Who Owns The Goldenrod In York Maine - T-Tees - Your Answers Await, Life's Questions Unraveled

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Pat Peck, a long-time co-owner of The Goldenrod in York Beach, Maine, passed away in November 2020, leaving a legacy that lives on as her son steers the business through the pandemic. Pat

YORK BEACH, Maine — Long before she took an ownership stake in The Goldenrod, Patricia Abbott started out selling candy at the iconic seaside shop as a young woman.

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She and her family lived in Arlington, Massachusetts, but they spent their summers in Cape Neddick, so she landed a seasonal job at The Goldenrod, just as thousands of young people have done in the seven decades since.

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Pat kept coming back to work and ultimately made a lifelong career at the establishment known for its signature saltwater taffy kisses, where she met her husband, James Peck, and employed not only their children but also a steady stream of others who came to view her as a mentor-matriarch of sorts.

“She was like a mother to a lot of people at The Goldenrod,” her son Dave Peck said. “She had six kids, but she had thousands of kids pass her way. We hired over 100 kids every summer. She was there for so long that it was like her family.”

Pat, who was born in 1933, graduated from Arlington High School in 1951 and from Boston University in 1955, according to her children. She met James after he returned from serving with the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. They married in 1956.

When the opportunity arose, James and Pat Peck became co-owners of The Goldenrod, along with business partners from other families. They collaborated with several other co-owners through the years, and Pat kept those family-like relationships going after James died 30 years ago, according to Dave, who now owns and runs the establishment.

Pat and James were known for together mentoring young workers to do things “The Goldenrod Way.”

Even after she retired at age 65, Pat wound up staying on for another five years or so, Dave said. “She worked every day that we were open,” he said.

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Pat Peck and David McMullen, long-time co-owners of The Goldenrod in York Beach, Maine, visit in this undated photo released by Peck

Pat’s daughter Cindy Moloney, who now lives in South Berwick, said working in the family business during her high school and college years was memorable.

“I loved it,” she said. “I loved working with my parents. I loved working with my siblings — most of the time.”

The Peck children would often say any given summer was their last, that they planned to go work somewhere else the following season, but something kept drawing them back year after year, Cindy said.

Employees grew to love Pat Peck as a kind, funny and optimistic boss who felt lucky to have a place like The Goldenrod, Cindy said.

“Not everybody gets to do a job where they love going to work every day,” she said.

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Saying goodbye

Cindy said she always knew she would one day have to say a final goodbye to her mom, and she knew she wouldn’t be ready for it, no matter when the moment arrived. But the final months of her mother’s time on earth were made especially difficult, she said, by the COVID-19 pandemic.

To minimize the risk of infecting residents with the virus, nursing homes like Durgin Pines barred visitors from coming inside, beginning in March. Cindy and her family instead visited Pat through a closed window. That was heartbreaking in its own way, Cindy said, because Pat would gesture for her loved ones to come through the door, not understanding why they had to stay away.

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The nursing home arranged an outdoor meeting, but the physical distance made it difficult for Pat to understand what was happening, Cindy said.

Pat ultimately contracted COVID before she passed away, according to Cindy and Dave.

Despite a widespread COVID outbreak at Durgin Pines, the family doesn’t blame the facility for what happened to Pat. Her obituary even included a special note of gratitude for the nursing home: “For the last few years of her life, Pat was cared for by the loving and caring staff of Durgin Pines in Kittery, Maine, to whom the family extends our deepest appreciation. Under the most challenging of circumstances, they were loving and attentive to Pat’s needs in her final days.”

Cindy said Durgin Pines took “very, very good care” of her mom, who went to sleep one night and never regained consciousness for her final few days.

“I can’t imagine leaving this world in a more loving way,” Cindy said.

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The latest COVID outbreak investigation at Durgin Pines — there have been two since the pandemic began — involved cases among 52 residents and 30 staff members, according to Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention spokesperson Robert Long.

After reviewing case information, the Maine CDC outbreak investigation team confirmed 13 deaths among Durgin Pines residents were COVID-related and associated with this latest outbreak, Long said. (The state had previously counted a 14th death.)

Maine CDC closed its outbreak investigation at Durgin Pines on Thursday, as it does in congregate living settings whenever 28 days pass without a new case, Long said.

The administrator of Durgin Pines did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Soldiering on

When Pat passed away, the Maine CDC had tracked a total of 189 deaths among Mainers with COVID. In the two months since then, another 325 deaths have been added to the state’s growing list.

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As the pandemic’s trendlines accelerated in Maine this winter, newly approved vaccines offered a welcome new tool in the fight against a virus associated with 400,000 deaths nationwide, though the vaccine rollout has been stymied by limited supplies. Only about 67,000 people in Maine had received any vaccine, as of Monday, according to Maine CDC records. But public health officials and everyday Mainers are soldiering on.

The widespread disruption caused by the pandemic and government-imposed public health restrictions heaped pressure on businesses, too, raising questions about long-term viability for many of them.

“It was a really rough summer, obviously. We’re trying to get through it just like a lot of businesses and restaurants,” Dave said. “We’ve survived.”

Echoing his mother’s optimism, Dave said this isn’t the first storm The Goldenrod has weathered and it won’t be its last, as it looks forward to opening for a 2021 season.

“We’ve been open since 1896, so we’ve survived world wars and other pandemics and all kinds of strange things,” he said. “We have every intention of surviving this. … One way or another, we will be open.”

The Goldenrod is typically open from around Memorial Day until Columbus Day each year.

As her brother looks forward to the year ahead, Cindy has dedicated time looking back at the past 124 years. She’s writing a book titled “The Goldenrod: A Love Story Since 1896,” which she expects to complete this spring.

“I’m not a professional writer by any means, but I do love a good story,” she said.

Cindy said she was inspired by her mother’s optimism and by the numerous tales from those who met their partner while working summers together at the York Beach anchor business.

“We call them ‘Goldenrod Romances’ because so many people that we know have had them,” she said.

Cindy said her brother met his wife at The Goldenrod, her sister met her husband there, and, of course, her mother met her father there some seven decades ago — all contributing to the rich history of tradition and fond memories that make The Goldenrod what it is.