Longtime runner dies after road race Friends fondly recall ex-state legislator Pinkham

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The members of the Maine running community affectionately referred to Lamoine’s Bill Pinkham as “Q-Tip” in honor of his flat-top featuring all white hair.

But the running community suffered a devastating loss Monday when Pinkham collapsed and died after finishing the Walter Hunt Memorial Fourth of July 3,000-Meter road race.

He was 62.

Dave Torrey, the race director, said Pinkham “ran the race, exited the chute and then went into the parking garage for water and toppled over.

“It’s a real shock. A tragedy,” added Torrey.

Race participant Berney Kubetz of Bangor said when he went into the garage, Pinkham was already down and “he was being given CPR by a team led by Jacques Larochelle. They worked on him for quite some time until the ambulance arrived.”

Veteran runner and Orono journalist Ed Rice was stunned.

“I can’t believe this happened. Bill was Maine running,” Rice said. “I can’t believe this has happened to the running community again.”

Pinkham is the second prominent runner to die within the last 53 weeks.

Bucksport’s Fred Merriam, a longtime runner, race director and member of the Maine Running Hall of Fame, died of a brain tumor on June 29, 2004.

“I doubt if anybody in Maine has more T-shirts than Bill Pinkham,” said Rice, referring to the fact runners receive T-shirts at virtually every race. “He was a fixture [at road races]. I couldn’t guess the number of miles he traveled annually around the state to run in road races.”

“He ran every race he could find,” added veteran runner Robin Emery, a Lamoine native and close friend of Pinkham’s. “He loved to race. He ran to race. He loved to push himself. He would go out just as hard as he could and would hang right on. He didn’t want to let anybody beat him.

“He had a nice little rivalry going with guys around him who were his age. He was very competitive but he wasn’t in-your-face competitive. He was very quiet about it. He loved the racing scene,” added Emery who pointed out that Pinkham held state records for his age group.

“Bill made the race for people,” said Rice. “I lost track of the number of times he ran ahead of me because he would go out so hard. It would make me work hard to catch him. He really pushed me [to run to my potential]. He was the guy to beat in his age group.”

Pinkham, a member of the Mount Desert Island-based Crow Athletics running club, raced all distances including the Boston Marathon.

But he was much more than just a fervent a road racer.

The former chief marine patrol officer, who retired from that position in 1986, was the harbor master for Lamoine and was also a state representative for seven years.

“He could do all sorts of things and he was good at everything,” said Emery. “He was very good at building things. He built my bathroom. He had lobster traps. He was on the marine patrol most of his life and retired as the head of it. But he didn’t really retire. He worked with the sheriff’s department in Ellsworth.

“He was the nicest man,” added Emery. “He was a gentle guy. He loved animals. He once had some mice stuck in his wall and he cut a hole for them so they could get out. He was that kind of guy. He was quiet and unassuming. He never blew his own horn.”

“He was an up-standing, good person. He was real easy-going,” said Stu Marckoon, the town of Lamoine’s administrative assistant to the board of selectmen. “He was very good at his job. You never got complaints about the harbor. If you did, you’d call Bill and he would take care of it.”

Marckoon said Pinkham was a “true Downeaster” and a “very staunch Republican.

“He was very conservative. You always knew where you stood with Bill. I considered him a good friend,” said Marckoon.

Emery pointed out that Pinkham was a “very well-spoken” and a very good emcee at banquets. and an impressive speaker in school classroom settings.

As a politician, Pinkham had been the ranking Republican member of the Marine Resources Committee.

He sponsored legislation which allowed an income tax deduction for the cost of health insurance premiums.

He also supported issues like the increased General Purpose Aid to Education; the expansion of the Low-Cost Drug for the Elderly and Disabled Program; the increase in the debt limit for school construction, the exemption of pensions from the Maine income tax; lowering the sales tax to five percent; the awarding of high school diplomas to World War II veterans and the elimination of veterans registration plate fees.

Pinkham, a cross country runner in high school, ran his first road race in the spring of 1978, the Grand-Willey 10K in Ellsworth.

Between 1978-82, he ran 112 races.

He once told the Bangor Daily News that in addition to loving the competition in road racing, he also enjoyed the social benefits.

He made a lot of new friends and liked the positive attitudes possessed by many runners.

“In the running community, you can be a millionaire or poor, it doesn’t matter, everyone gets along so well. Everyone helps each other out. No matter how good or bad you do at each race, someone is always there to congratulate you,” said Pinkham.