Donn Fendler was a 12-year-old boy who became famous for surviving a harrowing nine-day ordeal in 1939 when he got lost on Katahdin. His story of survival captivated the nation.
Fendler grew to manhood, distinguished himself as a military warrior, and during his later years, came back to Maine many times to tell his story. He co-authored a book titled “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” with Joseph Egan.
After all of these years, there is a soon-to-be-released motion picture about Fendler, his family and his amazing and inspiring survival story.
Ryan Cook, a native of Waterville, is the producer of the movie titled “Lost On a Mountain in Maine.” Recently, Cook was a guest on my weekly radio program, Maine Outdoors, on the Voice of Maine News-Talk Network.
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Cook said that he had known Donn Fendler for a number of years and always aimed to tell Fendler’s story by producing a movie. As producer, Cook had to find investors and raised millions of dollars to produce the film.
Ironically, according to Cook, the movie was not filmed in Maine.
“There were significant tax advantages for us to shoot most of this movie in New York state rather than in Maine, which we did,” Cook said. Most of the on-location filming was done about 50 miles north of New York City in the Catskills. Of course, the film included actual footage of. Katahdin and other areas near the mountain.
The film stars Luke David Blumm as Donn Fendler, with Caitlin Fitzgerald and Paul Sparks playing his parents. Ethan Slater is also part of the cast. The film is produced by Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions.
Cook gave high marks to the young David Blumm and his performance as Donn Fendler. Cook said it was difficult physically for Blumm because he played the role of a 12-year-old boy whose ordeal left him emaciated with few clothes left, badly cut bare feet and carrying the ravages of bug bites and brush bruises.
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Cook is emphatic that this movie is more than a story about a desperate youngster with remarkable resilience and determination, but is also about family love and the role that it, as well as spiritual faith, played in young Fendler’s survival.
As those of us who read Fendler’s book as either grade-school students or adults will recall, it was, in all probability, one correct decision by the former Boy Scout that ultimately saved his life: Finding that stream and following its flow in hopes of finding civilization.
A group of searchers found Fendler near the East Branch of the Penobscot River. In nine days, he had walked more than 50 miles through some of the toughest woods terrain that Maine has to offer.
The movie attempts to address the question many of us ask: What was it that allowed Fendler to survive an ordeal in which many healthy adults would have perished or gone mad?
Survival expert Laurence Gonzales may have come as close as anyone has to providing an answer: “Mental preparation, as well as survival gear, equals survival some of the time. There is yet another dimension.
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“It’s not what’s in your pack. It’s not even what’s in your mind. Corny as it sounds, it’s what’s in your heart,” asserts Gonzales.
As a youngster or an oldster, Donn Fendler was quite a human being and worthy of legacy status. He died in 2016 at age 90, but his story continues to inspire generations.
“Lost On a Mountain in Maine” will be released in theaters Friday.
V. Paul Reynolds is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide and host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network.
In our world of day-to-day changes and challenges, it was a joy to read the Press Herald article “Maine students weigh in on first mock referendum election” (Oct. 29).
The article featured a mock election for Morse High School Students in Bath. However, mock elections also took place in 78 schools all across our state. Referendum 1 and Referendum 2 were on the students’ ballots. A third question was whether the voter believes in the Declaration of Independence and whether the voter thinks it is relevant to today.
Kudos to the Department of the Secretary of State for creating and overseeing this mock election program for students. The program encourages students to be excited about and familiar with the voting process. The program also provides a forum for discussion and critical thinking about current issues. What a pleasure it was to have read this exceptionally positive article.
With Maine Gov. Janet Mills set to term out after eight years, the field for the November 2026 gubernatorial election is packed with candidates with a spectrum of experience and views. Those running as either Democrats or Republicans will first face off against each other in the June 9, 2026 primaries in an effort to […]
AUGUSTA, Maine — National Democrats are working quickly to recruit a candidate to run in Maine’s 2nd District following U.S. Rep. Jared Golden’s stunning Wednesday decision to leave the 2026 race for the battleground seat.
The behind-the-scenes wrangling underscores the difficulty that the congressman’s party will have in replacing him in a rural district won three times by President-elect Donald Trump. Former Gov. Paul LePage is now the odds-on favorite to flip a seat that could be crucial to keeping the House in Republican hands come next year.
House Democrats’ campaign arm is “actively recruiting” a candidate for the seat, a person familiar with its plans said Thursday. That indicates a lack of confidence in State Auditor Matt Dunlap, who was running a primary against Golden and may have to contend with more candidates entering the fray.
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“Following the lead of insiders in Washington has taken us to minority status,” Dunlap said in a statement. “I think the people of Maine know what they want in a candidate. I believe I am that candidate, and I am going to win.”
One name to watch is former Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, who is running for governor with strong support from organized labor. His campaign released a noncommittal and cryptic statement on Thursday amid rumors that he was considering flipping races.
It will be an uphill battle for any Democrat getting into the 2nd District race. Trump pushed it firmly into the Republican column with his 2016 victory. Golden was able to eke out victories by appealing to a small segment of that party’s base, narrowly defeating former state Rep. Austin Theriault in a 2024 election that came down to military and overseas ballots.
LePage led Golden in two polls of the district conducted by the University of New Hampshire, including one last week. Golden used a Bangor Daily News Op-Ed to say he was confident that he would have beaten LePage but was pushed to drop out by increasing political incivility and cases of violence that led him to reassess threats against him and his family.
Republicans were giddy after he dropped out. LePage’s campaign shared the poll results to push the idea that Golden was hesitant to run against the former governor and dismissed the idea that there were any Democrats to fear in the 2nd District given LePage’s record there.
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“I don’t know that it really matters that the Democrats are fighting amongst themselves or have political operatives from D.C. trying to tell them who they should elect,” Brent Littlefield, LePage’s strategist, said.
Jackson released a statement on Thursday saying he was flattered by those reaching out to him about switching races, noting that he represented a Maine Senate district based in the St. John Valley that is socially conservative and has swung toward Republicans.
But he did not clearly answer a question about whether he was considering it. He also attacked LePage, with whom he shared a long history with in the State House. In 2013, LePage famously targeted Jackson with a crude remark during a dispute over budget issues, saying he “claims to be for the people but he’s the first one to give it to the people without providing Vaseline.”
“Paul LePage is a disgraced grifter from Florida who cares more about tax cuts for wealthy donors than fighting for hard working Mainers,” Jackson said.
Another possibility is Chief Kirk Francis of the Penobscot Nation, who was on the verge of a Democratic U.S. Senate primary when he was arrested on a drunk-driving charge last May.
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“In the short time since Congressman Golden announced he is not running for re-election, [Francis] has been approached by numerous people encouraging him to run,” a person familiar with Francis’ decision-making process said Wednesday. “He will be discussing with his family, friends and supporters to determine if this is the right time for him to run for Congress.”
