Tiny plantation honors longtime town selectman 55-year veteran has no plans to retire

SEBOEIS PLANTATION – Friends and residents of this tiny plantation of about 40 people on Saturday will honor F. Edward Smart, who has served as the town’s assessor/selectman for 55 years.

Smart, who was born here, has no plans to retire from town service. This year he stepped down as chairman of the Board of Assessors and Selectmen, but is still serving as second assessor/selectman.

He was first elected to the post in 1947 at age 24 soon after he completed military service. Smart’s wife, Georgia, said her husband has been an assessor for the town longer than they have been married.

Smart said he has seen many changes over the decades, but most have come very gradually. He said the plantation’s population in his early years was actually a little larger than it is today.

He remembers the days when the railroad drew many people to the area and several sawmills operated in the tiny plantation up through the mid-1960s.

Smart enjoys being an assessor/selectman.

“I know everybody,” he said. “I’ve been at it so long I know so much of the history and that makes it easy.”

He admitted there have been times when someone disagreed with the assessment of his or her property. “You have to keep it as even as you can and go according to the law,” he said. “The object of assessing is to treat people fairly. I couldn’t think of anything else I would do.”

He said the biggest change is the bookwork. “It is getting to be all electronic now,” he said of the new computer technology age. “I couldn’t keep up with that.”

Smart was a dairy farmer and worked at a Howland sawmill making boat oars and canoe paddles. Later he and his wife, Georgia, operated a cross-country ski area at the family homestead.

Smart’s ancestors were some of the founding fathers of the plantation. He is the sixth generation to reside in his grandparent’s home. He and his wife have four grown children, eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

He also has served on the SAD 31 school board and served on the Hospital Administrative District 1 board of directors for about 20 years.

In addition to his municipal service, Smart shares his love of playing the fiddle with seniors at area nursing homes twice a month.

The special party for Smart will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. July 6 at the residence of Millard and Cheryl Hatch on South Branch Lake.