LEWISTON, Maine (news agencies) — Immediately after Maine’s deadliest mass shooting, the owners of the bowling alley and the bar in Lewiston where the gunman killed a total of 18 people were certain their doors were closed for good.
Yet as time passed, they came to the same conclusion: They had to reopen.
In interviews with media, Just-In-Time Recreation co-owner Samantha Juray and Schemengees Bar & Grille co-owner Kathy Lebel spoke about their businesses, the Oct. 25 shooting, and how their thinking shifted after support began to build from their families, the Lewiston community, and from across the country.
Their journeys offer hope. Not only for the owners, but also their employees and patrons, as a community reeling from the violence looks to regain the sense of camaraderie and fun that always attracted people to the venues.
Kathy Lebel loved to play pool. But she couldn’t fit a full table in her house and spent way too much money at local pool halls.
Then one night in bed, her husband, David, mentioned that one of her haunts, Schemengees, was up for sale. Lebel immediately sat up and said they should buy it.
“He looks at me and says, ‘We’re not going to buy that,’” Lebel says. “I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me? I’m going to buy it. I don’t know what it takes, but I want that pool hall.’”
Lebel got her way. After buying it 25 years ago, she relocated the business and expanded it to become Schemengees Bar & Grille.
She also ignored the advice to change the name — a nickname of the previous owner — amused that people struggled to pronounce or spell it correctly.
After her husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 12 years ago, Lebel became increasingly responsible for the bar’s day-to-day management. She also had her own health crisis, surviving inflammatory breast cancer.
Lebel came to rely most on Joe Walker, whom she jokingly called her work husband. Together, they opened a second restaurant in Lewiston just as COVID-19 hit but managed to survive the downturn.
“He’s my biggest cheerleader,” Lebel says. “And he don’t give up.”
On Oct. 25, Lebel took a rare night off to celebrate her husband’s birthday. At the bar, Walker was sitting down near the cornhole board when gunman Robert Card walked in.
Lebel’s phone lit up. She read as far as “mass shooting.”
“I just stood up, and I said, ‘Joe’s dead,’” Lebel says. “Because I always knew how Joe was.”
According to witnesses, Walker tried to stop the shooter but was killed.
Hours later, Lebel posted a message on Facebook: “My heart is crushed.”
Lebel told herself: “I’m done. I quit. It’s over.” She didn’t even want to leave her house.
Eventually, though, she read some of the messages that were pouring in. They included questions about her plans from Lewiston’s deaf community, four of whom were killed at the bar while playing a cornhole tournament. She realized how much they wanted to return. Some of her relatives implored her not to let it end like this.
“I finally decided that I have to reopen,” Lebel says.
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