RUMFORD – Lester O. White, 94, of East Andover, died Friday, Sept. 2, at the Rumford Hospital.

Lester was born in Elmsdale, Nova Scotia, Canada, on Aug. 26, 1911, a son of Melvin and Hattie (Isnor) White.

He was an old-time woodsman from the days of the horse, river drives and hand-made bucksaw frames. He made his own frames and ax handles, a practice he continued into his 80s, selling to eager buying and making gifts for his family. He was very proud of his ability during the Depression to saw six cords of birch a day at 25 cents a cord. He spent time cooking in the logging camps and his logging stories are well known by his friends and relatives. A former lumberjack, he also worked in saw mills and dowel mills before he settled into 20 plus years at the Oxford Paper Mill in Rumford, retiring from the cutters.

He was a fisherman all his life. He used an old Bristol telescope pole and fished where others wouldn’t go. He would go until dark many nights and didn’t give it up until he began to get lost and had to be rescued by friends and family.

Fried clams were his favorite food. He claimed that Edward’s in Lewiston served the best clams and the biggest helping for a “fair price.” He said that battered clams were best, but he would eat “crunchy clams” if he had to.

Lester was a great harmonica player who knew and played all the old “fiddle tunes” from his Canadian roots. He was a stickler for playing it right and keeping the beat with his feet. Some of his recorded music is in the Maine Archives. He could also step dance to the fiddle when the opportunity presented itself.

He was married March 28, 1936, to the former Margaret Jean Simmons, of East Andover, who survives him. Other survivors include two sons, David White and wife, Betsey, of Andover, and Daniel White of Winthrop; four daughters, Norma and husband, Freeman Farrington, of East Andover, Donna and husband, Steve Hall, of Conyers, Ga., Wanita and husband, Greg Offhaus, of Fayetteville, N.C., and Marilyn and husband, Wayne Morton, of East Andover; 16 grandchildren; and 33 great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

He was predeceased by two brothers, Fulton and Norman Aubrey; and two sisters, Minnie and Charlotte.

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