Maine's Oldest Licensed Pharmacist Keeps Helping Customers

STANDISH (NEWS CENTER) --  Imagine working on your feet 10 hours a day for 55 years? It may sound unbelievable but that's been the case for Roy St. Clair. The 77-year-old Naples man is the oldest licensed pharmacist in Maine. He says it's never been just a 'job' but a passion for helping people.

Searching for the right medication is second nature for St. Clair. He has counted tens of thousands of pills and probably twisted on the same number of caps and lids. Being the pharmacist is a way of life for St. Clair. That's because at age of 77, he is the oldest licensed pharmacist in Maine. A job that requires him to spend long shifts on his feet -- he is not even close to complaining.

'I love it, I love it, I really do. I don't work for the money now, I work for the satisfaction. people come in and they need a shoulder to cry on and someone who is interested in their well being,' said St. Clair.

And his career has come full circle. In 1954 St. Clair began working at a pharmacy in Woodford's Corner in Portland. He was only 22 which made him the *youngest* licensed pharmacist in Maine.

'They used to come and ask to speak to the pharmacist when i was on duty, they thought i was too young to be any good, said St. Clair.

Then in the early 1960's, St. Clair opened his own pharmacy. He sold it twenty years later. The eventual and present owner is the national pharmacy chain CVS. St. Clair stayed on as a supervisor and retired in his mid 60's but he was lured back two years later by a Hannford Supermarkets.

St. Clair says there has definitely been a learning curve when it comes to dispensing prescriptions now vs when he in the 1950's. For example he used to spend much of time compounding or marking prescriptions..and the only drug he could give to cure an illness at that time was penicillin.

St. Clair's fellow pharmacists say they learn from each other.

'It is great to work with somebody like this, he has an abundance of knowledge. He's been around so long, he has worked with things I may not have seen in my lifetime.,' said Jill Russell-Morey a pharamcist at Hannaford's.

What hasn't changed over the years? St. Clair says customers, especially the elderly, still need guidance in taking care of themselves.

'They are still not really up to date on their own medical care and that is a shame,' said St. Clair.

All the more reason to keep helping others..

'That to me is the best thing, I love that people come in and ask for me,.' said St. Clair.

St. Clair he plans to keep working as long as he can even into his 90's provided he remains in good health.