy. He was just really a solid person."

Plante died at his new home in Wayne after an 18-month battle with colon cancer.

In the western part of the state, he was a well-known fixture, having taught elementary school for 38 years at SAD 43. He was a fourth-grade teacher at Meroby Elementary School in Mexico and was named Teacher of the Year by the Wal-Mart Foundation.

With the Sun Journal, Plante covered anything that came his way, from Planning Board meetings to bean suppers.

"He was someone I could always rely on to cover small towns outside Rumford," said Dan Hartill, former Oxford County bureau chief. "He used to come to me with a schedule of events he planned to cover. He made my job a whole lot easier."

Plante's was a familiar face in the towns he covered as a correspondent, but that didn't mean he wasn't after the facts.

"Rich had that right combination of community connectedness and independence," said former Rumford Bureau Chief Karen Kreworuka, now assistant managing editor at the newspaper. "He would cover the most contentious meetings on the Rumford/Mexico municipal beat and report exactly what occurred. He never let officials intimidate him."

Plante retired as a teacher after 2006 and he stopped writing for the Sun Journal, but he stayed busy. He was a member of the Mexico Historical Society and the Oxford County Democrats, according to his obituary. He spent many hours videotaping events for the Western Valley Access Channel and was the current president of that group.

Plante is survived by a son, a daughter and grandchildren, as well as Elsie, his wife of 42 years. A memorial service is planned for Saturday in Dixfield.

"He was just a sweet, humble guy," Kreworuka said.