Words alone can not describe the heartfelt sorrow I feel for the workers of Wausau Paper in Jay with the closing of the paper mill. I know all too well what they are going through as it happened to me back in 1989 when the paper mill I worked at was closed and then sold off piecemeal.

The paper industry is a unique one in that, through the years, it has employed father and son as well as grandfathers, brothers, sisters, aunt, uncle and cousins, all under one roof. Fresh out of high school in 1981, I was hired by the mill where both my father and grandfather had worked for more than 30 years. I thought I had a job for life. Little did I know, at the time, how things would change.

While the road ahead for the Wausau workers may be a rough one, things will get better. Life will go on. They will find new jobs. They will find happiness again. After the mill closing, I found work in another field and have spent the past 20 years there.

But one thing will not change for the Wausau workers — the strong bond between coworkers and the memories of the mill that will last a lifetime. I will never forget the time I spent working on the banks of the Androscoggin River at the Pejepscot Paper Mill in the Pejepscot Village section of Topsham.

Steve Yenco, Lisbon Falls

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