Aaron Gordon first met Corporal Eugene Cole as a dispatcher at the Somerset Regional Communications Center in Skowhegan. The Somerset County sheriff’s deputy – “Gene” or “Grampy” or “Gramps” to friends – stopped in occasionally to chat and get to know the public safety staff. These visits, says Gordon, were “immensely important to maintain a good connection between the responders on the street and the dispatchers behind the radio.”
Cole’s life ended tragically on April 25, 2018, when he was shot in his hometown of Norridgewock as he tried to arrest a drug suspect. Gordon has fond memories of Cole’s dry sense of humor and remembers his colleague as “the most reasonable and fair officer” with whom he ever worked.
Gordon had continued to cross paths with Cole prior to the shooting as his career advanced to Mercer Rescue and the Norridgewock Fire Department. It was there that Gordon supported law enforcement during the four-day manhunt for Cole’s killer.
On April 25, 2020, Gordon became the first recipient of the Corporal Eugene Cole Scholarship. Managed by the Maine Community Foundation, the scholarship supports Somerset County residents pursuing careers in law enforcement or public safety. The Cole family presented him with the scholarship on “Corporal Eugene Cole Day” in Norridgewock. “I could not be more humbled to be given this gift, especially with the emotional ties it has for me,” Gordon says.
The scholarship represents another step in Gordon’s education journey that began at Mount Blue High School and included studies in fire science at Southern Maine Community College, a live-in firefighter program in Windham, and, most recently, rookie school through the South Portland Fire Department.
Along the way, Gordon worked in public safety dispatch centers and took on vocational and public safety employment while maintaining an on-call status with local fire departments. In 2018, he became a full-time firefighter/ EMT in Farmington, a position he left about a year later to pursue a paramedic license. He worked for Delta Ambulance in Waterville as an EMT and was hired full time in June as a firefighter/EMT for the City of South Portland.
Gordon is using the $2,070 Cole Scholarship for studies to obtain a paramedic license through a nationally accredited program at the United Training Center in Lewiston. The financial support was especially important: As a nontraditional student attending an educational center not affiliated with the University of Maine system, Gordon cannot access traditional student aid.
Gordon plans to continue per-diem and on-call work for the Reddington-Fairview General Hospital EMS in Skowhegan and the Farmington and Norridgewock fire departments.
These jobs, he explains, generally don’t fall in the same week as one another or conflict with his full-time position as a firefighter/paramedic with the City of South Portland. Gordon also aspires to be an instructor in emergency services.
Corporal Cole’s family, friends, and law enforcement brothers and sisters launched the scholarship fund at the Maine Community Foundation to honor the deputy’s passion for law enforcement. “I did a bit of research and talked to [MaineCF Scholarship Funds Manager] Liz Fickett, and within weeks we were up and running,” said Sheryl Cole, his wife of 41 years.
“We felt extremely proud, blessed, and comforted to be able to award the first scholarship to Aaron, who worked with Gene,” she said. “Our family wants to help those who choose to help others,” she added. “It’s the Corporal Cole way: respect, dignity, and kindness, the way he treated everyone,” she said. “We want his way to live on.”
The Maine Community Foundation has worked with donors and educators since 1983 to provide Maine students access to educational opportunities. MaineCF manages more than 660 scholarship funds. For more information about our scholarship program, contact Scholarship Funds Manager Liz Fickett at efickett@mainecf.org.
Top: Aaron Gordon at the Norridgewock Fire Department. Photo Ashley Conti
Corporal Eugene Cole was 61 when he was killed in the line of duty.
Runners, led by Cole’s daughter Jill (at right), cross the Corporal Eugene Cole Memorial Bridge in Norridgewock during the second annual Corporal Cole Memorial 5k and Half Marathon. Due to the pandemic, this year’s races were virtual. All proceeds support the scholarship. Photo Cheyenne Paron/Town Line
