For the last week, Maine has been in the national news, and it was not because of our beautiful fall colors, our rugged coastline, or our delicious lobster.

We all know it had to do with an incident, an unthinkable incident – an event that we thought happens to people from away, people who live in big cities or other locations where terrible crimes seem to be commonplace.

Yet last week we watched as our nation grieved the deaths of 18 Mainers while13 suffered terrible wounds because they happened to go out to a neighborhood bowling alley for some socialization or a neighborhood restaurant to participate in a competitive cornhole event – then fate stepped in.

The American President, a man with the toughest job in the world, took half a day from dealing with two major wars, an economy trying to get back on its feet, and a Congress in dire need of adult supervision, to fly to Lewiston, Maine, join Senators Angus King and Susan Collins, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree and Gov. Janet Mills to pay his and the nation’s respects to the victims, their loved ones, the police who hunted down the bad guy, the docs and nurses who cared for the wounded and us all. 

Here in Boothbay, we followed suit on Saturday as 300-plus Mainers filled the American Legion hall to remember the life of a guy his pals called the colonel or, PBR – Peyton Brewer-Ross.

It was a quiet, somber crowd of his co-workers at Bath Iron Works, from senior executives to fellow blue collar colleagues, who remembered him as a fun guy who worked hard, enjoyed life, pro wrestling, Superman, cornhole and his family.

Gov. Mills quietly arrived, greeted the family and stood quietly as the service opened. She did not greet the crowd, did not give a speech. Instead her presence embodied respect for the family on behalf of all Maine residents.

Cheryl Cuddy, the chaplin for the Westbrook Public Safety Department, led the service with prayers, compassion and love, as she remembered Peyton as a little kid and a high school student. His brother, Wellman Brewer, told of neighborhood football games that should have landed the brothers in the emergency room, and brought a smile to all while using a voice resembling wrestler Randy Macho Man Savage to let the crowd know that it was OK to cry, and to get whipped, but to always get back up and never, never quit.

The love of Peyton’s life, Rachael, thanked the crowd and told how they met at a Portland Sea Dogs ballgame that she paid for when he said he had no cash. She said he was supposed to sit with his sister but instead occupied a vacant seat next to her. When someone asked if he was going to sit with his sister, he said he would do that in the next inning. But he didn’t, and the sparks flew, she said. 

Later, when their daughter Elle arrived, she told the crowd Peyton was a man of many firsts, first to hold their daughter, first to give her a hug, first to change her diapers and first to give her a bath. And, in tribute to the love of her life, she donned Peyton’s “Macho Man” jacket to the applause of the audience.

Chuck Cunningham, a Boothbay selectman, is married to Peyton’s sister, Nancy. He met Peyton, who was in high school when he picked up Nancy for their first date. “I am really proud of the man and the dad he became. He really loved Rachael and especially Elle,” he said. 

There was no organ music playing at Peyton’s wake. Instead of somber, sorrowful hymns, a loud rock tune accompanied a smiling slide show featuring the family, friends and, of course, a little girl named Elle.

Saturday was not a time for playing what if, or what should have happened. The Monday morning quarterbacks are already at work suggesting the police should have done that, or the laws need to be changed to do thus and so. They will trumpet their pet remedies as the magical remedy to the plague of mass shootings that strained us all, Sandy Hook to Lewiston.  

As H.L. Mencken, the late newspaper pundit, once wrote: “There is always an easy solution to every human problem – neat, plausible and wrong.” 

Yet, like Peyton, his family and his pals, from BIW to the bowling alley, to the neighborhood restaurant, to the police, first responders, EMTs, docs, caring nurses, city residents, local and state officials, federal agents from alphabet agencies to POTUS himself, we will keep keeping on, trying to do the best we can to cope with and understand the unthinkable events that came our way.

And, just like PBR’s family and friends, we will share hugs and go back to work.

But we will never forget Peyton, the 17 others who perished, the 13 who were wounded and the terrible last week of October 2023.

This column has been updated from its original posting.