Les Menard grew up in a small town in Massachusetts. An accident in 1962 when he was 19 completely changed his life.
In 1973, Menard moved to Bar Harbor, where he rediscovered a passion for art that dated back to his high school years. With encouragement from caregivers, he began creating compositions using a pen and colored pencils that he held in his mouth. He eventually became a member of the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists of the World, which had been founded in Liechtenstein in 1956. He has shown and sold his work around the world and has received U.S. patents for two inventions, the Kane Easel (named for Bar Harbor patent attorney Dan Kane) and the Eye Drop Dispenser Guide.
A few years ago when a routine surgical procedure resulted in a prolonged hospital stay, Menard began to think about his legacy. He had received several modest inheritances and hadn’t made plans for their dispersal after his death. A lawyer in Bar Harbor suggested he speak to Jean Warren, then scholarship manager at the Maine Community Foundation.
Menard wanted his money to help people who were in need. He was especially passionate about the benefits of education and believed that community colleges provide a great opportunity to test the waters of higher education. After he and Warren discussed various ideas, the artist settled on a fund to support Mount Desert Island High School graduates pursuing post-secondary education in the Maine Community College System. Menard was especially interested in supporting careers in healthcare, teaching, social work, and law enforcement.
Menard wondered if the scholarship could start making awards while he was alive. His answer came in 2011, when the first Menard scholarship went to a Trenton resident who used the $1,000 award to help fund her education at Eastern Maine Community College.