Jim Appel was a member of the Dining Service for many years. He was courageous, kind, and loving to the end.
I always thought Mr. Appel's name was pronounced as it is spelled. He corrected me and told me he was "Mr. Apple." I never believed him.
He took Russian classes, and was fascinated by Russian lore, history, and culture. He wanted to go there someday. Russian is a hard language to learn. It was a monumental task for a man who was a dishwasher at the dining hall, had a family to support, and worked two jobs.
When I first met Mr. Appel at Bowdoin he was working two jobs. He worked at Bowdoin from noon to 8 p.m. washing pots. From here he went to Denny's at Cooks Corner and washed dishes on the graveyard shift until 7 a.m. Sometimes at Bowdoin I would walk by the pot sink, and he would be asleep standing up with his hands in the water. I would poke him to wake him up so the bosses would not see him. He was making money for his family.
He was always the first one to participate in the staff education days that were offered to Bowdoin employees. One year, he ended up in the same classes that I did. We went to the artic museum here on campus, and before he left he bought a little trinket for each of his daughters. The next leg of our journey was the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. When the tour was through, he came out and, once again, had a little trinket for each of his daughters. He explained to us what he had bought and why.
He loved the kids at Bowdoin. He was always interested in their music and clubs. He was a big fan of Bowdoin's sports teams. He loved all sports, and you could count on seeing him at all the Bowdoin football games. Even after he had started to walk back and forth to work, he would come early enough to take in the game and could always give you the stats of any Bowdoin team. He loved to take his girls to the hockey and basketball games.
He thought athletics were an important part of a child's life. One year he decided that he wanted his girls to take swimming lessons that are offered at the college for the children of faculty and staff. Many staffers do not enroll their children because the lessons are not cheap?but Mr. Appel did. He wanted his girls to know how to swim. These lessons were during his regular work hours, so he had to go to the bosses and get a special dispensation for him to get out for that hour to be there at the lessons. He came to work one hour early every day so that he could have that one hour off mid-afternoon to pick up his girls for swim lessons. Family was important to him. He appreciated the fact that it was important enough to Bowdoin to allow him to do this. You never did anything for him without getting a thank you.
At the end of his time with us at Bowdoin, things really went badly for him. His eyesight was very affected by his health issues, so he could barely drive. He had to start finding rides to and from work. Bowdoin was 15 miles from home and too far for him to walk in his condition. He finally gave in and started to ask for rides. Jim did not give up on life or on work until the very end. I used to see him sometimes at 8:30 p.m. in Woolwich heading down Arrowsic Road and I would give him a ride. That road was a long and dark three miles for a man with cancer, but he did it many a cold night. He was always anxious to get home to that house that was freezing cold and dark inside. His family was there and he was a great dad. A quality possessed by a few truly great men no matter the color of their collar?it is not about the money! On those rides when we talked, he always thought he would someday return to his job at Bowdoin but I knew he never would.
Around Christmas time in 2004, it became apparent that he would be unable to continue working. It was an awful time of year to be out of work for a man with a family. To make matters worse, it was freezing cold out and his furnace was not working. He was using kerosene space heaters to heat his entire farmhouse, moving them from room to room as needed. His car was sitting at a garage to be fixed so he could get back and forth to the cancer center for treatments. He never complained or asked for help. Instead, he walked to chemo, and either walked or cabbed home.
I called Susie Dorn at the Bowdoin Community Resource Center and told her about our friend's situation. She went to work immediately collecting money and services for this member of our "Bowdoin family." The Dining Service always sponsors a family at Christmas each year. I asked that the family we sponsor be Mr. Appel's. We raised over $2,000 college-wide. The auto shop agreed to fix his car. The heating shop agreed to go down on their time and fix the furnace. Information Technology donated a computer to the girls for their schoolwork. One day right before Christmas, we loaded everything into my van and Dan Williams, Patty Silevinac, Jim Brewer and I went to Mr. Appel's house. He could not believe we had done all of this for them. He cried openly as he thanked us. I had never made such a huge difference in someone's life before and I was in awe that this small thing had made such a huge difference in our friend's life.
I was in touch with him quite a lot over the next few months, making sure he got his benefits, and that the furnace and car repairs actually came through. We heard of the multiple surgeries and treatments that he had. Nothing seemed to work. Jim never gave up and never gave up living. He continued to take Russian and continued to go to Bowdoin events. I will always remember him walking down Arrowsic road in the dark of night in such a hurry to get home. I hope that, on whatever road he is walking today, the sun is warm on his back, the road is easy on his feet, and he has good shoes for a change. Goodbye, my friend. I will always remember the unique things that made you Mr. Apple. He was 54 and left two teen daughters this past week.
Appel died February 4. He was employed at the College for four years. Joanne Adams is the head baker at Thorne Hall.