CAMDEN - For 40 years, Marge and John Koonz spent full days sitting on a bench watching the ebb and flow of life along Camden's waterfront.

They shared their stories with their eight children and numerous grandchildren when they went back home to Vermont and then Connecticut, and during the times when their children joined them on their three- or four-day sojourns to the Midcoast, four or six times a year.

On Wednesday, Sept. 12, their daughter Marta Koonz was sitting on one of those benches.

"This was their favorite spot in the world," said Koonz. "When they visited, they always stayed at the Birchwood Motel and every morning they came and sat here. They would come and sit the whole day and they loved it."

In addition to their devotion to the Birchwood, Marge and John had other routines.

"They would walk over and get an ice cream for lunch and then go to the Lobster Pound each night for dinner," said Koonz. "Mom also went to the Smiling Cow each year and got a new purse. They also made regular trips to Pemaquid and the Maine Prison Showroom store in Thomaston."

The Appledore was their preferred schooner when they opted to head out on the water, said Koonz. And when she visited her parents, she and her children would often stay at Camden Hills State Park while her parents were at Birchwood.

Koonz was in town Wednesday to greet Camden Harbormaster Steve Pixley, who had just received a finished park bench plank engraved by signmaker Chuck Dorr. The plank was special, Koonz said, because Marge and John's last visit to Camden was on their 61st wedding anniversary, July 28, 2011.

Two months later, Marge died and John died less than a year later, in May 2012. She was 81, he was 86. They had been together for 65 years, said Koonz. Her father joined the service when he was 17, and when he came home from the war, he met her mother and two weeks later, "that was it." Neither had ever dated anyone before they met and were eventually married in 1949. Their children include three daughters: Marta Koonz, Chris Cleveland and Lynn Kirdzik; and five sons, Jay, Rick, Jim and twins Keith and Kevin Koonz.

"Mom's passing was unexpected," said Koonz.

Though Marge and John were showing their age, they didn't let walkers keep them from their beloved Camden Harbor bench.

Koonz said her parents enjoyed watching the boats and people around the harbor, and they would notice the changes, while at the same time, notice that which remained the same.

During what would become their grandparent's last summer visit to Camden, Koonz said her daughter and a niece participated in a special game that paid homage to their time in the Midcoast.

"We sent the kids out on a scavenger hunt to visit all the places Grandma and Grandpa did," said Koonz. "So they went to Pemaquid, and the prison showroom, among others. They had a lot of fun doing that."

Choosing a bench seemed a fitting memorial to Marge and John, as they enjoyed sharing their love of Camden with their family, and so many others.

Camden's Adopt-a-Bench program began in 2001, when the Camden Harbor Committee alerted the town that there was room at the public landing for approximately a dozen new memorial benches. The town drafted a memorial bench policy dictating the bench size, construction materials and parameters for the single engraved dedication plank.

The policy states that the donor will pay fees for the cost of the bench and a 10-year maintenance plan as set forth in the annual harbor fee schedule. According to Pixley, the current annual fee is $600. After 10 years, the donor has the option to relinquish their maintenance responsibility to the town and ask to have the bench returned to them.

This year, Pixley said there is at least one bench whose owner is seeking to relinquish maintenance responsibilities. That bench was placed in memory of Major Chapman, a stalwart presence of Camden Harbor. Pixley said that interested parties can contact Harbor Clerk Marlene Libby at the town office, 236-3353, ext. 111.