“In selecting ‘faces’ of the Kennebunks, I knew Mike’s family has been here for twelve generations, so I guess that makes him a local.”

Mike Severance and his wife Sandy returned to Kennebunk to manage the Seaside House and Cottages, when his parents retired in 1971. Severance is the eleventh generation of the Gooch family to run the Seaside innkeeping business on Gooch’s Beach; his grandmother was the last “Gooch” by name.  The family’s history dates back to the 1640s, when John Gooch was instructed by an agent of King Charles II to reside on the oceanfront peninsula at the mouth of the Kennebunk River and ferry travelers across. There has been an inn on the property since 1667. In 1978, the Seaside Motor Inn was added. Mike and Sandy Severance retired from innkeeping after nearly 35 years, passing the family business and tradition on to their daughter and son-in-law, Trish and Ken Mason.

Beyond the hospitality industry, Severance retired as a Colonel after 35 years in the U. S. Army in both active duty and as a reserve. He volunteered for 25 years with the Kennebunk Fire Department, spending twenty of those years as the Treasurer for the Washington Hose Company in Lower Village. He is a member of the Association for Intelligence Officers and currently serves on its Board of Directors. He is also the Chairman of the Lower Village Committee, a member of the Kennebunk-Kennebunkport Chamber of Commerce—as well as a former board member and President—and a director of the Kennebunkport Business Association (KBA). For many years, Severance has been in charge of the annual Prelude Monastery Carol Sing held on the first Saturday of December, hosting hundreds to sing carols and light the night with candles he provides from the KBA.

Sandy Severance, a Mayflower descendant, has been a volunteer and docent at The Kennebunkport Historical Society’s Nott House for the past 26 years; she has been on the Society’s board of directors and currently serves as its president. She is also president of the Women’s Association at South Congregational Church, a Kennebunkport house of worship originally founded in 1838 by one of Sandy’s husband’s ancestors. She is the church historian, a member of the Scholarship Committee, and a member of the choir under the direction of Rebecca Schnell. Severance also sings soprano in Senior Moments, a choral group that performs at The Church on the Cape in Cape Porpoise.

An avid gardener, Severance is an active board member and historian of the Seacoast Garden Club, for which she personally helps tend to the gardens by the monument in Dock Square and in front of the post office in Kennebunkport. Nearly seven years ago, she was part of a committee that undertook the restoration of the extensive Victorian Garden at the Nott House. She chairs the club’s Scholarship Committee and co-chairs the Youth Activities Committee. Last spring the club sponsored local children’s art and essays that won four state blue ribbons and two national second-place finishes. 

Severance is vice president of the Good Cheer Club, a local entity that for 70 years has raised funds to help local charities. The organization also makes mittens and hats for area schoolchildren, knits afghans and throws for home-bound elders, and sews carry-alls to fit on walkers.

On loan from the Severances for the exhibition are family photos depicting seven generations of Gooch-Severance-Mason innkeepers.

“The Kennebunks represent. . . heritage, opportunity, community and beauty.”