Kennebunkport residents are paying their respects for longtime member of the community, George H.W. Bush, who died at the age of 94.
People on Saturday began leaving wreaths, flowers, notes, flags at an overlook near his home on the rocky coast.
"There's such a void here without him. He was so synonymous with Kennebunkport. It's so sad for us to see this," one resident said.
It's the peace and serenity he felt in the small town that served as an escape from his official home of four years on Pennsylvania Avenue. Bush spent his summers at his family's home in Kennebunkport.
"With all the cares he had upon him, this was the one place he could come every year to relax and be with family and be with friends to refresh himself on the ocean. And it was just very special to him," another resident said.
Kennebunkport was special to Bush, just as his presence was to those who live here.
"Strong and tough but also very engaging with people who didn't agree with him. And very civil," one resident said of Bush.
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"Very respectful. I lived through his presidency. He had a lot of points about points of light."
And it's the light of positivity Bush seemed to cast on those he's met here that now leaves them to reminisce on the man he was.
"He was so regular. You'd speak to him at church and my husband at the golf course. He was just a regular person," one resident said.
Family spokesman Jim McGrath says Bush died shortly after 10 p.m. Friday, about eight months after the death of his wife, Barbara Bush.
The nation's 41st president served from 1989 to 1993.
Tom Bradbury from the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust called him a "wonderful community member and great neighbor.''
He said it's "time to remember and celebrate the times he spent with us.''
The flag was half-staff outside Bush's home at Martin's Point.
