Maine news, sports, weather from Waterville Morning Sentinel

Faulty gas vent blamed for deaths

By David Hench dhench@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

A deteriorated ventilation system for a propane-fueled generator appears to have contributed to the deaths of a Pennsylvania couple who most likely succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning at their summer home in Raymond following Tropical Storm Irene.

The bodies of Lewis Somers III, 85, and his wife, Elizabeth Somers, 84 of Lafayette Hill, Penn., were discovered Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. Firefighters reported extremely high levels of carbon monoxide in the home when they arrived. They are among the 45 deaths attributed to Irene.

Elizabeth Somers was found sitting in a chair in the bedroom on the first floor of the two story house. Lewis Somers was found in the living room by a neighbor, who pulled him out onto the porch, but it was too late. Authorities suspect the couple had been dead for some time.

Friends described the couple as extremely friendly. Elizabeth Somers was involved in several charity efforts in Raymond and with the choir at the church she attended. Lewis Somers was a successful entrepreneur, innovator and a philanthropist who supported education. Although he had been on dialysis in recent years, he and his wife were otherwise in good health, friends said.

They had apparently been using the generator since power went out during Tropical Storm Irene. The state medical examiner said the cause and time of death had not yet been established.

The generator was a high-quality model that had been installed in the basement when the house was built in the 1980s, according to Capt. Jeff Davis of the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating the deaths. The device was equipped with a ventilation system that carried the exhaust through the basement wall and outside.

However, over the years, cracks developed in the flexible metal hose used to vent the fumes, he said. Meanwhile, outside the house, the metal ventilation pipe went underground and into a 55-gallon drum before ultimately venting above ground, he said. Over time, a portion of that section of the system collapsed, blocking the release of exhaust and apparently causing it to back up into the basement, Davis said.

The sheriff's office has worked with an inspector from the state Oil and Solid Fuel Board on the investigation. While the generator seems the likely suspect, other propane appliances also will be checked, Davis said.

Investigators have not been able to find a carbon monoxide detector in the house. The home does have a security system, but they have not been able to determine whether it has the ability to detect carbon monoxide.

The colorless, odorless gas initially causes flu-like symptoms of headaches and nausea before eventually causing unconsciousness and death. Dr. Karen Simone, director of the Northern New England Poison Center, said the tragedy demonstrates that people should get appliances that burn any kind of fuel -- propane, wood, natural gas, oil -- checked periodically to make sure they are operating as intended.

The Somerses had been vacationing in the Raymond area for years and their children went to summer camp there.

"They were just the kind of couple that was always happy to meet new people and always smiling," said Phyllis Burnham, who runs Wind in Pines resort where the couple summered for many years before building their own place. "I talked to Betty at the post office just about a week or 10 days ago and she said everything was going well."

The couple had three children who stayed at the resort when they were teenagers, Burnham recalled.

Burnham described Elizabeth Somers as very chatty and very friendly and said she was involved in church activities and other charitable work. Lewis Somers she described as "just the greatest guy on the planet, very friendly and very helpful."

"It's just a real shame they had to end like that," she said.

"We're still numb here," said George Meinel, a good friend of the Somerses who lived near them outside Philadelphia.

Lewis Somers started a company in the 1960s that created components for early dialysis machines and he eventually sold the company to Johnson and Johnson and took a seat on the corporation's board, Meinel said. Later, he started another company that made more components for dialysis equipment.

Somers had lead poisoning when he was a child and was always worried about his kidneys, said John Rogers, chief development officer at William Penn Charter School where Lewis Somers served on the board of directors.

"I would call him a tinkerer," Rogers said. "He loved science. He loved working on all kinds of instruments. He was a genius," and yet, also "humility personified," Rogers said. He enjoyed model trains and remote control airplanes that he would land on lakes in Raymond.

Much of Lewis Somers' life was spent in philanthropy. He helped support the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and served on the board of directors for the William Penn Charter School, a preparatory school founded by Quakers. He graduated from the school in 1944. Somers was awarded the Seymour Preston Award in 2007 by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education for his work with the school, including helping it to exceed its $40 million capital campaign goal, and donating $3 million himself.

"He felt the school made such a difference in his life that he wanted to make sure it would continue to make a difference in the lives of others," Rogers said. He served on the board from 1973 and in 1989 led the board. He was still a board member emeritus and had never missed a meeting, Rogers said.

"I had lunch with him three weeks ago at his house in Maine and we were talking about our new strategic plan, and he couldn't wait for the next board meeting," Rogers said. "He actually funded the last strategic plan for the school, a $1 million gift that was meant to get our school to be the best school it could be."

Memorial arrangements for the couple were not available at press time.