Sid Ames dead at 92

Sid Ames, the 92-year-old businessman who was a fixture at Weirs Beach for decades, passed away in his sleep early Thursday morning, according to his son and partner Michael Ames.

Sid Ames started his arcade business, the Half Moon Family Fun Center, in 1948 after owning a similar operation in Orchard Beach, Me. with his father for several years. Over the years, the local arcade quadrupled in size and his business interests expanded to include the Half Moon Motel and Cottages.

Michael, who will now manage his father’s businesses along with his brothers Jeff and Robert, said he’d always remember his father as “a sweet man… He was a person who really cared about a lot of people. He went out of his way to help people a lot of time. Especially people who came in and who needed a job when they were down and out. And even when they’d moved on they’d come back… Everybody always really truly felt the warmth in my dads’ heart. That was important to me.”

Brother Robert Ames agrees, noting his father’s keen business acumen as well.

“He was a great inspiration and he was always thinking, always planning,” Robert recalled. “And he was a great leader and a great dad.”

Joe Driscoll, the owner of the Cozy Inn and Cottages located across the street from the Ames’ inn, said Sid Ames was “a mentor to everyone around here in a lot of ways. He was always very positive about business and how to go about it. He was adamant about bringing families here (to Weirs Beach), about providing affordable vacations for people...

“He means a lot to this community,” Driscoll added. “He was always there — someone you could always count on to help whether it was with the fireworks programming or planters… Anything positive for the Weirs community he was into wholeheartedly.”

For Charlie St. Clair, the executive director of the Laconia Motorcycle Week Association, the loss of Sid Ames is even more personal.

“To me, he was a wonderful human being,” said St. Clair. “I grew up around him. His son Jeff and I were the same age and we hung around together. And he’s always been a moving force, a businessman — but the reality was that his real interests was the benefit of Weirs Beach. There’s no doubt about that.

“I know we can’t live forever, but I wish people like Sid could.”

Ames life was almost as adventurous as the many games that filled his arcade. He was born in Orono, Me. where his father opened an arcade and bowling alley. In 1934 and 1935 Ames traveled on the carnival and fair circuit where he saw some of the first pinball machines ever made. The family moved their arcade business to Old Orchard Beach, Me. in 1936.

About 10 years later, Ames visited Weirs Beach where he saw the potential for an arcade business here. The next year he opened a business here, renting space next to the Half Moon Snack Bar. After his father’s sudden death in 1950, Sid and his mother Fannie moved permanently to Weirs Beach. (Fannie remained involved in the business until her death in 1972 and was well known to many visitors.) Two years later, Ames bought a building and began growing his business. The arcade later expanded regularly in size. He remained active in its operations until this past summer when it celebrated its 60th anniversary in seasonal operation.

Michael Ames said his father suffered with both cancer and heart disease for about 10 years but was still able to maintain his vitality until a series of mishaps that began this past summer. “He fell in June and broke his hip,” the son said. “And he stopped eating for awhile and lost a lot of weight. But he came back — and a month after that my mom (Lillian Ames) passed away.

“But he actually rebounded from that and he was going to go to Florida for the winter like he’s been doing since 1938.”

Then shortly after Thanksgiving, Ames went to visit his doctor who told him there was water in his left lung. He’d had similar situations before and had had the water surgically removed but this time when it was done Ames did not recover as quickly, Michael Ames said.

“That was basically the end,” the son recalled. “He got down to 100 pounds, he couldn’t eat. He didn’t have the appetite. He struggled for about two moths. Then we got hospice in there last week and he gave up. He knew it was over. The nurse said he basically got tired of fighting being tired.”