WATERVILLE — Ask City Planner Ann Beverage about Kim and David Hallees’ devotion to the city’s South End and she can’t say enough about the couple.

“They’re lovely people and they work very hard for the neighborhood,” Beverage said. “They’re very enthusiastic, very positive people.”

The Hallees have worked tirelessly for more than a dozen years to help improve and revitalize the historic South End area of the city, according to Beverage.

They have supported the creation of parks, playgrounds and community gardens, helped establish a South End police officer position, as well as a teen center and children’s learning center, and encouraged the razing of buildings that are beyond repair.

They provide leadership, labor and equipment for cleanup days and bicycle swaps, and help host neighborhood gatherings.

“They take their trailer to the clean-up days, they cook hamburgers at the National Night Out — they’re just involved in everything,” Beverage said.

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The Hallees also host South End Neighborhood Association meetings at their Gray Street home. They helped launch the association in 2001 to help revitalize and rehabilitate the city’s working class district.

“I think they provide a good working model for what a neighborhood association can do,” City Manager Michael Roy said Thursday. “A lot has happened in the South End and they’ve been a big part of seeing those improvements happen.”

The Hallees’ outstanding volunteerism has netted them the city’s 2012 Spirit of America Volunteers of the Year Award. Mayor Karen Heck conferred the accolade on the Hallees June 5 to a standing ovation in the City Council chambers.

Roy said they were nominated by both city councilors and city employees.

“I think they’re a perfect example of what a Spirit of America volunteer should be,” Roy said Thursday. “They have very selflessly devoted themselves to a community cause for a very long period of time and have managed to inspire others to join them.”

Kim Hallee, 58, is a registered nurse who has worked for HealthReach Hospice for 21 years. David Hallee, 56, owns Boy Locksmith, a business his late father created. Boy was his father’s nickname.

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The Hallees live in a large, old, immaculately kept South End home tucked among other historic houses in the neighborhood. The couple maintains lush green gardens outside that wrap around the back and sides of the house; inside, their home is immediately both warm and welcoming, with a mix of old and new, family heirlooms, and tasteful splashes of color. Tiny white lights sparkle from every room.

They take good care of their home and watch out for their neighbors; if someone leaves a shovel outdoors, forgets to bring it in and leaves, the Hallees retrieve it for them. Their neighbors do the same, they said.

“Knowing your neighbors, befriending your neighbors — that’s something that the Sound End Neighborhood Association has encouraged and talked about for a long time,” Kim Hallee said. “And if you have an issue, address it.”

David Hallee grew up on nearby Moor Street; his grandparents lived in a house two doors down from the Hallees’ current home.

“Water Street was a busy business district when I was a kid,” he said. “From the corner of Gray Street to Gold Street was all stores, and a great fire took all that in the ’60s.”

He recalled patronizing a thrift bakery on Water Street that sold day-old bread and other baked goods. “Prior to that, it was a market — the Bolduc Market — and there was all manner of food available there. There’s a Museum in the Streets plaque there.”

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Museum in the Streets, a self-guided walking tour of the South End, was installed a few years ago, with plaques at historic sites along the route.

The Hallees say there’s more work to be done in the South End, which is seeing both road and home improvements. They hope to help with an effort to open a South End museum that would house historic items.

Reluctant to take all the credit for their labors, they pointed to others who have worked hard and supported the neighborhood efforts — Heather Merrow, Paula Mitchell, Charlie Poulin and Scott McAdoo, to name a few. They also cited nonprofit supporters such as Colby College, Kennebec Valley Community Action Program, Alfond Youth Center, Waterville Rotary Club and the city of Waterville.

“There was always, always a team of people,” Kim Hallee said. “I might have been the mouthpiece for a lot of it, but we’ve had a core group for all these years.”

The Hallees — modest, gentle and articulate — were surprised to learn they had been chosen for the Spirit of America award. They were touched and honored, but said they deserve it only as part of the group with whom they volunteer.

“It’s a community award,” David Hallee said, adding that working to help improve a neighborhood is just part of being a good citizen.

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“Beautification doesn’t happen in isolation,” he said. “It doesn’t just sprout one morning. It takes someone’s labor.”

The Hallees have a son, Paul, 33; a daughter, Anne, 32; and a granddaughter, Anne’s daughter, Avaline, 5.

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

 


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