GILEAD — Donnie Katlin’s first time in Bethel was 1973, when he was making what was supposed to be a weekend visit to see a friend at Gould Academy. It ended up being a six-month stay for the mid-western teenager. Instantly drawn to the small town by its mountainous landscape and the then-secret Frenchman’s swimming hole, the decision to stick around for a while was an easy one.

The friendly ambiance of Bethel made Katlin feel right at home, a feeling his actual home town could not provide.

“I knew more people here in a month than I did back home in 19 years,” Katlin said.

Back home for him was Parkville, Mo., a rural town outside of Kansas City, where he was born in 1953.

But Katlin disliked being that close to a large city, and was not fond of the stop lights or rush hour traffic either – another reason Bethel’s slower-paced environment was more suitable for him.

He also, like most people, appreciated the area’s clean water, something Missouri lacked due to all the surface runoff. And little did he know, when he would return in less than a year, water would become a huge part of his everyday life.

After departing Bethel following half a year of odd jobs, Katlin moved to Gillette, Wyo. and worked on an oil rig for four months. He  rode 125 miles to and from work each day, getting by because of the good pay and because he could read in the crew cab to pass time. Once he made enough money he returned to Missouri and then moved to Bethel shortly after.

He groomed and made snow at Sunday River, working many nights and often being the only one at the mountain.

After Katlin was laid off, he was asked by the superintendent of the water district if he was mechanically inclined.

“I told him a little bit,” Katlin said.

The superintendent told Katlin to apply for a job through a government program called the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA), which would pay the water district his wages.

The town hired Katlin in 1977, and he stayed with the water district until his retirement earlier this year.

“I’ve been through 10 town managers, 18 selectmen, and 13 trustees,” he said.  “It was a job that suited me. It was very diversified. You’re not doing the same thing every day. I was also good with working with the community.”

He said a stop at the IGA to grab a few groceries is never a quick task due to all the people he will see and converse with.

At the water district Katlin was a laborer, as he referred to it (official title was Assistant Superintendent), and also served as superintendent for four years. He preferred the former over the loads of paperwork that came with being superintendent.

“I just wanted to jump in the hole and fix stuff,” Katlin said.

Katlin said he tested water daily, and worked every other weekend for almost 43 years.

The working operation consisted of one laborer, a superintendent and a bookkeeper. Katlin said he “really enjoyed working with the other two employees and said they all made a “good team.”

Retirement from the water district came sooner than he had hoped, but he cited that some ‘basic math problems” regarding the trustees made his decision to move on, easier.

Overall, though, he called his more than four decades of work with the water district as “great.”

The longest job Katlin had before the water district was for six months.

Another side of Katlin, which many residents may be more familiar with is his musical talent, another reason he returned to Bethel in the ’70s.

“That was a huge part of why I stayed in Bethel, because there were so many good musicians here,” he said.

Throughout the years, Katlin played music with local musicians like Jewel Clark, Sammy Chapman, Rollie York, Andy Cummings, Paul Farrar and Ross Timberlake, to name a few.

The group of musicians played at numerous towns across the county, and more local venues like the Sudbury, Mt. Abram and Sunday River.

He started playing the guitar at 15 and has since picked up the ukulele, mandolin and banjo, since most others in the group were also guitarists. Katlin also sings, and last fall he and Clark performed at the Fryeburg Fair.

With more time in retirement, Katlin hopes to catch up on sleep and to spend a lot of time around his four grandchildren. He said he also is considering teaching guitar lessons, and plans to continue playing music in the area.

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