The highest honor of Scottish Rite Freemasonry was conferred on a group of Maine Freemasons on Sept. 23 in Devos Hall of the Grand Center Convention Complex in Grand Rapids, Mich. The 33rd Degree is awarded for “outstanding service to Freemasonry or for significant contributions to humanity, reflecting credit upon the Fraternity.” Maine’s new Supreme Council members elected were: Daniel C. Pratt of Clinton; Robert D. Chaput of Hampden; and Walter L. Greenier of Caribou.

One hundred thirty-nine 32nd Degree members of the Scottish Rite Freemasonry for the Northern Jurisdiction, U.S.A., were also elected to receive the 33rd Degree at the organization’s September 1998 meeting in Cincinnati. Among the 139 were: Colwyn F. Haskill of Bethel; Paul L. Hazard of Belfast; Robert W. Sawyer of Ashland; Kenneth C. Sparks of Gardiner; Irving N. Anzmann, Jr. of Portland; and Daniel E. Wathen of Augusta.

Six area Girl Scouts received the Girl Scout Silver Award, which is the highest award a Cadette Girl Scout can receive, recently. The award recognizes excellence in personal growth, community service and skills development. The recipients were: Linsey Harmon of Brooksville; Sara Currier, Vanessa Edmondson, Misty Levigne and Sarah Walden, all of Greenville; and Colleen Dwyer of Glenburn.

Father L. David Mani has been appointed Catholic chaplain at the Togus Veterans Affairs Medical and Regional Office Center. Father Mani joined the Togus staff as the Catholic chaplain on Sept. 14 and is looking forward to ministering to the needs of the patients, their families and staff of the Togus community.

Dr. Steven Molnar-Gabor, a practicing physician with Valley Medical Association in Madawaska and Fort Kent, has been certified a diplomate of the American Board of Family Practice for passing the board’s certification examination.

Sandra Voisine, home health aid and visit scheduler for Professional Home Nursing, received the 1997 Distinguished Service Award for outstanding performance in the provision of home care services. The award was presented by the Home Care Alliance of Maine at its annual meeting.

Laurie Whitson, formerly the community service coordinator at Trilogy Inc., a mental health care organization in Chicago, has joined the staff of the Aroostook Mental Health Center in Caribou as an outpatient therapist. Whitson will be responsible for providing therapy and consultation to people with chronic mental illness, as well as others. She will provide clinical backup in support of AMHC’s Emergency Services and periodically offer community education when requested.

Laura M. Brown of Eagle Lake will be editor for the year of the Bates College weekly newspaper. Brown, a graduate of Fort Kent Community High School, is a senior at Bates and was previously the features editor of The Student in the 1996-97 school year.

Anita Sargent Leonard of Stillwater has been inducted into the YMCA Heritage Club for her volunteer work for the Y. Leonard, according to members of the YMCA, has exemplified the type of volunteer that has allowed the YMCA to continue to grow.

Joe and Susan Cyr, Ralph and Anita Leonard and Herb and Vera Sargent were honored by the YMCA. All three received the award for lifetime contributions to the Old Town-Orono YMCA and its activities on behalf of children, families and the community.

Thomas J. Wolford of Chester, a graduate of Pennsylvania State University, has reached his goal of visiting half of the counties in the United States and visiting more than 95 percent of the cities, towns and townships in New England, New York and Pennsylvania.

Elizabeth Hogan, C.M.T., recently completed a seminar at the College International D’Osteopathie in St. Etienne, France. The seminar, conducted by Stephhen Typaldos, D.O., provided training in osteopathy, and the treatment of musculoskeletal injury as envisioned through the facial distortion model.

Ronald L. Gleason, principal of Belfast Area High School, Tim Doran, foreign language department, and Sonya Verney, applied arts department, recently attended a follow-up seminar designed to assist schools in the organization of the follow-up phase of the accreditation process.

Julie G. Rowe has been named executive director of the Maine State Bar Association. Rowe comes from the Independent Energy Producers of Maine, where she served as the organization’s first executive director.

Corliss Chastain, Maranacook Academy art teacher and Humanities Divison chair, has been honored as Art Educator of the Year by the Maine Art Education Association. Chastain has been teaching art at Maranacook for 15 years. She has taught at the University of Maine at Augusta as well as other institutions and has served on various committees such as Maine Education Association’s assessment standards and Maine’s Learning Results.

Paul Saucier, After-Care Program coordinator at Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent, has been notified by the American Nurses’ Credentialing Center that he has been certified as a psychiatric and mental health nurse.

Saucier passed certification exams which are objective tests that covered knowledge, understanding and application of professional nursing theory and practice.