Ernie's Turtle returns to Bolduc Park after over a decade

GILFORD — It’s been roughly 15 years since Bob Bolduc had seen the snapping turtle which resides in a pond at Bolduc Park. But on June 7, a turtle was seen making the trek across the golf course, then Gilford Avenue to lay her eggs in the sand.

“We hadn't seen the turtle, and then one of my workers said, ‘Hey, there's a huge turtle out here,’” Bob said. “Oh my god, it's her, and she's headed for the road.”

Gilford police responded to the scene with two officers to help stop traffic to allow the turtle to cross.

“I can’t say I recall during my tenure here having to direct a turtle across the street,” Capt. Dustin Parent, an officer of 21 years, said.

This turtle, known as “Ernie’s Turtle,” is named after Ernest “Ernie” Smith, a volunteer who helped build Bolduc Park when Bob first came up with the idea in the 1970s. Ernie kept track of the turtle each year until he died following an asthma attack in 1996. The turtle would swim in a pond on the golf course, now dubbed “Ernie’s Pond,” which sits adjacent to a memorial to Ernie. Since his death, the turtle has been a reminder of Bob’s friend each time it would come out of the pond to lay its eggs.

The average lifespan of a turtle is between 30 and 40 years, and some turtles can live up to 100 years old. Bob is sure this is the same turtle Ernie was watching all those years ago.

“Ernie is probably looking down on it and saying, ‘I made it come back to let you know that my turtle is still here,’” Bob said.

Bob and Ernie were friends all the way back to high school. Ernie was a star player on the Laconia High School football team in the late '50s and early '60s. He eventually went on to play football for the University of Maine. Ernie had the potential to play professionally after college, but instead joined the National Guard with Bob and fought in the Vietnam War.

“He was going to go A1 because the draft was on,” Bob said about Ernie’s football talent.

“He could have gone to Canada probably to become a conscientious objector, but instead, he came to me and wanted to join the National Guard.”

After serving in the war, Ernie returned home to coach the Nashua High School football team, get married and start a family. After 10 years in Nashua and a divorce, he returned to Gilford to live with his parents. Bob said Ernie came to him for help after all that time away, and didn’t seem in good shape.

“He could hardly speak because he had a nervous breakdown,” Bob said. “Some of it was Vietnam probably.”

Bob took his longtime friend in. He would take care of him, and in exchange, Ernie helped Bob construct what is now Bolduc Park.

“I was feeding him, and taking care of him, and clothing him, and he was just working as a volunteer,” Bob said.

While working as a volunteer, Ernie started watching the turtle every summer. Every time the turtle made its way through the park, Ernie would escort her to her destination, even if it meant blocking traffic.

“I'd go over and have her bite a stick and then pull her across the road because she was holding up traffic,” Bob said. “Nobody wanted to confront Ernie at parade rest to hurt his turtle. He was a pretty awesome looking guy.”

Since Ernie’s death, it has been a tradition at Bolduc Park to escort the turtle in honor of the longtime volunteer, so not seeing the turtle for over a decade was disheartening. The turtle returning reignited the team's remembrance of Ernie. Bolduc Park volunteer Cynthia Foster, 75, who was a neighbor to Ernie and his parents, said no matter what, Ernie will always be remembered as long as Bolduc Park persists.

“You kind of touch little bits of things in nature. So who he was becomes part of where he was. So, Bolduc Park, because he put so much of himself into this and building it and creating it, he becomes part of it,” she said. “Physically, he's gone, but he left his essence.”