A small group of friends and relatives gathered to dedicate the tribute.
PARIS HILL – Rare is the man who, it can be said, enriched the lives of everyone around him.
But such a man, say Paris Hill residents, was Vern Inman of West Paris, postmaster at the Paris Hill Post Office from 1978 to 1990.
Inman, 77, died in a plane crash Sept. 14 in Greenville that also claimed the life of his good friend Harlan Abbott and his son-in-law, William Aridas.
On Sunday, a huge boulder from Wini Mott’s pasture on Paris Hill was hoisted by a Bancroft Contracting crane and deposited softly on the ground at the Paris Hill Post Office beside the American flagpole.
On the face of the boulder was affixed a brass plaque honoring Inman, with the words “We celebrate his life with deep affection and warm memories.”
A small group of Inman’s friends and relatives gathered to dedicate the lasting and permanent tribute.
Inman, a decorated World War II veteran, was well known for his love of outdoor sports and his active involvement in West Paris municipal and community affairs.
It was perhaps lesser known that during his tenure as Paris Hill postmaster, Inman showered affection on the village’s children, said Marge Medd and Mary-Alice Bancroft, who led the effort to raise money for the memorial.
“Vern was the ‘Pied Piper,'” the women wrote in a fund-raising letter written shortly after his death. He had cookouts across the street from the post office for the children, started a stamp club for kids, and taught many children to build and fly kites, they said.
“Not only did he tell funny stories, he listened carefully to what each child had to say,” the women wrote. Inman even took some of the kids and their fathers to his hunting camp near Greenville, the same camp where he had spent his last weekend fishing before he died.
Inman’s generous spirit was such that Bancroft remembers her son Mark, now president of Bancroft Contracting, would often visit the post office to see Inman after getting off the bus.
“He had the warmth of family and the kindness of neighborliness. Vern made all of our lives richer for having known him,” Medd said.
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