Alum of the Month
David Thomas '69 Lobsterman Extraordinaire!
David Thomas loves his life as an island lobsterman. But that’s certainly not what he expected to be doing when he graduated Erskine Academy in 1969.
David was born in Waterville and grew up in Weeks Mills in an “Erskine Family”. His dad, Perley Thomas ’47, was a mechanic, and his mother, Hazel Bruns Thomas ’50, worked for the State. His sisters Karen ’74 and Laurie ’78 were also Erskine grads and he has many other Erskine aunts, uncles and cousins.
Regarding his time at Erskine, David doesn’t remember all that much except for “muddling through” (his words), but he fondly recalls his teacher Myrtle Austin, who also taught his parents and sisters. After graduation, David went on to attend three semesters at William Penn University (Iowa), and then completed a degree in Elementary Education and Reading at University of Maine in Farmington.
So, naturally, he expected to become a teacher. He filled out several applications and was hoping to be offered a job in Berwick. Meanwhile, he hadn’t heard from Berwick and accepted a job on Little Cranberry Island, only to get home and find the offer from Berwick in the mail! But that job on the island teaching K-8 (each class having 8-10 students) was to expose him to 
Maine island life – which he loves – so after two years as a teacher, he decided to try his hand at lobstering.
And he’s been very successful. He’s been shipping live lobsters since 1991 – a significant accomplishment since Little Cranberry Island’s not connected to the mainland by a bridge. His season is from mid-March to January and the rest of the time he spends preparing his boat and equipment for the next season. He’s not afraid to make mistakes. He’s learned lots from making them and he’s had a great mentor. He feels it’s no more dangerous than being a dairy farmer, as long as you don’t take chances. So he takes along a partner most of the time and makes sure his 10-year old 35-foot Nova Scotia boat is in good working order.
Of course, life isn’t just about lobsters. David is also a volunteer firefighter, the chairman of the Affordable Housing Trust, and he and his wife, whom he met on the island in 1974, were very involved in the parent council at Northfield Mount Herman where their two daughters attended. Today both daughters are in college, one at Hobart and William Smith in New York and the other at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada. David is proud of them and credits his and his wife’s continuing involvement in their lives and their education for that success.
He encourages folks to look him up via his website at www.thomaslobster.com.
Past Alum of the Month features
Dec06 / Jan07 / Feb07 / Apr07 / Aug07 / Oct07 / Nov 07 / Feb 08
Copyright 2007 Erskine Academy
