SPRINGVALE – A longtime local couple who spent their lives together in Springvale has seen to it that the public spaces in the village they loved so much will always be beautiful.

David and Linda Pence, who passed away six months apart in 2018, established a charitable trust, specifically designed for the village section of Sanford that bears the zip code 04083.

“They felt very strongly that they wanted to leave some money behind for beautification efforts for the Village of Springvale,” said Amanda Rand of Spinnaker Trust of Portland.

The generosity of the couple who lived quietly in the village was recently recognized by the Sanford Springvale Historical Society for their contributions over the years to the historical museum and adjacent Goodwin House, with a reception that included their children.

The couple also contributed to other local endeavors, including the Mousam Way Land Trust. Recently, the land trust named the David and Linda Pence Community Ecology Center for their contributions to a land purchase in Springvale.

Kate Wilkinson, also of Spinnaker Trust and along with Rand, trustees of the David and Linda Pence Charitable Trust for the Beautification of Springvale Maine, said the income from the $500,000 trust will be distributed annually, for projects that are not in the city’s routine budget.

The trust won’t fund filling potholes or creating sidewalks, but efforts like tree planting, gardens, benches and banners in public spaces would be decided by a committee made up of the two trustees, along with Sanford Springvale Chamber of Commerce President Richard Stanley and City Manager Steve Buck. Wilkinson said the income will be distributed directly to the city, and spent as decided by the committee.

Many who drive through the Springvale village section of Sanford would say it is already beautiful,  even though the commercial section took a significant hit in the 1970s, when many of the old storefronts were demolished under an urban renewal program.  There are lovely older homes lining sections of Main Street, a number of buildings on the former Nasson College campus have been renovated and  repurposed and the newer retail shopping areas were built to fit in with the village landscape.

David Pence’s obituary sums up how he felt about the village where he and his wife Linda raised their two children:

“All his life, Dave adored the village of Springvale like a member of his own family, and (except for a handful of weeks spent living in Mexico and in New York City as a very young man) he never lived anywhere else,” his obituary stated. “He kept a vast store of demographic details, which he had gathered, edited, and organized in his mind over the decades.”

Buck announced the trust a week ago, and he, City Treasurer Paula Simpson and Finance Director Ronni Champlin  and Stanley met with the trustees on Friday.

“We hope to make the first distribution later this summer,” said Rand.

“David & Linda Pence have always been good to the village they lived in,” said Stanley. “ Springvale will benefit greatly for years to come from their thoughtful and generous donation.”

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 780-9016 or twells@journaltribune.com.