LIVERMORE FALLS —- These days Louis and Louise Chabot spend their time giving back to their community.

They keep separate calendars to track their volunteer duties. Their weeks are fuller now than when they both worked full-time jobs.

“I mean a regular calendar. There isn’t enough room in a small calendar,” Louis Chabot, 69, said, holding his hands apart to show just how big a calendar they use to schedule their time.

His wife of 50 years, Louise, 68, keeps them on track and organized.

The couple sat on their love seat Tuesday in their Livermore Falls home. Their dog, Sophie, an 8-year-old Jack Russell Terrier, lay between them. Sophie helps keep their lives balanced and lets them know by a ring of a bell when it’s time to sit and relax together, Louise said.

The couple both volunteer at the Maine Paper and Heritage Museum in Livermore Falls. She is the financial director. He is manager of buildings and grounds. She is also the chairwoman of the Livermore Falls Board of Selectmen. He is on the board of Livermore Falls Downtown Betterment Group and serves as chairman of the Community Development Advisory Committee. They contribute their time in different ways, either together or individually. Their calendars tell it all. There is so much going on, Louis said, they bought a laptop to help them.

Prior to spending a good part of their retirement volunteering, the couple raised three children at their Livermore Falls home and now have six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Louise retired as the manager of business analysis for International Paper after 26 years. Louis was a self-employed electrician for 34 years and retired in 2006. Before that he was a papermaker and mill electrician.

Even then, they worked with youth groups and helped their church and community.

For most of his adult life, Louis said he worked long hours for himself and didn’t have much time for anything else.

“I said ‘when I retired, I would volunteer.’ And, man did I ever,” Louis said. “This time of our lives, it is time to give.”

Louise estimated they volunteer 10 to 12 hours a week. Depending on the need, it could be more, it could be less.

“A lot of time you do a lot behind the scenes,” she said.

“I feel like we’ve been given a lot over the years,” Louise said. “We have a nice family. We have the means to take care of ourselves. We have a nice home. It is time to give back. I’m very happy we are in good health and able to do it.”

“The Lord has blessed us with good children,” her husband added. “We have everything we need. We’ve had hard times but we’ve gotten through them. Now it is just time to give.”

Louise said before she made sure everything in the house was done before anything extra was done.

“Now I put the volunteer activities before and I work the rest of the day around that,” Louise said.

dperry@sunjournal.com