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05/25/2022 08:30 AM

Keeping the Caring Going Via the KARE Foundation


As someone who knew Paul Dostie from a young age, Jay Testori was devastated by his friend’s death to brain cancer last year. Now he’s helping keep his buddy’s legacy alive via the KARE Fest concert celebration on Saturday, June 11 at the Guilford Fairgrounds.Photo by Ben Rayner/The Courier

When people we love die, memories, traditions, even a simple walk down the street can trigger the best and worst of our thoughts, bringing the pain and grief rushing back. But sometimes the recounting of those tales, forcing the recall of better times, can bring also relief.

Jay Testori of Madison knows that all too well. Jay is one of just thousands of folks along the shoreline who lost a valued friend when Paul Dostie, proprietor of Jerry’s Transmissions in Guilford, died after a terrible struggle with a rare form of brain cancer last year.

Now Jay and other friends are keeping Paul’s legacy of kindness moving ahead through the Paul Dostie KARE (Kindness Always Rewards Everyone) Foundation, which is hosting two major events in June, the KARE Fest show on Saturday, June 11, and a custom car show on Sunday, June 19.

Jay credits Paul and the Dostie family for giving him the knowledge and life lessons he needed to make his accomplishment possible.

“I met Paul back when I was five years old. My mother and Paul’s father grew up in the same small town in Maine, Skowhegan, Maine. And they remained friends all those years.” Jay says. “They both landed in Guilford somehow, and my father ended up working with Jerry on the number 55 race car that they had in the late ‘50s, early ‘60s. So, I’ve basically known Paul my whole life.”

Jay grew up in Guilford and though he wasn’t in Paul’s class, was good friends with Paul since they were toddlers.

“A great story about Paul, and my first memory of him…He was a little bit bigger than me because he was older. They lived over on Dunk Rock Road, and me and Paul were hanging out playing basketball, and I couldn’t reach the basket because I was like five, so I threw the ball up and it bounced and broke a window in the garage door.

“So, what did Paul do?” he continues. “After we got done playing, he went and told his mother and father that he did it. He took the blame. He was only seven…eight? And I will never, ever forget that as long as I live.

“That’s the kind of guy he was all through his life. He was the greatest guy right from the get go. He was such a great friend. Even back then, he never said anything bad about anybody or to anybody,” says Jay. “It’s hard to live your life and be nice all the time. And he did that—he was nice to everybody, all the time, and that’s not easy to do.”

When Jay first began his career with machines and construction, he worked for the Dosties at Jerry’s Transmissions. With a young family, Jay needed steady work and needed an education in mechanics, people, and business.

Jay says his education began with the wisdom and skills that Paul and the crew at Jerry’s taught him.

“I used to work down at Jerry’s at night, back in the ‘90s, working the night shift when my kids were little,” says Jay. “I remember going down there to get my car looked at and Paul telling me that they needed help if I wanted to work there.

“I said ‘I don’t know much about it, but I can learn,’” he recalls. “So I started by sweeping the floors and cleaning up, building some shelves…and little by little I began to learn. We would all eat dinner down there, and then we’d work 5:30 p.m. or so until midnight, sometimes one o’clock. It was actually the funnest job I ever had. Not only did I learn a ton of stuff that I didn’t know, but I had so much fun doing it with Paul and Brian [Dostie, Paul’s brother] and all the old school guys that worked there. It was great. The education I got there just by watching him and by him taking me under his wing was phenomenal.”

Jay worked for Paul and Jerry for close to eight years and absorbed everything he could from the Dosties and their crew.

Jay says it’s frustrating for everyone who knew Paul, and the coming to terms with the light that has been lost.

“It’s sad that he’s gone, and I wish I had told him how much he meant to me when he was alive, but Paul was the type of person you didn’t need to do that with. He already knew,” recalls Jay. “I’d love to claim that Paul was my best friend, but that would be short-changing so many people, because everybody thought Paul was their best friend. He was my best friend, but he was that to so many others. I miss him. We all do.”

There will be a huge concert celebration on Saturday, June 11 at the Fair Grounds in Guilford, not only of Paul’s life but to raise funds for the Paul Dostie KARE Foundation. This nonprofit was started by Paul’s family after his death to help raise funds, especially travel expenses, for families enduring catastrophic illness.

Jay and his band of former and current Guilford cohorts, The Crushtones, most of whom also grew up with Paul, are incredibly excited about the June 11 event. Playing live was something that Paul loved for the band and his spirit will undoubtedly fill the air during the celebration, says Jay.

“We can’t wait,” Jay says. “This is going to be a great day and fun day.”

According to Jay, he has never heard a single bad word about Paul from those who knew him in life, which may not sound extraordinary, but Paul was in the auto repair business, which can sometimes lend itself to hard feelings when a vehicle needs costly repairs or simply can’t be fixed. But Jay says Paul never turned anyone away. He often fixed cars for free for those who couldn’t afford it. He made every customer a happy customer.

Once many years ago, when Jay was still saving for his future with the help of the Dosties, an irate customer came into the shop complaining about a failing exhaust system long after he bought a used car from the shop. Most vendors would have laughed such a customer right off the lot, but not Paul.

“This guy came into the shop one time-like a year after he bought a car from Paul, maybe over a year. This guy starts yelling at Paul that the exhaust system was rotten. I was standing there listening and Paul just took so much stuff from this guy,” Jay says. “Paul stayed calm as could be, and I was going crazy, because this guy was just off the mark and yelling at Paul.

“That might have been the only time I ever truly got mad at Paul. I was so furious with the customer, and I couldn’t understand why the Paul was not throwing this guy off the property. But Paul put a whole new exhaust system in for this guy and he drove away happy,” Jay says. “That’s who he was. Everyone knows you can’t come back a year later and complain about something like that, but Paul didn’t bat an eye. He wanted every customer, now matter how unreasonable, to be satisfied.”

KARE Fest

The big KARE Fest show is on Saturday, June 11 from 1 to 9 p.m. at the Guilford Fairgrounds, 111 Lovers Lane in Guilford. The show will feature three bands, Jay’s band The Crushtones (Jay is on drums; the band also features Tim Williams, Eric Majewski, Chris Tagatac, Paul Francis, Tim Francis, and Pete Gingras), The Ticket featuring Pepi Cappezone, and legendary Rhode Island rockers John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, which is famous for its hits and performance in cult classic film Eddie and the Cruisers.

Thimble Island Brewing Company is partnering with the KARE fest and providing a large selection of beers for the event. The event will also include wine, non-alcoholic beverages, multiple food trucks, craft vendors, and several family-friendly activities.

Kids 12 and under years of age enter free, but must be accompanied by an adult. Entry for guest aged 13 to 18 via presale or day-of are $20. The adult pre-sale online donation is $50; presales close Thursday, June 9. The day-of event donation is $60 at the Guilford Fairgrounds. Visit www.pauldostiekarefund.org for all of the latest information.

All proceeds go to the Paul Dostie KARE Foundation, which raises transportation and medical funding monies for families who must seek life-saving treatments outside of their home area.

There will also be another event, a custom car show, for KARE and the Dostie family on Sunday, June 19 at the Martin-Bishop Memorial Field (Fireman’s Field) complex on Long Hill Road, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event will honor and be a day of remembrance for Paul Dostie’s dad, Jerry Dostie, who also sadly passed away earlier this year. There will be food, raffles, and goodie bags available. The show has a $10 per car entry. The memorial service honoring Jerry Dostie will take place from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

For more information about the car show, contact Bill Raccio at wraccio@outlook.com. All funds collected will go to the KARE Foundation.