VEAZIE – Following the funeral service for Ralph W. “Bud” Leavitt Jr. of Hampden, who died Tuesday in California, family and friends gathered for a reception at Bud’s local “home away from home”: the Veazie Salmon Club.

On short notice, without a moment’s hesitation, club members opened their home to the Leavitt family so all could share – in a setting special to Bud – memories of the man who so loved this particular spot on the Penobscot River.

The American flag fluttered in the breeze on an unusually sunny December day – so pleasant you could lean on the railing of the deck, look below, and picture Bud reeling in a fish below.

Friends, family and club members greeted each other warmly inside the paneled room filled with picnic tables and a long table covered with “potluck contributions.”

Bud’s immediate family – and his extended family of cousins, nieces, nephews and the next generation bouncing on moms’ knees – pored over scrapbooks.

They looked at photographs on the walls, spotting Bud with his best friend, baseball great Ted Williams, and stared long and hard at drawings of him. Some stopped to catch a glimpse of the video of the testimonial this club held for Bud Oct. 15 at Pilots Grill in Bangor.

Near the door leading to the deck stood his neighbor, former congressional assistant Clyde MacDonald, and across the room fellow Old Town native and basketball coach Bernard “Bunny” Paradis.

At another door, sportsman Ken Winters (who was always trying to talk Bud into an African safari) greeted Bud’s old friends. Fellow Bangor Daily News employees complimented Mike Dowd’s wife, Ann, on her singing, which brought tears and joy to many who attended the service.

Along his river, they celebrated Bud Leavitt’s life with humor, grace, and a hearty laugh. Lifting a glass in his honor, they solemnly recalled his final visit, a day not too long ago.

He strode through the door, took a good look around and nonchalantly said, “This may be my last visit.” It was. But memories of him will continue to visit this place along the Penobscot as long as salmon swim upstream.