'An inconspicuous hero' Erskine graduate remembered as quiet, warm-hearted

Thursday, December 23, 2004

By ELBERT AULL
Staff Writer

SOMERVILLE -- A firefighting father. A mother who took in foster children. A neighborhood full of soldiers.

That was the environment that made 20-year-old Thomas J. "Tom" Dostie -- one of two Mainers killed when a suicide bomber struck Camp Marez in Mosul, Iraq, on Tuesday -- the warm-hearted, patriotic man he was, those close to him said Wednesday.

"You never know when you're going to have a hero in your classroom," said Lars Jonassen, one of Dostie's high school teachers. "He was an inconspicuous hero."

Living in a small town of around 500, in a home set back from a dirt road and obscured by pine trees, Dostie was as quiet as his surroundings -- but far from reclusive, teachers and family members said.

"People just loved him," said John Houllahan, Dostie's godfather and one of the family's foster children.

Houllahan, of Winthrop, stood Wednesday outside the Dostie family home on Frye Road -- a narrow stretch off Route 105 that leads to homes overlooking Long Pond -- and told a group of journalists about his godson.

Houllahan said Dostie, who signed up for the Guard as a junior in high school, walked to his own beat in life.

"He was blazing his own path," Houllahan said. "That was his passion."

Houllahan was spokesman for members of the Dostie family Wednesday, many of whom asked not to be interviewed because their wounds were too fresh.

Houllahan, neighbors, coaches and teachers painted a picture of a quiet man who harbored a deep sense of pride in his family, country and school.

Dostie wasn't the flashy type, said his teachers and coaches at Erskine Academy in China.

He was on the swimming and wrestling teams during high school, but didn't brag about being an athlete. He did what was asked of him in practice and in the classroom, but didn't cause problems when he finished tasks early.

If anything, teachers said, Dostie was the quiet and unassuming student in the corner of the class who would look out for those who struggled with work or felt alienated from their peers.

"If there was someone in the group that people were ignoring, Tommy would go out of his way to make that person feel comfortable," said Diane Dow, Dostie's advisor and homeroom teacher throughout high school.

Wrestling Coach Pat Vigue said Dostie, who competed as a lightweight at around 112 pounds, was focused and easy to mentor.

"He showed up, did everything he was asked and never really said all that much about it," Vigue said.

Jonassen, who was Dostie's favorite teacher, said he often helped other students who struggled in the senior business math class. He said Dostie also made it obvious he respected his parents.

"He spoke very well of his parents. You don't always see that in teenagers," Jonassen said.

Dostie's father, Michael, is Somerville's fire chief. His mother, Peggy, was a booster at Erskine and helped organize the Augusta chapter of Heart to Heart, a support group for the families of deployed military.

Tom Dostie followed in his father's footsteps, serving as a volunteer firefighter and working at the family's lawnmower repair shop.

During the latter part of his high school career, teachers said he struggled in his search for a future.

He eventually found it in the Maine National Guard, where he served as a mechanic in the 133rd Engineering Battalion, they said.

Erskine history teacher Betsy Fitzgerald remembered telling her graduating seniors near the end of the 2002 school year to "go forth and save the world."

For Thomas Dostie, that meant serving in the Guard.

"This was his way of going forth and saving the world," she said.

Staff Writers Mechele Cooper and Danielle Gamiz contributed to this report.

Elbert Aull -- 623-3811, Ext. 433

eaull@centralmaine.com