Lynn R. Poulin Sr.'s abilities to make things out of next-to-nothing were well known around town.
"He was the MacGyver of the neighborhood, that's what he was," said Dot Waterman, a neighbor who had known him since he was a child.
She recalled Poulin coming up the road for a visit, usually smelling of chain saw oil and cigarettes, sawdust in his hair and a smile on his face. He also was always willing to extend help to others.
"He would have had to be incapacitated not to help you," she said.
Poulin, 47, of Freedom, Maine, was killed Dec. 21 during an attack on a dining hall in Mosul. He was based at Belfast and served in the Army National Guard for 23 years.
Poulin worked as a welder and ship-fitter at Bath Iron Works and for Omega Trucking Company. Waterman said she was certain Poulin's fellow soldiers must have appreciated his abilities.
"If he was in a truck, you know it had the most armor on it," she said. "You know he would have scrounged every piece of scrap metal."
He is survived by his wife, Jeanne; sons, Michael, Lynn Jr. and Ryan; and a daughter, Cindi.
