Famous People from The County

In Caribou, several pioneering individuals got their start. Jessica Meir, born in Caribou and a graduate of Caribou High School, became a marine biologist and NASA astronaut who took part in the first all-female spacewalk outside the International Space Station in October 2019. Decades earlier, Bessie Mae Kelley grew up on a family potato farm settled in 1893, graduated from Caribou High School, and went on to become one of the earliest known female film animators in American cinema, even teaching early animation techniques at the town's Powers Theater. Caribou is also the birthplace of Susan Collins, who grew up here and became the first Mainer elected to a fifth term in the United States Senate. Along with national women's suffrage movement leader Florence Collins Porter, the daughter of Samuel Collins, and Mericos Whittier, an oil industry leader commemorated at the Caribou Historical Center & Whittier Museum, these figures are remembered in local community archives.

Looking across the region, stories of famous people from The County span creative arts, military valor, and public leadership. In Fort Fairfield, country music singer and guitarist Dick Curless grew up to achieve national prominence with his 1965 single 'A Tombstone Every Mile,' a song written about local truck driving. Over in Fort Kent, theatrical monologist Mike Daisey was born and raised, while John L. Martin represented the community for decades to become the longest-serving state lawmaker in Maine history. Down in Perham, Edward C. Dahlgren was born in March 1916 before earning the World War II Medal of Honor.

Presque Isle and Houlton carry their own traditions shaped by influential residents and historians. In Presque Isle, actor and playwright John Cariani drew from his upbringing in town to write the stage play 'Almost, Maine,' while Civil War veteran, educator, and postmaster Edward Wiggin compiled settler interviews into his 1922 volume, 'History of Aroostook.' Down in Houlton, 19th-century lumber merchant Shepard Cary served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, and lifelong resident Cora M. Carpenter Putnam reported as a regional correspondent and wrote 'The Story of Houlton.' Former Maine Attorney General Ransford W. Shaw worked alongside donors like Stella King White to establish the Aroostook County Historical and Art Museum, ensuring the region's historic figures and memories remain preserved.