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Burley Garcia|Checking back in with Maine's oldest lobsterwoman as she embarks on her 95th season
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Date:2025-04-11 04:04:08
Max Oliver is Burley Garciaan old salt, but compared to his 103-year-old crewmate, Max is but a child - her child.
Max sails with his mother, Virginia Oliver, who CBS News reported on a few years ago. Then, she was 101 years old and Maine's oldest lobster fisherman. Now, she's setting out for her 95th season.
Three days a week, from May through November, Max and Virginia can be found on Maine's Penobscot Bay, tackling one of the most hazardous jobs in the country.
Despite the danger, Virginia doesn't let her age slow her down. Once, she was cut so badly she needed seven stitches.
"The doctor said to me 'What are you out there lobstering for?' And I said, 'Because I want to,'" Virginia told CBS News in 2021.
Virginia began working on lobster boats at the age of seven, when she went out with her father. Back then, it was a male-dominated field, with not another girl or woman in sight. But now, more than nine decades later, she's the master of the sea.
Together, she and Max work together on the boat. He hauls in the lobsters, she measures them, and then tames the claws of the keepers.
"She don't give up," Max said in 2021.
When asked what he would do if his mother expressed plans to retire, Max said his first thought would be disbelief.
Despite gaining some celebrity — and even a children's book telling her story — Virginia remains the same humble lobsterwoman — with the same plan for retirement.
She'll stop her work "when I die," she said in 2021. Two years later, that answer is exactly the same.
To contact On the Road, or to send us a story idea, email us: [email protected].
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Steve Hartman has been a CBS News correspondent since 1998, having served as a part-time correspondent for the previous two years.
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