Sorting, tagging, and smiling: Attic volunteer shines

Savvy shoppers will tell you that there are a lot of treasures on the shelves and racks of The Attic thrift store in Bangor, but to find one of the most valuable ones, you have to head to the tagging room. That is where Connie Caron has been volunteering for the past 35 years, ever since she retired from her job as a pharmacy technician.

“I retired at 65. I retired on a Friday, and I went to work on a Monday,” she says.

If you do the math, you will realize that puts Connie’s age at 100, a birthday that she will celebrate in August. Although a recent fall has finally slowed her down, those with whom she has served say she has been a model to follow for years.

“Connie is our hero. We all want to be Connie when we’re her age. We want to be just like her. She is sharp as a tack, works circles around all of us, and her sense of humor is wonderful,” says Maureen Teixeira, who has volunteered at the store since retiring from teaching in 2014.

“She is abuzz back there in the tagging room. She can tag with the best of them,” says Dave Teixeira, Maureen’s husband, who has volunteered at the store for about four years.

“Her sense of humor, her work ethic, her work attitude, her down-to-earth style, and all those old values that people are raised with around here, that is Connie,” says Kathy Connolly, a volunteer for the past eight years.

Connie says she decided to volunteer at The Attic because of the cause it supports. Proceeds benefit All Saints Catholic School in Bangor, which serves children in grades pre-K through 8.

“It supported the school, number one. That is very important — to keep those schools running,” she says.

Connie says she understands the value of Catholic schools, having attended St. Mary’s Catholic School herself from kindergarten through eighth grade and then having sent her five children to St. John’s School. The two schools merged in 2000 to become All Saints.

“Students learn about God first and foremost, but they learn a lot more. They learn respect, and that is important,” she says.

Connie says she always likes to read the bulletin announcements about the students’ achievements and loves seeing the children come to daily Mass.

“I love it on Wednesday, when the little ones come into church. They are so funny,” she says. “They march in there, and they are just adorable.”

Connie says while it was the support for All Saints that first brought her to The Attic, she says she wouldn’t have kept volunteering all these years if she didn’t enjoy it.

“There are a lot of nice people you work with. You get to know them, and then you see the customers who are coming in. I think seeing things go out the door has been the most enjoyable part. The more that went out, the better you knew you were doing,” she says.

Connie’s specialty is sorting through and tagging donated clothes. Her fellow volunteers say she can do it so fast, they can’t keep up.

“She can examine and tag clothing faster than two people. It seems like you just give her a tote when she’s asking for another. The Attic is blessed to have such a super lady be part of the team,” says Donna Greenlaw, a volunteer leader.

Her sense of humor and playful personality also often shine through, lifting the spirits of those around her.

“Connie has a sense of humor like no one else. She keeps that tagging room laughing and looking forward to the next day of working with her. Keeping the troops entertained is a gift that the Tuesday crew always talks about,” says Donna.

That entertainment sometimes comes in the form of modeling the more unusual fashions that come in.

“She always has a sense of humor. She would come out sometimes and say, ‘Look at this T-Shirt.’ She would have a T-Shirt on and take a picture of herself in it,” says Dave.

“Sometimes, these outlandish outfits would come in, and I would try them on, and everyone would say, yeah, that’s what you should use the next time you’re on the altar,” says Connie.

In addition to volunteering at the thrift store, Connie has served as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion at Mass and as a cemetery angel, cleaning gravestones. She has also brought the Eucharist to nursing home residents and led them in praying the Rosary.

“That has been really very important to me,” she says.

Connie says she has been praying the Rosary since she was a child.

“We always went to church. We always did the Rosary around the dining room table, and if the telephone rang, you couldn’t answer it,” she says. “You just let it ring. The Rosary comes first.”

For her volunteer work, Connie was honored with the 2019-2020 Pilar Thibodeau Volunteer of the Year Award, named for the woman who managed The Attic for 35 years. Her fellow volunteers say it was well deserved.

“She is just amazing. I can’t say enough about her — her generosity of spirit, her humor, everything,” says Patricia Hickey, a volunteer for the past year. “She is my hero.”