Kosti Ruohomaa photographed Governor Fred Payne and his wife, Ella Hodgdon, along with their Chinook dog, in the spring of 1952, sitting on the lawn of Blaine House, the Maine governor’s residence.

Payne was a Maine politician who was described as “affable and personable.” He was born in Lewiston in 1904. At the Bentley School in Boston, he studied accounting and finance, and worked as financial manager for Maine-New Hampshire Theaters Company after college. His career in politics and government—as Mayor of Augusta, Budget Director for the State of Maine, Governor of Maine, and as a U.S. Senator for the state—was interrupted by four years of service in the Air Force during WWII, where he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. During his tenure as Governor, he instituted a 2% sales tax, expanded the development commission, and started work on highway modernization.