ST. GEORGE — If one spends even just a few minutes talking to Sally Robinson Long or emailing Karmo Sanders, one learns these two women have a basic common interest – people. Long and Sanders, the latter of whom is also known as "Accidentally Maine's Only Super Model" and the face of a certain unmentionable surplus and salvage store chain, both love talking to people.

In addition to be connected by their self-professed trait, Long and Sanders will appear together Saturday, Aug. 24, at a fundraiser for St. George Volunteer Ambulance. Long will be celebrating her 90th birthday and Sanders will be doing what she does best, "telling it like it is, deah." They both hope to raise money for the 60-year-old now-mostly volunteer ambulance service.

Sally Robinson was born in St. George Aug. 31, 1923. She has lived in the tiny coastal town all her life, except for a three-year stint in Lisbon Falls, where she was called on to go and stay with an ailing aunt. She was headed into her sophomore year of high school, and was able to attend Lisbon Falls High School during that period, graduating and then returning to her parents' home in St. George in 1942.

Sally is the youngest of five children born to Joseph "Daddy Joe" and Carolena "Mammy Joe" (Kinney) Robnson. At the age of 5, Sally entered the Wiley's Corner one-room schoolhouse, and continued in the St. George school system until she finished ninth-grade and was called to Lisbon Falls.

Her first of many jobs after graduating was as a hairdresser, having learned the trade at Al's Hairdressing School in Rockland. Cutting and styling hair, and giving perms, was a big part of Sally's life, and she did the work both in her home and in customer's homes.

"I was a hairdresser, but not licensed," said Long. According to her daughter, Liz Moores of Hudson, and her granddaughter, Melanie Dennison, haircutting was a part of Sally's life, and she never charged for her services, instead telling her customers, many of them family, "Give me what you can."

She also worked in her father's lumberyard and saw mill, J.C. Robinson Lumber & Hardware, along with her husband, Walter Long, who she met after leaving Al's Hairdressing School. The Longs had four children, three girls and a boy, and years later they bought the house right next door to her parents' on River Road.

Sally also worked as a telephone operator in Tenants Harbor, during the days when one had to call the operator and give her the number to make the connection.

Today, Sally is remiss to choose a "favorite" job, saying "I liked them all," but Moores and Dennison said Sally most enjoyed her time working for the "summer folks." She would open up the homes for them, and get everything tidy and clean before they came to spend the summer. It was a job Sally did until she was in her 80s, and she would say, "They were the nicest people."

Throughout her life, Sally has been a devoted Grange member.

"Back in the days, when you turned 14, you joined the Grange, it's just what we all did," said Long. And today, she still goes to the Grange. "We usually have 11 to 16 people at meetings these days, it's slowing down."

The second Tuesday of each month is Senior Luncheon at the Tenants Harbor Town Office and Wednesdays she attends prayer group, as well as church on Sundays at First Baptist church of St. George. Monday nights are Grange nights, with a country, gospel music jam.

"I don't have wheels anymore, so when someone calls me to go somewhere, I go," said Long.

Since 1953, the St. George Volunteer Firefighters and Ambulance Association has provided emergency medical and ambulance services to the town, and until recently was a fully volunteer ambulance service.

In addition to answering calls in St. George, the association responds as mutual aid to other nearby towns when called, as well as provides a number of non-emergency services, including blood pressure checks, seasonal flu shots and community training for emergencies through its Community Health Program.

The association recently added salaried paramedics to the roster of 18 volunteer EMTs and drivers, enabling the service to operate year-round, 24/7. From its humble beginnings, St. George fire and ambulance services have been funded through donations.

Growing up, Moores said her family's home was always open to all.

"My mom's always one for a good time. Nobody is a stranger, just friends she hasn't met yet," said Moores. "We always had an open door here at home, always an empty bed and a spare plate on the table, right, Mom?"

"She loves to laugh, and she loves people," added Moores.

"Laughing's good medicine," said Long. "I'm a mixer. I was a born talker. You talk and you won't get Alzheimer's, that's right."

Long has always been a homebody, and the furthest she can really remember traveling was once to Florida with Robert "Humble Farmer" Skoglund. She also took the steamboat from Rockland to Swans Island once with the Grange, and went once to Worcester, Mass., to visit close friends and family with her parents.

Most times, Sally said when she wanted to go somewhere, like to Rockland to hang out with her friends, her father would say, "Why don't you be different and stay home." It was fine with her. Her sister was the dancer in the family, not Sally.

"My sister was a good dancer and when she saw me dance, she told me I couldn't dance good so I never did after that," said Long. "

Sally's family goes back 13 generations in St. George, two-thirds of who have worked or currently work on the St. George ambulance crew. In 2008, Sally had open heart surgery, and several times before that she had to call on the ambulance crew for help.

It's a better situation today than it used to be. St. George Volunteer Firefighters & Ambulance Association was formed in 1953. They didn't have an ambulance in the early days.

"You had to get in the car and go fast to the hospital," said Moores.

"Had to call Thomaston," said Long.

Two years ago, Sally decided it was time for her to "pay back" for all the times her community's ambulance came to her aid. The Aug. 24 fundraiser will be the third time Sally has requested the community, nearly all of them family and friends, help her celebrate her birthday with a public supper.

She and her family are hoping that this year, Sally's 90th, will see the largest turn-out ever, bringing In more people from outside St. George and Tenants Harbor.

To celebrate this special day, Sanders, a well-known Maine stand-up comedian, will be bringing her character, Birdie Googins, to the event to lend a hand. The group that entertains at the Grange on Monday nights will also be there, providing live music.

In an email, Sanders said one of the reasons she accepted the invitation, besides it being a paying gig, is that she gets to hob-nob in Tenants Harbor. In need of the work, "that's just a given," she called herself one of "...the ever resourceful eccentrics living in Maine."

"One of the most-amazing and wonderful aspects of having spent so much time in the media is that I get to meet so many people - I can't go out of the house without everybody talking to me," said Sanders. "I like people, and then I get invited to entertain and perform all over the state, and because of that –I get to go to Tenants Harbor, play with Sally Long, make a little bit of money and help the St. George Volunteer Ambulance Fund. Who knew? What's not to like? It'll be a hoot. Looking forward to it!"

A favorite quote of Daddy Joe's:
"Wise old owl lived in the oak.
The more he saw, the less he spoke.
The less he spoke, the more he heard.
Why aren't you like the wise of bird?"

As for Sally, her days of working may be behind her, but she still keeps busy. An hour after this interview, her granddaughter was due to the house to "do her hair" for her. She was also going to have her granddaughter clean her glasses, because "Melissa knows how to do it."

When asked if she had a birthday gift wish, Sally quickly said, "I'll take anything anyone gives me for my birthday." The remark was met by "looks" from her daughter, to which Sally said, "What? She asked me, I would be a fool not to say it."

But in reality, Sally said the ambulance service is the best thing St. George has ever had.

"My nephew, Sylvane Polky, was one of the ones who started it and they all went with him and joined," said Long. "They are all good members. They don't think anything about being a volunteer, it's just what they do and what they love. The ambulance needs the money and we don't want to have to charge people to ride in it."

Moores said that the one thing she learned from her mother was that if someone needs help, you give it to them because someday, you might be the one needing the help.

Moores said it was her mother's idea two years ago to give back to the ambulance organization by turning her birthdays into fundraising events.

"She would rather that, than gifts for herself," said Moores.

Sally agreed and said, "I have everything, a good family that takes care of me. I have no room for anything else, and if I get something I will have to put it under my bed."

Sally Long smiles a lot, and laughs a lot too. She was probably a pistol growing up, and a whole lot of fun to be around. It was fun spending some time with her, sitting around her kitchen table and chatting. She would love to meet some new friends, and have others join her in helping support an important part of her hometown, St. George. Just don’t be different and stay home.

All donations and proceeds from the Aug. 24 public supper at 5 p.m. at the St. George Town Office in Tenants Harbor will go to the St. George ambulance service.

Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards can be reached at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com or 706-6655.