Oayma Joshua Colby Sr. (1906-1993)

Portrait from the Maine Legislature composite photo, 1937.

   Sporting a truly unique first name, one-term Maine state representative Oayma J. Colby's life bears similarity to another Maine legislator profiled here, Bancroft Hussey Wallingford (1891-1975). In addition to serving in state government, both men were lifelong Maine natives who had long-term involvement in agriculture, with both making a specialty of orcharding. A graduate of the University of Maine with a degree in horticulture, Oayma Colby went on to work as an orchardist and for a time operated his own farm. Following his service in the legislature, he would be affiliated with the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, serving as the Superintendent of Highmoor Farm.

   The son of Joshua William Small Colby (1876-1940) and his wife, the former Mary Ann Davis (1876-1942), Oayma Joshua Colby was born in Maine on June 4, 1906. Little is known of his early life or schooling, except notice of his enrollment at the University of Maine in the late 1920s. A member of that school's Agriculture Club and Varsity Winter Sports Team, Colby graduated in the class of 1929 with his B.S. degree in Horticulture.

   After leaving the University of Maine Oayma Colby began a three-year stint as an orchardist with the W.S. Wyman farm in Winthrop, Maine. Colby married in Maine in November 1933 to Sylvia Morrissette (1910-1996). The couple was wed for nearly sixty years and their union would see the births of four children: Oayma Joshua Jr. (born 1934), Alden (birth-date unknown), Peter (1944-1973), and Maryann (1955-2015).

Colby's senior portrait from the University of Maine "Prism", 1929.

   Following the conclusion of his work at the W.S. Wyman farms Oayma Colby operated his own farm in Oxford County, and for several years engaged in orcharding and poultry raising. In 1936 he won election as one of Oxford County's representatives to the Maine state legislature and served during the 1937-39 session. Aside from his dates of service and the length of his term, nothing else could be located on Colby's time as a representative.

   At the conclusion of his legislative term Colby returned to farming, and for two years was employed at the Western Maine Sanatorium as its farm manager. His time there saw him oversee a vast farming complex, comprising

"A sixty cow dairy herd, eighty head of hogs, twenty acres of truck and field crops, and an orchard producing 2,000 bushels of apples."

   In March 1941 Oayma Colby was appointed as superintendent of the Highmoor Farm at Monmouth, Maine. This farm, part of the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, is still in existence today, and during Colby's tenure comprised over 220 acres of land and upwards of 3,000 apple trees. Colby resigned from Highmoor Farm in 1943 and was succeeded in the superintendency by W. Damon Hoar.  

Oayma J. Colby (on left), at a 1950 Oxford County Farm Bureau meeting.

    After leaving Highmoor Farm Colby returned to Oxford County and in the mid-1940s served as the Vice-President of the Oxford County Farm Bureau. In November 1950 he was elected as the president of that organization (serving during the 1951 year) and was also a member of the Paris, Maine school committee. 

   A resident of Norway, Maine in the latter period of his life, Oayma J. Colby died in that town on June 7, 1993, three days after his 87th birthday. He was survived by his wife Sylvia, who, following her death in 1996, was interred alongside her husband at the Riverside Annex Cemetery in South Paris, Maine.

Bancroft Hussey Wallingford (1890-1975)

From the Lewiston Daily Sun, January 30, 1932.

   A two-term member of the Maine State House of Representatives, Bancroft Hussey Wallingford was for many years prominent in agricultural circles in his native county of Androscoggin. Born in Auburn, Maine on December 13, 1890, Bancroft H. Wallingford was the son of John and Emma (Crowell) Wallingford and was a student in schools local to Auburn. A graduate of the Edward Little High School in 1907, Wallingford married on September 27, 1922, in Auburn to Ms. Winifred Olfene (1892-1988), with whom he would have two children, Otto Henry (1923-2000) and Helen Louise Wallingford (born 1926). 

   From the few brief mentions of him online, Mr. Wallingford is remarked as being a successful farmer and is acknowledged by a 1932 edition of the Lewiston Daily Sun as having "set himself an orchard that is said will be one of the best in the state when it comes to fruitage." This orchard grew to be one of the largest in Maine and in addition to this Wallingford also owned a large farm in the town of Litchfield, "with 80 acres under the plow, 40 acres being grown to potatoes every year. This is the largest planting of potatoes in this or adjoining counties." The B.H. Wallingford Orchards on Perkins Ridge in Auburn continued to produce a substantial amount of apples for many decades onward, and in 1948 was turned over to his son Otto, who continued to operate it until it was sold in 1968 to West Breeze Orchards, Inc.

   In addition to his being an orchardist and farmer, Wallingford found prominence in Auburn political affairs, being elected to the Maine State House of Representatives from the county of Androscoggin in 1930. He was reelected in 1932 and was profiled in the Lewiston Daily Sun during his reelection bid. This paper noted that "having had one term's experience he feels that he is in a better position than ever to help serve the people", and that during his first term held a seat on the House Committee on Agriculture.

  Following his service in state government, little else could be located on Wallingford's life. He continued to be involved in agriculture in his native town of Auburn and died there "of a lingering illness" on February 23, 1975, at age 84. He was shortly thereafter interred at the Mount Auburn Cemetery. He was survived by both his children as well as his wife Winifred, who died at age 96 in April 1988. 

From the Feb. 24, 1975 edition of the Lewiston Sun Journal.