Marie and Arthur Smith Sr. with their grandchildren, Madison (left, holding photo of her father) and Branden.—STAFF PHOTO JACQUELINE WEAVER

STEUBEN — The knock on the door of Marie and Arthur Smith Sr.’s log cabin early the morning of April 28, 2007, was one every parent dreads.

“I looked at the cop and I said I didn’t even want to know,” said Marie. “I already knew what it was.”

She was certain the 3 a.m. visit by police concerned Arthur Smith Jr., 26, since the couple’s three other sons were home with them.

It did.

Arthur Jr., the father of two children, Madison, 4, and Branden, 3, had been struck by a van and killed while walking in the southbound lane of Route 3 in Trenton, police said.

Assistant District Attorney Carletta Bassano said last week the driver, Jill Ihle, 32, of Ellsworth will not face prosecution. (See related article, Page 1.)

The Smiths last heard from their son when he called earlier from his job at a mussel farming operation in Sullivan and asked if they could drop off fresh clothing.

He told them he was going to a party with friends and would be riding with them since his car was in need of repair.

A relative at the party told the Smiths said their son drank at the party and was then the victim of a “blanket party” — a hazing where his pants and shirt were forcibly removed. He was restrained, choked and otherwise roughed up by other men at the party, the relative reported.

The Smiths said Arthur Jr. managed to put his pants back on and was trying to get home when he was struck by Ihle near Carroll’s IGA in Trenton.

A Good Son

Arthur Smith Sr. built the traditional log cabin in which the family lives on Rodgers Point Road.

“It’s crooked, but it’s mine,” he says of the compact home with sagging roof line.

Inside, the spruce, fir and cedar logs are rough hewn. A more than century-old cast iron stove in the kitchen serves for both cooking and heating.

The exterior and interior of the house are decorated with dozens of wooden birds and wildlife hand-carved by Arthur Sr.

The Smiths, both of Passamaquoddy heritage, say Arthur Jr., their second oldest, was a good son, loved to hunt, fish and trap, and played sports in the back yard with neighbors and relatives.

Marie said she kept a careful eye on her boys while they were growing up, but once they reached 21 they were expected to know how to navigate the world.

“My kids were not trouble-making kids at all,” she said.

His father said Arthur Jr. loved nothing more than being outdoors.

“He was always on the other end of a fishing pole looking for that next bite,” his father wrote in his eulogy. “He had sharp eyes for wildlife and was a gifted and talented photographer.”

Arthur Jr., like his entire family, loved music, particularly country singer George Jones. His father finds it chilling that one of his late son’s favorite songs by Jones is “When The Grass Grows Over Me.”

The Smiths say they were told the insurance company is paying about $50,000 — before legal fees — to their son’s two young children.

The Smiths owe several thousand dollars for their son’s funeral and another $3,200 for his headstone, which has yet to be placed on his grave at Rock Maple Cemetery in Harrington. He is buried alongside his grandfather.

The Smiths don’t have much in the way of mementos — a few photographs on the refrigerator and albums of photos Arthur Jr. took of wildlife, landscapes and seascapes.

One of his photos of boats in a line in Pigeon Bay was accepted to be included in an anthology of photographs, but he didn’t live to see it in print.

Although Marie is angry about the outcome of the case, she takes comfort in the fact that she heard Arthur tell her one last time that night that he loved her.

“The last thing I told him was ‘Don’t get into any mess,’” she said.

Arthur Sr. is less vocal, but no less determined to pursue whatever legal avenue might be remaining.

“I’m not going to give up on it because I can’t,” he said.