About the author: Mark Gulow, DO is an emergency room physician in Michigan. He is the owner and CEO of Gulow Medical PLLC and the founding member of the Northern Michigan Emergency group.
One of the Maine realtors that we all came to talk to was Dave Abbott, and he could always be found at a place called Hattie’s Deli in "the pool". Like the Cheers TV show, we had our regulars at Hattie’s, and everyone knew your name. Mr. Abbott always sat by the back door and sipped his coffee hoping a medical student or professor would come by looking for housing. Sometimes a Secret Service agent would come to Hattie’s with his wired ear piece and trench coat asking if I knew a local lobsterman who applied to guard the gate at Walkers Point for President George Bush. Hattie’s was a special place for all the early classes to hang out and socialize and try and forget Dr. Shoeman's Pharmacology classes. Victoria Breault, or Vicki as she was affectionately known, would make you homemade carrot cake and lobster rolls and ask how your day was at school and, for many of us, she became a second mother.
To give you a sense of her compassion and commitment to her NECOM “kids”, she and the local lobstermen built me a lobster shack so I wouldn't have to go back to my hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts in the summers. In the winter, she would get us to play instruments and sing Christmas carols around the pool, and from time to time, she would host special dinners just for the medical students. She worked long hours and was a tough taskmaster but she was adored and loved by all who knew her. Sadly, Vicki passed away last year and, because of COVID, could not have a service. She is buried at the local Biddeford Pool church, surrounded by her family.
Hattie's Deli