Authorities have positively identified human remains found in St. Andrews as those of a former Lubec man who was reported missing in early July after going out on a paddleboard near West Quoddy Head. Harold Dean Jackson III, known as Dean, age 46, had been reported missing on July 6 after heading out on the water from the boathouse that his family owns near West Quoddy Station where he had been staying. Numerous agencies then conducted an extensive search of the area, and his paddleboard was found near Upper Duck Pond on Campobello, which is across the Lubec Channel from West Quoddy Station.
      On August 19 human remains were found on a beach in St. Andrews, which is about 17 miles away. They were sent to Wyndham Forensic Group, a laboratory in Ontario, for DNA analysis, with the positive results coming back last week, according to Chief Deputy Michael Crabtree of the Washington County Sheriff's Office.
      Following notification of the identification of the remains, Peter Jackson, Dean's brother, wrote in a post, "This confirmation in addition to the other conclusions that were collected by these agencies in the immediate days following Dean's disappearance are providing us with the peace that we have been desperately seeking."
      As friends of Dean have been seeking information about what happened, his brother relates what the agencies in charge of the search have provided to the family. It was determined that Dean had recently acquired an inflatable paddleboard, as packaging was found at the boathouse, and it is assumed that he took this board out onto the ocean and became separated from the board and perished at sea. The search by numerous agencies yielded no results, except for the finding of the paddleboard, until the recovery of the physical remains.
      "This is the best we can hope for," says Peter, of the recovery of the remains. "We can now put him to rest."
      He writes, "As painful as this information is to receive and share, we are also thankful that the tortuous months of not knowing can now give way to the peace of knowing that Dean has been found and can be laid to rest alongside his father and other family members in his hometown of Cheraw, S.C." A gathering to remember Dean was held on November 16 just outside Asheville, N.C. A gathering also had been held in Cheraw on October 5 that was attended by many relatives and friends of Dean. "We will be forever grateful for all who were able to attend and share their love and memories of Dean," Peter writes.
      Of the service in Asheville, Peter states, "It was really very painful on one level but beautiful on the other." His brother had been an instructor with Outward Bound for about 25 years, and Peter says it "was very profound to hear others speak about him" and to learn about his "impact on thousands of lives of students."
      Dean had lived in Lubec full time from about 1993 to 2001 and had graduated from Washington Academy. He had quite a few friends in the Lubec area, and his brother says that although Dean, at 6'2" with an outdoorsman physique, had "a big imposing physical presence," he was "a gentle and kind soul who would stop and help people on the side of the road and take an interest in those who needed encouragement in their lives."
      The family offers its gratitude to the agencies and organizations that conducted the search and recovery efforts, including the Washington County Sheriff's Department, Maine Marine Patrol, Down East Emergency Medicine Institute (DEEMI), Julie Jones with her canine, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Canadian Coast Guard.
      Donations in memory of Dean can be made to www.warren wilson.edu/giving/make a gift/ Or www.ncobs.org/donate/donation info.