Eastport's Old Home Week lived up to its name this July as hundreds of families welcomed returning loved ones back to the community. Of all the family members who returned home, one in particular was especially noteworthy: Petty Officer Second Class Tobias Francis of the Passamaquoddy Tribe came home aboard the USS Forrest Sherman on Tuesday, July 2. As the 510 foot guided missile destroyer pulled into the breakwater, the ship and the crew were welcomed by Cipelahq Ehpicik, the Passamaquoddy women's drumming group, with much acclaim.
      "It was a wonderful moment," says Hilda Lewis, Tobias' paternal grandmother. "I'm very patriotic. To have my grandson be in the Navy and come in on the Fourth of July -- my favorite holiday -- to have him come in on the ship, I just can't even describe it."
      "It truly is a gift that my grandson was on that ship," agrees Cyril Francis, his maternal grandmother. "I couldn't believe it."
      "I was very moved by the drumming. I was emotional anyway, because I saw the ship coming in. I thought of his dad," says Lewis, referencing her son, the late David Moses Bridges. "When the drumming started, it got me right here," she says, placing a hand on her heart. "I thought it was just a wonderful tribute to my grandson."
      Having the drummers play was important to both women, along with his great-grandmother, Mary Lorraine Francis, who came up with the idea to ask them to perform. "We wanted to acknowledge that Tobias has probably made history as we don't think there was ever a Passamaquoddy person that came in on a ship on the Fourth of July to Eastport," Francis says.
      Tobias, for his part, found the experience to be "very surreal," he shares. Having grown up at Sipayik, he's watched ships coming in for the Fourth his whole life, he explains, and while some of them have carried a few sailors from Maine, it's different being directly from the community. "It was just that much more special."
      The women's drumming group and the many families from Sipayik, Eastport and beyond who gathered to welcome the ship created quite the impression, Tobias says. "It was the coolest thing I've ever seen. Seeing all the family on the pier. Everyone else on the ship was very moved by it too," he adds. "They were like, 'This is nothing like we've ever seen before.' There's a couple other Native Americans on the ship as well, and they loved it."
      It was a rare moment that didn't go off without a lot of behind the scenes organization, Tobias says. "I've been trying to do this every year since I joined the Navy almost four years ago." Back in January, he reached out to Chris Gardner, executive director of the Eastport Port Authority, "to see if he had his hands in any fires" that could help him pull it off. After not hearing back for months, he'd all but given up -- at least until early June, when Gardner got back to him. Arrangements were made for Tobias to leave his base at Mayport, Fla., and join the crew of the Forrest Sherman, based in Virginia. "Chris Gardner was one of the biggest movers on this whole piece," Tobias says. "He really put some things together to make it work."

Deep roots in the community
     Having been raised between Sipayik and Eastport, Tobias says his connections to the area run deep. His mother is Jessica Francis, a beadworker from Sipayik, and his father David is described by Tobias as "the last Passamaquoddy canoe builder who was building in our traditional style, using birchbark and the very specific way our people built them." It was a skill Bridges had learned from his great-grandfather and one that he'd taught in part to Tobias when he was younger.
      "Growing up, I was always around it," Tobias says. "I took tips and pointers here and there. I wouldn't say that I could build one completely from the ground up on my own, but I've definitely got a strong knowledge of it."
      Bridges was well known in the local community, having frequented the Boat School and building boats there and in Blue Hill.
      As a youngster, Tobias was often seen at the Blue Iris, a restaurant in downtown Eastport that Lewis owned and operated with the family. Lewis recalls a group of around a dozen "eclectic" men who good naturedly called themselves the "Knights of the Round Table," with the late John Pike Grady among them. "We gave them the key, they could go in any time," Lewis says. "They were just a wonderful group of local gentlemen." When the restaurant got busy, they would help out by pouring coffee, which Lewis says exemplifies how "kind and generous" Eastporters can be.
      While not many of the Knights of the Round Table remain, some do -- and one, Wayne Wilcox, watched the parade with Lewis, sharing a memory of Tobias as he did so. While Tobias was usually a waiter, on one occasion he was helping out in the kitchen, wearing an apron that dwarfed his small frame. "He said, 'He was just a little bit of a guy!'" Lewis says, laughing at the recollection.

A small-town welcome
     Now a fully grown adult with a wife and a child of his own, both of whom flew in from Florida to share in the Fourth with the family, Tobias has been given a full on small-town welcome.
      "We were so honored to sing and drum for Tobias; our hearts are overfilled with pride and joy knowing we could be there to sing for him as well as for the rest of the crew, welcoming them to our ancestral homelands," says Lynn Mitchell, speaking for Cipelahq Ehpicik. Several songs were sung during the arrival of the ship, including the Welcome Song, the Ancestor Song, the Water Song and the Trading Song, Mitchell says. "The songs we sing are our prayers and messages for all. After all, the drum is the heartbeat of our people."
      During the parade, Tobias was given the opportunity to march alongside the captain. "They were very kind, and I did not expect that," he says, attributing it to the community feeling of the event. "I wouldn't assume that would be in the case in New York City. The ship has been very understanding of how special it is, for myself, for my family and for the town in general. With the rich history of Navy ships coming into Eastport, they just know that Maine does it a little differently than everywhere else."