From his mobile home, Sessa Menendez can see his life’s work. It is now a pile of ashes and charred ruin.

It resembles nothing of the 16-lane bowling alley and Laundromat that had sat there until Friday morning.

“I could have built a house somewhere. The reason we live in a mobile home is so that we could be close. We were always going

to the laundry or the bowling alley for something,” Menendez said.

And it was more than a place to go bowling. In Pittsfield it was a community center, a place to forget about life’s troubles and a place someone could find a helping hand.

“This is a small community. Sessa and that facility have done a lot for this community,” Peter Vigue said. “He’s one of those individuals who acts first and asks questions later. He’s helped out so many young people.”

Vigue is president of the Pittsfield-based Cianbro Corp. He visited Menendez and his wife, Marie, Saturday.

“I just went to check on him to see if he needed a shoulder to cry on. He’s having a hard time,” Vigue said.

Sessa Menendez is having a hard time. He is 63 and except for a spell in the Army, he has worked in his family’s bowling alleys most of his life.

“I’ve been [working in bowling alleys] since 1953 when I was in high school,” Menendez.

His father, Alfred, a Spaniard better known as “Frenchy” with a penchant for King Edward cigars, had worked in mills in Lincoln and Dover-Foxcroft before buying a four-lane, four-pool table establishment in Pittsfield.

In 1973, the Menendezes bought the 16-lane bowling center. It has been the focal point of his life ever since.

“Sessa is the best proprietor we have in the state,” Charlie Milan III, owner of the Bangor-Brewer Lanes in Brewer, said. “They are nice people. The best. And he’s a great statistician.”

And Menendez also knows a little about fire. They had one at “the old place” in 1957. Friends, he says, helped repair the place.

But that was nothing like this. This is different. This is gone. Complete. It leaves Menendez with an empty feeling.

He becomes emotional talking about it. About how he and a friend, a welder from Waterville, were putting braces on the pin sweepers. They had done half the job earlier and were back Friday to finish it up.

They were trying to make the place better when the place quickly became a whole lot worse.

Menendez’s voice cracks several times as he tells the story.

“I have a friend welder. He has welded his whole life. We went through the whole procedure. We put down a tarp.”

After finishing the fifth

and sixth lanes, Menendez’s friend told him he needed to

take a break.

The protective gear he was wearing made him overheat. He needed to cool off.

“We checked everything, then went up front,” Menendez said.

Fifteen minutes later all hell broke loose.

The fire is thought to have spread under the lanes where there was little access.

“It got out of control,” Menendez said. “It was a helpless feeling.”

Then it was gone.

He said most of the seniors who bowled there likely will travel to Augusta because of its proximity. “A lot of the hard cores will go to [Brewer].”

Rebuild? He wants to, but Menendez is unsure if insurance will cover the cost. Friends like Vigue have let him know that he has support in his corner.

“Of course, I broke down when I saw [Vigue]. He has done more for this town than anybody. He said if there’s anything I can do,” Menendez said, his voice shaking.

Vigue’s promise of help wasn’t just idle conversation meant to comfort.

“He’s always run a very clean operation. A place you don’t mind bringing your family. We’ll help any way we can,” Vigue said.

“That’s his life’s work. It’s a tragedy for him.”

For now Menendez has too much time on his hands to suit him.

“I don’t have anything to do now. I’ve got no job. I’m going to be lost. I’ve been doing this since I was 15. Marie has been working there with me since we got married in 1977. June 10th. I remember all the important dates. This is one I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” Menendez said.

Don Perryman can be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or dperryman@bangordailynews.net