The Select Board Tuesday night, May 20, announced that the 2025 Camden Town Report would be dedicated to Elaine Davis. A longtime volunteer to the town, especially during elections, Elaine is also recognized for her tireless commitment to several local organizations and projects.

Davis was taken by surpise at the meeting, unaware that she would be receiving the honor; in fact, she, along with her daughter Jennifer, was at the meeting for another reason altogether. When Select Board Vice Chair Chris Nolan announced her name as recipient of the dedication, the room erupted in applause and gave Davis a standing ovation.

DEDICATION

The Town of Camden is pleased to dedicate this year’s annual Town Report to Elaine Alley Davis, who for decades has been a steadfast servant to the community and a guardian of our democratic process. For more than 30 years, Elaine has volunteered as an election worker and deputy registrar of voters, ensuring that each vote is cast and counted with integrity and that every local election runs smoothly.

Elaine’s volunteer resume is astonishing in its breadth. If you’ve ever benefited from the Camden Area District Nursing Association, you have Elaine to thank. She has served on the CADNA board for years, many as board president, helping steer the 100+ year-old home nursing service into the future. Elaine has been a steadfast champion for the elderly and vulnerable, ensuring “angels” of care are there for those who need it. That really is how people have talked about the things she’s involved with and described Elaine - a guardian angel who shows up when the need is greatest.

For those of you who have enjoyed the inclusion of all our citizens in town life, you’ve witnessed Elaine’s influence as a friend and advocate to neighbors with disabilities through Coastal Opportunities. She’s the smiling volunteer at the Cash for Clothes sale (and often the engine behind it), the driver making sure a friend gets to church on Sunday, and the kindly mentor bridging generations.

At First Congregational Church of Camden, Elaine’s helping hands have lifted up many. For decades she has led the church’s Dove Tree project, quietly delivering Christmas gifts and food to local families in need. In the wider community, Elaine has never hesitated to answer the call. She has been a fundraiser, a shoulder to lean on in times of illness or grief, and an election clerk – a true “go-to” person when something needs doing.

During her tenure with the town, Elaine has worked every election, starting when all the work was done by hand. Back then, she and Sid Lindsley, former Select Board member, entered all the voter registration cards and prepared bulk mailings to Camden’s registered voters to update the rolls. She continues pre-election work and is always at the registrar’s table for town elections. For 23 years, Elaine has also visited the local nursing homes with Registrar Katrina Oakes, helping residents cast their votes and update their voting party and registration information. 

She is readily described as, “literally the most thoughtful person I know.” One time during an election, a co-worker mentioned they were hungry and Elaine offered them her lunch, saying that she was going home earlier than them and could get something to eat then. She also once offered her shoes to someone whose feet were sore from standing for hours on the concrete that Elaine herself had been standing on too. 

Those who know Elaine speak of her boundless kindness, reliability, and humility. She seeks no fanfare and you might not realize how many lives she’s touched because she prefers working behind the scenes. But ask anyone, from a nursing patient she comforted or a child who found a gift on their doorstep, to a colleague or a volunteer board, and the stories pour forth – of Elaine showing up, helping out, and making a difference. She is one of the quiet architects of Camden’s strong social fabric, described in a 2022 Penobscot Bay Pilot article honoring late historian Barbara Dyer as part of the “network of strong Camden women who keep the town intact… watching out for those in need”. 

Whether she is power walking around town early in the morning with her daughter, Jennifer, or rearranging medical supplies for Camden Area District Nursing Association in the overflow storage container that she tends to at Chip Laite’s property, she is known for always being on the move. Elaine is described by everyone we asked as a worker, not a talker, quietly getting things done wherever she goes, and always doing something good. A fellow volunteer said, “she is impossible to say no to” and we encourage all residents to say yes to Elaine.

Through her quiet, steady service across so many facets of town life, Elaine Davis has touched countless lives and strengthened the very fabric of our community. The Town of Camden extends its deepest gratitude to Elaine for her extraordinary contributions and tireless dedication to our town.