Fred Hale is a Maine beekeeper who reached his 110 year birthday this
past December. He attended our Annual Meeting until the year before
last. When he was just over 100, a friend came by and Fred was on his
porch roof shoveling off the accumulated snow. A bit later he came by
and Fred was shoveling off the side walk. "How did you get down, Fred?",
he asked.
"Jumped"
Fred is now in New York to be close to his family so Maine no longer has
the oldest beekeeper in the US. He kept bees well into his 90s. I had
the privilege of taking a picture of three Maine beekeepers who had a
combined length of beekeeping of over 200 years. Fred was most of that.
Only reason I am posting this is I was reminded of him by a headline
that the oldest person in the world was now in Italy. Fred is a close
second.
He was and is a kind, generous man and a fine beekeeper.
Bill Truesdell
Bath, ME