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NORTH MONMOUTHGirl takes wing on slopes with help

BY MEGHAN V. MALLOY Staff Writer

NORTH MONMOUTH -- Carleson Hartford and friend Jason Barnett tired themselves last Sunday trying to keep up with Barnett's daughter Mary, 8, as she tried out her first skis on trails behind Hartford's home.

"Boy, I tell you, she was buzzing along the trails," Hartford said. "It was great to see."

Barnett and his wife, Lorna Barnett, weren't sure if they were more touched to see their daughter ski by herself or by the man who made it possible for her.

Mary was born with an underdeveloped cerebellum, which affects her fine motor skills and her ability to walk. The diagnosis was made when she was six months old, after her parents noticed her eyes would cross uncontrollably and she was unable to sit up.

"We were kind of devastated at first, to tell the truth," Jason Barnett said.

As Mary grew older, she would use walkers to get around, or crawl if where she was wasn't equipped for a disabled person. She also had difficulty keeping up with her active, outdoorsy family, which includes older sister, Emily, 11, and younger brother, Jamison, 4, who the family is in the process of adopting.

"We're pretty active," Jason Barnett said. "We like to go camping and hiking, but it is very difficult for Mary."

Hartford, who described the little girl as "very sweet and bright," said he wanted to find a way to help.

After a very successful benefit event last October for Mary, which raised $14,000, the family was able to buy a motorized scooter for her, but she was still held back in the winter months, as the scooter could not go in the snow.

"Every time I saw Mary, the more I wanted her to be able to play with the other kids," Hartford said, adding his first idea was a pull-behind sled.

Hartford, who works for FedEx, said once he got the idea of making the sled last year, he couldn't rest until he figured out how he could make it.

"I'm always thinking how I can build something and go back and change it," he said. "So I went and got the chair and skis, and with some help from my brother, we got it done in a day."

Hartford said he went to work affixing a pair of old skis to one of Mary's old walkers, so she could push herself along. After a few tries and one prototype, Hartford said he completed the project and presented the little girl with her first pair of skis.

"She was a little nervous at first, but once she got going, she just loved it," Jason Barnett said.

"We just couldn't stop her."

The Barnetts said they are in awe of Hartford's generosity.

"I always wish there was more we could do to thank Carleson," Lorna Barnett said. "He's just given her wings."

And Mary was flying on the skis last Sunday, Hartford said.

"She completed the entire loop of trails, and that's about a mile," he said. "In fact, I was trying to keep up with her."

Jason Barnett added watching his younger daughter keep up with other children on her specially-made skis gives the family hope Mary will keep trying to walk until she succeeds.

"We're very optimistic," Jason Barnett said. "I really do think someday, she will."

Meghan V. Malloy -- 623-3811 Ext. 431 or

mmalloy@centralmaine.com