WESTBROOK – The wife of Fred Wescott, the two-term Westbrook mayor who was the only one to die in office, has taken the name change at 426 Bridge St. personally.

It was known as the Fred C. Wescott Junior High for nearly 17 years. But it became the Westbrook Community Center after the new Westbrook Middle School opened on Stroudwater Street last year.

A 20-member re-use committee decided the Wescott building should transfer from the school district into the hands of the city. It has become a successful community destination that houses recreational activities and social service organizations. There are plans to move the Westbrook Historical Society there and it could one day house City Hall.

Innocently – and seemingly appropriately – enough, the center is known around the city as the Westbrook Community Center. The name has become official with signs and logos around the building identifying it as such. That doesn’t sit well with Annette Wescott, the widow of the former mayor.

“I’m upset about it and my kids are, too,” said Wescott, 74.

Her eyes welled with tears when she recounted how the School Committee voted in February 1994 to honor her husband’s legacy by naming the Westbrook Junior High after him. He had died less than two months earlier, on Dec. 29, 1993, just 10 weeks after being diagnosed with cancer.

No one with the city has been able to give Wescott a satisfactory answer about the name change, she said.

According to Mayor Colleen Hilton and Maria Dorn, director of community services, it was the building re-use committee that decided on the name.

Not so, according to committee co-chairman Jim Violette.

“The committee never discussed the name of the facility,” he said. “That’s probably something that the city did.”

Annette Wescott said former Mayor Bruce Chuluda and ex-school Superintendent Stan Sawyer told her the community center would still be named after her husband.

“At absolutely no time, during my tenure as mayor, did I ever mention or even think about any different name,” Chuluda said. “That was my pledge to her, but I’m not the guy who’s in charge anymore.”

Hilton said she has tried to work with Wescott to find an amicable solution because there is “no hope” of the name changing. She said she pointed out that it was a “wonderful thing” the school once carried the Wescott name and that people in the city still refer to it as “the old Wescott Junior High.”

“She’s really struggling with wanting the community center to be the Wescott Community Center,” Hilton said. “We’ve offered so many things to try to engage her.”

Among the offers, Dorn said, is to have a wall in the community center dedicated to Wescott.

“We recognize that this is the old Wescott Junior High School,” she said. “At no point do we want to diminish that. We’re going to honor him in a different way.”

The School Committee voted 6-1 in February 1994 to change the name to the Fred C. Wescott Junior High School. The decision came quickly after Wescott’s death and may have been spurred by strong emotions.

Martha Day, then the School Committee chairwoman, was the lone dissenting vote. According to the Feb. 23, 1994, edition of the American Journal, she said she did not view it as the best way to honor Wescott’s memory and that she received calls from residents who felt the same way.

“I thought it was too soon,” Day recalled when contacted this past week. “I remember feeling it was more of an emotional decision at that point. We were all still reeling.”

The drive to dedicate the school to Fred Wescott originated with former School Committee member Arnie Gaudet. He said he worked with Wescott at the S.D. Warren paper mill, and in addition to what Wescott did for the city, he was generally “just a very nice man.

“He was a very highly regarded employee down there. He was union president,” Gaudet said.

Wescott served four years as mayor and was elected to serve two more before his death. He served 10 years on the School Committee and six years on the City Council. He also was a call firefighter for 10 years and coached youth sports.

According to Annette Wescott, he was in office when Data General left the city and Idexx and other businesses came in. The recycling program started up during his tenure and city meetings were first broadcast on television, she said.

“Most of our married life he gave to the city,” she said.

It was that commitment, Gaudet said, that made him want to commemorate Fred Wescott’s life. He recalled that, even at the time, it was a controversial proposal.

“It was a political football when I did that to begin with,” he said, explaining it may have received public support because it would have been a bad political move to vote against it.

“I don’t believe I knew I was the only one who would be voting against it,” Day said.

Gaudet said he is unsure why Westbrook is opposed to naming structures after influential people, noting other cities and towns do so.

“Portland, Gorham, Falmouth – they all have buildings named after teachers or community members,” he said.

The Davan Pool, located inside the community center and named after longtime coach and high school staff member John “Paddy” Davan, kept its name when the building’s use changed. And the throughway formerly known as Wayside Drive is now known as William Clarke Drive, in honor of the longtime city clerk.

Gaudet said it seems wrong to remove the Wescott name now. He is not alone.

“It’s terribly offensive,” Chuluda said.

“You dedicate a building to somebody, it’s a temporary thing in the city’s eyes, apparently,” added City Councilor Mike Sanphy. “It’s kind of like a slap in the face. It really is.”

Sanphy, a retired police officer, remembers escorting the funeral procession at the time. He said there was a huge turnout, indicative of Wescott’s impact here.

“Fred was a nice man. He really was. He was a caring person,” Sanphy said. “I feel bad for the family. It’s sad.”

Annette Wescott said her five children still live in the greater Portland area. She hoped her son could have the old Wescott Junior High sign, but that has disappeared, along with a plaque that hung under a portrait of Fred Wescott inside the building.

“My son would’ve taken it. He could’ve hung it in the barn,” she said. “It could’ve got broken and thrown out. I don’t know.”

Hilton said she asked city officials to find the sign, while Dorn said the plaque likely got lost in the move.

“I think it was probably misplaced,” she said. “We’ve looked. It would be great to find it and give it to her.”

Wescott said she is not optimistic about them finding the sign or the plaque, and that politics have changed in the city.

“It was different then. Everyone worked hard but had a good time,” she said. “I don’t think Westbrook’s the same. Of course, everything changes. Not always for the best.”

Annette Wescott, widow of former Westbrook Mayor Fred Wescott, stands beside his portrait in the Westbrook Community Center, which was once known as the Fred C. Wescott Junior High School.Staff photo by Joey Cresta