The Recompense Fund was launched in 1992 by island resident Eldon Mayer. In 2014, management of the fund was transferred to the Maine Community Foundation, though it still exists to benefit nonprofit groups working to sustain the island as a year-round community.
While covering the Vietnam War, Dudman and two other journalists were ambushed in Cambodia. To help reassure a younger, very frightened colleague, Dudman said: “If we get out of this alive, we’ll have one hell of a good story.”
Think back to 2008: summer Olympics in Beijing; signs of the Great Recession start to show; Barack Obama is elected president; Celtics beat the Lakers in the NBA finals.