UNITY – Penny Picard Sampson of Unity, Maine died Thursday afternoon, Dec. 19, 2024. after more than a decade of battling illnesses. She was born to Linda Louise (Constable) and Charles Clovis Picard on Nov. 15, 1966. She grew up in a busy household with her parents and siblings and attended Unity Elementary School, graduated from Mount View High School, and then earned her B.A. in English from Unity College.

Carolyn Zachary’s tribute to “Penny Picard Sampson: A Lover of Animals, Stock Cars, Cemeteries, and Her Hometown,” which can be accessed through the midcoast villager.com, poignantly captures Penny, and the reader is referred to that or to the legacy website.

Penny learned to love animals on the family farm, especially her pinto Frosty and a line of German Shepherds. She later served as an animal control officer. She learned to garden in her mother’s prodigious garden, knowledge would come in handy when she worked for Johnny’s Selected Seeds and at her beautiful home on The Albion Road. During college, she worked part time at The Homestead Restaurant.

Racing was her recreational preference, and she served as a spectator, scorer, flagger, announcer, and participant at Unity or Wiscasset Raceways and on her uncle Ed’s dirt track. Racing was so much a part of her that she opened up a restaurant, Penny’s Pit Stop, across from Unity Raceway.

After college, she worked for several years as an editor of the Unity-based Thorndike Press. She followed that work with 16 years as a collections specialist for MBNA/ Bank of America. Finally, she entered public service to the Town of Unity as a selectperson. Penny was well versed in town history, policies, and needs of the town. She secured several grants and helped facilitate the designation of the Alton McCormick Memorial Bridge, negotiated the expansion of the Pond Cemetery, and improved the operation of the boat launch. She went above and beyond her job’s expectations, providing direct services such as delivering sand buckets to disabled citizens and cleaning up refuse at the beach.

Through her love of racing, she met another racing enthusiast, Daniel Sampson. They married on the track of Unity Raceway on August 1, 2008, and celebrated their union in a victory lap. Their steadfast love and devotion never waivered.

She volunteered countless hours honoring those town citizens who came before, cleaning hundreds of headstones and markers and recruiting student groups to join her while sharing research about those who were placed at rest in Unity cemeteries. This led to her final town role as town sexton. She enjoyed helping at the Open Door lunches and distributing food from the local food pantry. She served several terms on the Waldo County budget committee and was humbled to be the recipient of a county service award. Her volunteerism included serving as the Unity correspondent for the Republican Journal and more recently for The Villager.

Over her too few years, she was deeply devoted to her home and large family. She savored time with the Constable and Picard relatives.

Penny was predeceased by her mother Linda Constable; her brother John, and sisters Patience and Dorrie Ann. She is survived by her husband, Daniel Sampson; her father Charles Picard; brother Matthew and wife Lucia of Unity, brother Dennis and wife Sharon of Bangor, sister Patti Picard and husband Amir Chaudhry of Dearborn, Mich.; aunts Rosemary, Catherine, Linda, Sharon, and Elena, uncles Andrew and Michael; nephews Joshua and Daniel, nieces Caitlin, Meredith, Asiya, Amelia, Phoebe, and Nadia; grand-nephew Hunter; great- uncle Harold Tucker; many cousins and close friends.

Penny’s family extends special appreciation to Jimmy Delorenzo, Holly Emerson, Emily Newell, the Unity Ambulance Corps, and Penny’s many healthcare providers.

A celebration of Penny’s life will be held at 1:00 on Saturday, Jan. 4, at the Star in the West Masonic Lodge at 327 Main Street in Unity.

Donations in memory of Penny may be made to:

The Open Door of Unity

c/o The Unity Food Pantry

P.O. Box 156

Unity, ME 04988) or to:

the Waterville Area

Humane Society

100 Webb Road

Waterville, ME 04901