OLD ORCHARD BEACH — When Old Orchard Beach Alumni Association scholarship treasurer and past-president Sandy Lord died at the age of 82 on May 31, she left behind two requests on a note on her desk.

“She said, ‘Dear Mark, though I am gone I am still giving orders,” said Mark Andrews, Old Orchard Beach High School Alumni Association President.

The first request was if there was to be a celebration of life in her honor, it be held before a football game, with music and stories, said Andrews. The second request was to refurbish the whale mural on the front of the high school. Lord had spent the last two years of her life raising funds to refurbish the mural painted on the aluminum siding, which over the years had faded.

The mural was created in 1998 by artist and conservationist Robert Wyland. Known simply as Wyland, the artist has painted “Whaling Walls” – large outdoor murals of whales and other sea life – across the United States and in several other countries.

In 1998, Old Orchard Beach High School was chosen as a stop on Wyland’s first National Art Challenge. In honor of the U.N. General Assembly’s designation of 1998 as the International Year of the Ocean, Wyland and his team traveled to 50 states in 50 days, painting two to three schools a day.

Russel Whitten, now an accomplished artist, was a student at Old Orchard Beach High School when Wyman came to paint the mural. He said Wyman and his team got out their paint spray guns and other equipment and finished the mural in about an hour.

“He was a professional,” said Whitten.

The highlight for him on that day back in 1998 was that he was chosen to help Wyland paint the mural.

“It was kind of a big deal for me. I got up on a ladder and painted that seal,” he said, pointing to a seal in the lower left-hand section of the mural.

 

Artist Russel Whitten restores the Whale Wall at Old Orchard Beach High School last week in the photo to the left by Liz Gotthelf. The photo to the right shows Whitten working on the mural in 1998, when he was a high school student.

It was only fitting that Whitten be commissioned to restore the wall, and fulfill Lord’s dying request. Whitten lives in Ocean Park, and he and his wife have three children in the school system – one in each building.

“It’s either try to save what’s here or it becomes a memory,” said Whitten. “It means a lot to this community. It’s things like this that bind us.”

He worked Tuesday through Friday of last week, getting words of encouragement from students who were on campus at the start of the school year. Several community members stopped by and remarked that they noticed the mural from the road as they drove by the high school.

Early Friday afternoon the restoration was nearly complete. SBN STAFF/Liz Gotthelf

With the platform of a boom lift as his studio, he refreshed the seascape, using a brush to repaint the faded whale and surrounding scenery.  Whitten took photos of sections of the faded mural, and referenced them as he painted. He was quick to point out that while he was doing the restoration, the artwork was Wyland’s work.

“I hope this lasts another 25 years,” he said.

Sandy Lord’s other wish will be honored. A celebration of life will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, outside the Old Orchard Beach gymnasium with the unveiling of the restored Wyland Wall and a tailgate party before the Old Orchard Beach High School reigning State Champion Football Team takes on Dirigo. There will be music, hamburgers and hotdogs, guest speakers, and a video tribute to Lord.

 Lord taught home economics at Old Orchard Beach High School for many years, and re-established the alumni association after she retired in 1999.

“Sandra Lord touched immeasurable lives in the community of Old Orchard Beach and, for that, her caring personality and dedication to the Old Orchard Beach School System and townspeople can never be replaced,” said Old Orchard Beach Superintendent John Suttie in a written statement on the day of Lord’s death.

Saco Bay News Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.