PARIS – For nearly a quarter century, Albert Soule served as a sort of referee for the town of Paris. He controlled squabbles, soothed egos and generally kept the peace at town meetings.
Soule died Saturday night at his South Paris home. He was 86 years old.
Soule was remembered as a generous contributor to the people of Paris and the surrounding area. He was also remembered for his work as moderator at Paris town meetings, a position he held for 23 years.
“He had to keep order. He had to keep track of all the motions and he had to keep the meetings going,” said Ray Glover, a Paris selectman for 13 years. “He was excellent at the job.”
A well-known businessman, Soule was associated with the Paris Manufacturing Co. for more than 30 years. He also worked for Sears Roebuck until 1979 when he and his first wife, Jeannette Merrill, bought the Merrill Homestead on High Street in South Paris.
Friends remembered him as a kind and humorous man who founded and organized the Norway-Paris Solid Waste Department. When Soule inherited a house in 1996, he used part of the money from a sale to help fund expansion at the Paris Public Library. Soule gave $219,000 toward the construction project and then pledged up to $10,000 to match contributions toward the addition.
“I certainly remember him as a really good citizen,” said David Holt, town manager in Norway. “He was the kind of person who people trusted. The was the kind of person that people would join.”
Soule was a director for SAD 17 and instrumental in the design and construction of the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School. He designed and oversaw the construction of the Oxford Hills Recycling Center, which was later named after him.
Soule was a long-standing board member of the Paris Public Library, where he dedicated a new wing in 1997 in memory of his late wife. He was vice president of Oxford County Savings and Loan Association, director of Paris Industrial Corp. and board member of His Place Teen Center.
“He was a community leader,” Glover said. “He was well-respected by the people.”
Glover said Soule stepped forward when the town needed a level head to take control of town meetings; someone who could make decisions when one needed to be made.
“We needed someone who could run the meetings impartially,” he said. “He was available and he volunteered. He did it for a lot of years.
“He was a wonderful man,” Glover said. “He was always in good humor.”
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