Obituary of Michael E Gosselin

Michael Ernest Gosselin, 68, of Oakland and Saco, physics teacher extraordinaire, passed away on December 23, 2016, at Maine Medical Center due to brain injury resulting from a cardiac arrest suffered the previous week. Mike is survived by his wife of 45 years, Elizabeth “Polly” Hubbell Gosselin; his son Anthony, wife Jaime (Takatsu) and their daughters Riley and Tatum; his son Nicholas, wife Amanda (Miller) and their son who will make an appearance early in the new year; his sister Christine Greene, husband Garry and their sons Jon and Joe. He was predeceased by his parents. Born on March 4, 1948 in Lewiston to Arthur Charles Gosselin and Chantal (Dube) Gosselin, Mike attended l’école Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul and Lewiston High School. In 1970, he graduated from Bates College with a degree in physics. During his time at Bates, he was a “townie” and lived at home, working at the Bates Mill and the Lewiston Post Office in the summers in order to pay his tuition. When Mike started teaching right out of college, a good friend and fellow teacher, Wes Day, took him under his wing and convinced him to undertake a Master’s program in Mathematics Education at UMO. He later completed a second Master’s degree in Computer Technology Education at Thomas College. That program resulted in his creating a website, apphysics.net, which he then used in place of a textbook to teach his physics classes. Mike also leaves many former students. He taught physics from 1970 to 2006 at Waterville High School. He could almost always recognize a former student and know their year of graduation. He followed their lives and careers with great interest and more than a little bit of pride. He also had former “clients” from his years as assistant principal and was equally proud of their successes. He coached the Waterville Scott Hi-Q team to many victories and directed graduation ceremonies that ran like clockwork. Mike took advantage of every learning opportunity available to him. He spent time during his summer “vacations” at Princeton under the Woodrow Wilson program, at NASA, and at several different colleges and universities. Mike was one of the founders of the Maine Physics Teachers Summer Institute (which was an outgrowth of his Woodrow Wilson experience and fondly known as “science nerd camp” by his family) and was on the staff of the Maine Math and Science institutes. He received many awards, including a Siemens Award for Advanced Placement teaching and the Williams College Olmsted Award for Excellence in Teaching. He was recognized as an “Honorary Engineer” by the Francis Crowe Society of UMO and named a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary. Advanced Placement education was very dear to Mike’s heart. He took great pride in the number of his students who scored high enough to get placement and/or credit for college physics as a result of his teaching and their hard work. The College Board employed him to teach summer classes for physics teachers who wished to start or improve AP teaching. In addition to Mike’s professional activities, he represented Oakland on the school board for many years, and he served as chair for a majority of those years. At St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Waterville, he served as a lay reader, Junior Warden and vestry member, chaired the Christmas fair, and organized public suppers for outreach with Polly. At various times he worked at the Evening Sandwich Program and the Waterville Area Food Bank. While he was able, Mike was an avid gardener, harvesting thousands of tomatoes and turning them into tomato sauce. He also enjoyed a friendly cribbage or duplicate bridge game. After Mike was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1993, Mike and Polly referred to their rounds of the medical establishment as “The Adventure.” Deep brain stimulation surgery gave him many good years after the disease started to limit his mobility. Eventually, he developed cervical spinal stenosis unrelated to PD, which severely limited his mobility and dexterity in his last years. Mike and Polly worked as a team to get every possible good day together, and many caring and talented medical professionals aided their efforts. Among the recent standouts were Cathie Kimball, D.O., Ed Drasby, D.O., Wendy Claveau D.P.T. and Syed Kazmi, M.D. His family is also especially grateful to the staff of the Special Care Unit of Maine Medical Center, as well as to the staff of the New England Rehab Hospital for their help this summer in getting Mike back in shape after an earlier hospitalization. There are too many people to name, but we hope that you know who you are and will smile when remembering the guy in the Hawaiian shirt. A memorial service will be held at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Eustis Parkway in Waterville on Saturday January 7, 2017 at 11 am. Ugly neckties will be available. In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to a charity of your choice, such as caringbridge.org or a local food bank.