October 25, 2013 — The Stinson Seafood processing plant had operated in Prospect Harbor for more than 100 years and no one was there longer than Lela Anderson, a local resident who worked at the plant for more than 50 years before losing her job when Bumble Bee left town. On Oct. 13, at the age of 82, Anderson passed away at her home in nearby Corea, which for many represents the passing of an era almost as much as the closure of the sardine factory itself.
The plant was the last remaining sardine canning factory in the country when Bumble Bee Foods decided to shut it down in April 2010. Live Lobster of Chelsea, Mass. tried to revive the facility the following year as a lobster processing plant, but their efforts fell short when its primary lender decided to pull the plug. Now, Maine Fair Trade Lobster is trying to make of go of it.
“Her face and lengthy career was almost as synonymous with Stinson’s as the 20-foot fisherman outside of the factory,” one local resident told me, referring to the plant’s iconic metal sign.
Lela’s decades of work for Stinson Seafood was noted by news media organizations that reported on the plant’s 2010 closing. The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies interviewed her, as did the Associated Press, Yankee magazine, and others.