NEW GLOUCESTER – U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe was feted Friday by hundreds of people attending the dedication of a new residence named for her at Opportunity Farm for Girls and Boys.

“Sen. Snowe is a role model to inspire these young kids who come from a struggling background,” said Ron Scott, president and executive director of Opportunity Farm.

Snowe said she remembered looking at the plans for the two-story home.

“The blueprints reflected on my own life. Not only of construction, but the plans were drawn to construct and build a better life. Building a brighter future for our young men and women.”

Opportunity Farm was founded in 1910 to provide a safe nurturing home for boys who had nowhere else to turn, according to its Web site. In 2001, trustees began raising money to build a separate campus with three homes for between 18 and 21 girls. The first residence opened in December 2002 for six girls. The second is the Olympia J. Snowe House for eight girls.

“Her example will inspire all that live here,” said Mike Healy, former board chairman and trustee emeritus of Opportunity Farm.

When Snowe was 8, her mother died of breast cancer, and just one year later, her father died of a heart attack. Her uncle, James Goranites, a barber, and his wife, Mary, who worked the third shift in a textile mill, took her into their loving Auburn home and treated her as one of their own five children.

Snowe attended St. Basil Academy, a Greek Orthodox girls’ school in Garrison, N.Y., until she returned to Maine to attend Edward Little High School and the University of Maine.

At Friday’s dedication, Snowe praised her aunt.

“She continues to be my inspiration at the age of 92,” she said. “Early on in my life, two choices arose, either be overwhelmed by tragedy or take the tragedies and make them positive.

“I discovered that I had a strong foundation, education, the love of family, expectations and goals and confidence. My aunt inspired me to drive to excellence and gave me the tenacity to persevere. That has been essential to my own ability to surmount what I had to overcome.”

After Snowe’s first husband, Peter, was killed in a car crash returning from the State House in Augusta in 1973, she agreed to enter a special election for his seat in the Maine House of Representatives, launching her career in public service. She later served in the U.S. House of Representatives, and then in the U.S. Senate.

In 1989, she married then-Gov. John R. McKernan Jr. Tragedy struck again in 1991 when McKernan’s son, Peter, 20, collapsed at a baseball practice and died.

“Some say adversity makes some people stronger. She never forgot. She knows the pain of loss of loved ones. Her path was public service,” said Healy, a retired attorney with Verrill and Dana of Portland and a native of New Gloucester.

Snowe expressed appreciation to the residents and encouraged them to persevere.

“Never give up,” she told them. “The tide will change. In the next 100 years (Opportunity Farm) will be turning the tide for young men and women.”