Onie & Marie Lougee
The 2022 Harmony Free Fair book is dedicated to Onie and Marie Lougee. This incredible couple have dedicated their lives to the safety and security of the Town of Harmony. Onie has been Fire Chief since 1983. The Harmony Volunteer Fire Department was founded February 9, 1955, with Kenneth Watson as its first chief. When Kenneth stepped down, he handed Onie a single briefcase containing all the Fire Department’s records.
Now, Onie has multiple file cabinets and storage containers full of records. Two months after Onie took office, two major fires hit Harmony. The Odd Fellows Hall and the “Bee Hive” (a local business) burned to the ground in fires made difficult to control because of high winds. A rough beginning for the new chief!
Marie has been a qualified firefighter for many years. She wears all the heavy gear and risks her life at fire scenes, as do all the volunteers. In addition to answering fire calls, Marie is also a driver for the Harmony Regional Ambulance Service.
Marie was president of the Patriarchs Club in both 1983 and 1984. In 1983, a five-mile road race from Wellington to Harmony was introduced as a new event, and that year’s fair book notes that Harmony had recently joined the Maine Association of Agricultural Fairs (MAAF).
Under Onie’s leadership at the fire department, a new firehouse has been constructed and also a second storage building located on the fairgrounds that is used as the Exhibit Hall during the fair and for fire and rescue apparatus the rest of the year. Around 2012, Onie and Marie and others realized that Harmony’s fire engine was aging and the department needed a modern well-equipped truck. After much planning and grant-writing, Engine 6 joined the fleet. It carries things like extraction tools for vehicle accidents, a defibrillator, and much more, and it not only benefits Harmony but surrounding towns as well.
Onie and Marie met at Central Maine Vocational Technical Institute and were married in 1976. They settled in Harmony and have lived here ever since. They enjoy spending their free time going to their camp “up north” , and they are always ready to answer the call in Harmony.
Thank you, Onie and Marie, for all you do for the Town of Harmony.
