MACHIAS, Maine — For many in Machias, Bill Kitchen was more than just the town manager.
"I could turn to him, and he would always help me see the possibility and what was the best way to handle a situation," friend and owner of Expressions Floral and Bakery Sandi Malagara said.
As we stood in her shop, Malagara explained how Kitchen supported her dream of owning her own business, fighting for her every step of the way.
"He would make sure that your dream happened and then he'd also help you vision even bigger than that dream," Malagara said.
In addition to helping many of the local businesses around town, Malagara said she would always see Kitchen volunteering and speaking with people at events, like the Machias Wild Blueberry Festival.
Machias native Ben Edwards said Bill opened his eyes to the beauty of a town he had been living in for most of his life and continues to inspire him to give back to his community as a town select board member.
"Just the shift in perspective he gave, that big things can be done in small places by small communities," Edwards said.
While visiting his family farm, Edwards told NEWS CENTER Maine he and Bill would often spend time together at Edwards' cafe, imagining all the ways they could change Machias for the better. Edwards even showed us Bill's favorite bench to sit at.
"We would take this little stump like that, Bill would sit there, and I would sit here, and we would discuss whatever was going on that day," Edwards said.
Long-time coworker and friend of Bill's Sarah Dedmon said although he may not physically be here now, Bill left too big of an impact on his community to ever be forgotten.
"The town can carry forward with the things they were excited about, and he was excited about, so he leaves a really big legacy here and it's a very uplifting one," Dedmon said.
A service in honor of Bill Kitchen is scheduled for the afternoon of Saturday, Sept. 14 at the Machias Memorial High School Gymnasium.