HARTLAND — Corinna’s town manager, who died in an all-terrain vehicle accident on Sunday brought the entire community together one last time during an early afternoon memorial service at Hartland Consolidated School on Saturday.
Nearly 500 mourners — about one-fourth of the town’s entire population — showed up to pay respects to Kimberly Godsoe, who was 38 at the time of her death.
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Her memory was felt so strongly by so many that cars overflowed the parking lot, people overflowed the school’s auditorium and emotions overflowed in the form of tears, smiles and stories of how she had touched their lives.
“A good marriage, great friends and family,” Godsoe’s husband of 17 years, Earl Godsoe, told the crowd, which was sitting quietly save for the sound of sniffles, motionless except for an endlessly repeated gesture of hands raising tissues and handkerchiefs to dab at watery eyes.
Earl Godsoe also spoke directly to their daughter, Rylee.
“Rylee, you were her angel,” he said. “I can’t tell you how much she loved you.”
He added that mother and daughter were alike.
“You remind me so much of her — stubborn,” he said.
Before he left the podium, which was standing among a series of decorative bouquets, he addressed his wife.
“I’m very fortunate to have had what we had,” he said tearfully. “Until we meet again, rest in peace.”
Over the course of an hour, nearly a dozen mourners spoke about Godsoe and the impact she had had on their lives, some of them touching on her municipal service for the towns of St. Albans, Corinna and Hartland.
Others spoke of their friendship with Godsoe, some recounting the fun they enjoyed with her during a regularly scheduled Friday “wine night,” or while joining her in recreational activities like camping, snowmobiling and hunting.
Godsoe graduated from Dexter High School and attended Beal College.
The accident happened in Moscow early Sunday afternoon, when Godsoe was riding in a group of five ATVs. A representative of the Maine Warden Service said she was riding behind the group to avoid the dust. When they noticed she was no longer behind them and circled back, they saw that her ATV had struck a tree and that she was severely injured.
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling — 861-9287
Twitter: @hh_matt
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