A few hours after this story was published June 19, Meg Quijano was enjoying her lunch upstairs at the Smiling Cow, and glancing at the online news when she saw the Pilot headline "A photographer searches for Rockport Mystery Girls", clicked on it, and discovered that she was looking at a photo of her own daughter, smiling at her from 51 years ago.

"She almost fell off her chair," said Quijano's daughter, Lisa Utman Randall. 

Quijano called for her daughter downstairs in the store to see the photo, and Randall was suddenly teleported back to her childhood, when she and her best friend, Rhonda Gardner, would ramble through through the summer of 1974, "nine years old — feral kids roaming around Rockport, reading Archie comics at the Corner Shop," and otherwise enjoying the community and freedom of the small town.

Randall tracked photographer John Raye down through the internet yesterday afternoon, and sent him an email: "If you are the John Raye who took a photo of two young girls in Rockport in 1974 and never could find out who they are, I'd like to solve the mystery for you!"

For Raye, that was the news he has been waiting to hear for the last 51 years.

The summer of 1974 was significant for Randall, as well. She, her brother and mother had just moved to Maine from Maryland to be closer to Quijano's parents.

"Rockport was our landing pad," said Randall. Her friend Rhonda lived just down the hill from her, and the two were part of a larger group of neighborhood children who palled around with each other.

Randall grew up, left Maine and settled in Rhode Island, raising a family of her own with her husband. A few years ago, however, she returned to the area to live Lincolnville, and is happy to be on the Midcoast.

The photo that Raye took of her and Rhonda in 1974 captures the pure joy of being a child — mischievious, spirited and adventuresome —  during a Maine summer.  

Raye now is happy, with a mystery that has nagged him for years finally solved. He will be sending Randall and Gardner signed prints of the photo.

And for Randall, she will have the Summer of 1974 immortalized in time.

"I can't tell you how much joy I feel looking at my nine-year-old self with the huge smile on my face and my best friend by my side," she told him.

The year was 1974, and the two happy, lively girls were scampering through Rockport Village a beautiful July morning, flowers in hand, and grins to beat the band.

Photographer John Raye was then attending — and working at — the Maine Photographic Workshops, when it was based in Union Hall, in Rockport Village. He was a summer intern at the Workshops while he was attending the Art Institute of Boston (Lesley College).

He had left the bunkhouse, his summer lodgings on the west side of the harbor, and walked back along Pascal Avenue, over the Goose River Bridge and up a short stretch of Central Street to the Workshops, where he built darkrooms, taught students how to process film, and assisted world-famous photographers in their classes.

It is likely he met the girls while carrying one or two of his Canon F-1 cameras. Being a photographer, he recognized a good photo. Snap went the shutter, and he continued on his way to work, while the girls went.... 

And that is where the mystery began.

In May 2025, Raye was communicating with his high school classmate, Beth Davis, who lives in Rockport Village. They had attended Simbsury High School in Connecticut, graduating with the Class of 1970, which is a tight group to this day. They gather for reunions and keep in touch with texts and on social media. 

Raye now lives in Canton, Connecticut, and texted his 1974 photo to Davis.

"Do you know these girls," he asked her.

No, but she promised to ask around. Fifty two years later, it is hard to put the finger on who these bright joyful stars were. 

Which is why we are posting Raye's photo on PenBayPilot.com, and invite readers to help identify, and locate the girls so they can have a copy of photo that almost landed in a major national publication.

Back to 1974: Raye received the Kodachrome slide after it was developed at Kodak, and made prints from it. Recognizing how lovely the photo was, he searched all that summer for the girls to give them their own prints, but to no avail.

The then photo editor of Life magazine, John Loengard (who was teaching at the Workshops),had told him he would publish the photo, but only if he had permission from parents.

"Needless to say I could never find them!" said Lester.

At the Photographic Workshops, Raye had worked with Mary-Ellen Mark and printed her photos, as well as those of Charles Harbutt, Ernest Haas and John Loengard — all of whom, "just loved our girls photo."

To this day, Raye remains mystified. But he remembers his time in Rockport with fondness.

"I loved my work and loved Rockport," he said. "First thing every morning, I would visit the docks and wave to André the Seal and the lobstermen. I got the chance to feed André as I befriended many lobster fishermen, including Andre’s human friend.  Andre would do a show many evenings. The fog was magical.  One morning the fog lifted just as the schooner fleet came to anchor. Sweet!"

After a career in business, Raye remains a photographer at heart. He shoots with a digital camera, the Olympus OM-D. But he also keeps a Leica handy for those occasions only done justice with film.

And Davis shoots a photo practically every day to text to Raye, sending him a good-morning lift as he drinks his coffee. It is Rockport, afterall, a town and harbor made even more magical by photographers who carry a deep appreciation for the landscape and those who live and work there.

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657