NEWRY – Maine Handicapped Skiing volunteer adaptive ski instructors Lynne Maxfield-Cole and husband Tony Cole both had the grin factor down pat Friday at Sunday River Ski Resort.

Decked out in cowboy hats – Lynne’s was lime green – and St. Patrick’s Day necklaces, the Harrison couple laughed and giggled exuberantly with other MHS volunteers and handicapped ski and snowboard students and veterans, reveling during a lunch-time party following morning slope sessions.

Describing why they both love volunteering for MHS, and working with volunteers and the handicapped, Maxfield-Cole said, “We get to joke and play with them. There’s never a negative word. Everything is positive and forward-thinking. There’s no ‘can’t.’ It’s always ‘can.'”

She focuses instruction in stand-up disciplines; he coaches sit-down skiers and snowboarders.

Since Cole started with MHS in 1989, and Maxfield-Cole three years later, the pair have been volunteer instructors for a combined 33 years. They are also Maine Handicapped’s romance story, having met during orientation the day she started.

“I was very nervous, because I had no medical training, and I’d never worked with the handicapped. I came in expecting to see coats and hats, but I saw arms, legs, feet and hands – they were all prosthetics – crutches and wheelchairs. It took my breath away. That first day was amazing, but I fell in love that day,” Maxfield-Cole said.

Their Tex-Mex wedding on horseback last October cemented a 14-year relationship.

In two weeks, the newly certified professional instructors will realize a two-year dream, one that was spawned through their work with Maine Handicapped’s Veterans/No Boundaries, a new ski, snowboard and snowshoe program for disabled veterans.

From March 30 through April 7, they will join 158 other U.S. and Canadian instructors helping more than 450 disabled veterans develop winter sports skills at the 21st National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic at Snowmass Village, Colo.

“We’re both so excited and so looking forward to this. It means the world to us, to go out and be a part of this incredible population. And, we believe in giving back,” Maxfield-Cole, a Bridgton native, said.

They will be working with U.S. military service veterans with spinal cord injuries, orthopedic amputations, visual impairments, certain neurological problems and other disabilities. Additionally, many newly injured Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom service men and women will get their first experience here in winter sports, and, both Coles said, the inspiration to take their rehabilitation to a higher level.

These people were all able-bodied people who were injured in service of our country. “To know that some of these people were in areas hit by bombs, fell down cliffs while on maneuvers, or were injured jumping out of planes, you just want to come in and say, ‘Thank you.’ “

“And, due to the quantity of veterans who will soon be hitting mainstream America, we need programs like this and Veterans/No Boundaries,” Maxfield-Cole said.

That’s one reason why both are seeking donations through their MHS team, Friday Funsters, for Maine Handicapped Skiing’s biggest fundraiser, the 22nd annual Ski-A-Thon, on Saturday, March 24, at the Newry resort.

When she’s not volunteering, Maxfield-Cole runs her business, Decorating Plus, a full-service interior decorating center in Auburn. And, just last weekend, Tony Cole finished active drilling with the U.S. Naval Reserves as division chief for the Eastern Mediterranean Division for the Joint Intelligence Center Central Command 0597 while attached to the U.S. Central Command out of Tampa, Fla.

Prior to that, he served as a nuclear-trained electrician aboard the USS New York City, a Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine based in Pearl Harbor. Next year, he will retire from his 21-year military career.

Making a difference in people’s lives, whether it’s through coaching handicapped students or helping families of such, that’s what drives their passion and addiction to volunteering.

“It’s a match made in heaven. Nothing stops us from coming up,” Maxfield-Cole said.