Katahdin Area Council seeks its Eagle Scouts

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Nationally the Boy Scouts of America celebrated its 90th anniversary last year, but the Katahdin Area Council will celebrate that milestone this year with a special event, “Gathering of Eagles.”

“What we’d like to do is celebrate the anniversary at Camp Roosevelt,” said council board member Candy Guerrette.

Camp Roosevelt is the Katahdin Area Council’s camping facility located in Eddington.

“And one of the pieces we’d like to have in place for that event is to make this a Gathering of Eagles.”

In particular, Guerrette said, “we want to identify the oldest Eagle in our council and, hopefully, honor him at that time.”

Guerrette said one problem board members found when they began planning for this event is that the list of Katahdin Area Council Eagle Scouts is incomplete.

“Many of them don’t even live around here anymore,” Guerrette said.

So the Katahdin Area Council is asking for your help. If you are an Eagle Scout and earned that award as a member of the Katahdin Area Council, or you know of someone who is a Katahdin Area Council Eagle Scout, call the council at 866-2241 or (800)-353-5888, e-mail at kac216@yahoo.com or write the Katahdin Area Council, 90 Kelly Road, Orono 04473.

“Basically, we are looking for their names, the year they got their Eagle badge, their troop and their current mailing address, so we can contact them,” Guerrette said.

A date for the Gathering of Eagles has yet to be set, but it will be held in the fall.

“We plan for it to be when camp is over for the summer,” Guerrette said.

“There have been a lot of changes at the camp, and we think the Eagles would like to see what the place looks like now.

“We really want to make it a special event,” she said.

“We’ll not only honor our oldest Eagle but, for example, we’ll honor the Eagle who traveled the farthest to get here.”

As a reminder to wish all mothers a Happy Mother’s Day this weekend, Parvin Petersen of Sunset wrote that members of Program of Academic Exchange, also known as PAX, wishes to publicly extend Mother’s Day greetings to two women who are part of that program.

Crystal Robbins of Stonington is hosting two exchange students this year, one from Thailand and one from Brazil. Last year, Pat Gross of Stonington hosted a student from France.

“We just wanted to recognize these women for what they are doing,” Petersen said of the women who are two of many cross-cultural host “mothers” being honored on this day.

If you are interested in becoming a PAX “parent, call Petersen at 348-6067 or the PAX national office at 800-555-6211.

Persons who identify themselves as Norwegian or are of Norwegian ancestry are invited to a gathering of people of Norwegian ancestry from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 17, in Kimball Hall at the Congregational Church of Rockland, 180 Limerock St.

“The purpose of this gathering is to form a social fellowship in order to share interest in, and to celebrate, this colorful heritage,” said Signe Swanholm Gardner of Rockland.

Dessert and coffee will be served.

If you wish more information or want to make to make a reservation, call Gardner at 594-8742 or her sister, Elaine Swanholm Storer of Thomaston, at 354-6608.

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Attending an All-New England Band Festival, and hearing a special piece of music composed by nationally known composer-conductor James Swearingen that was commissioned by an Ohio Masonic lodge to pay tribute to the Masons and Shriners of North America, gave Woodland High School band director Henry Noonan a great idea.

This year’s Woodland High School spring concert will pay tribute to the Masons and Shriners. They often are referred to as the “World’s Greatest Philanthropy,” according to Noonan, for such work as the construction of 22 hospitals specifically designed to care for children free of charge.

The Woodland Junior-Senior High School band and the WHS chorus, under the direction of Cheryl Amber, will present the Down East Maine premier of Swearingen’s “Children of the Shrine March” as part of its spring concert.

Doors open at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 15, at the WHS gymnasium.

The concert will pay tribute to the work the Masons and Shriners do nationally, as well as many other acts of kindness offered by local Masonic lodges and Shrine units.

Tributes to special guests from local Masonic lodges and Shrine units will be part of the evening, and musicians representing several Masonic lodges around the state will participate in the concert with the WHS band.

Admission is free and the student musicians, singers and their directors hope that any Mason or Shriner who wants to join the evening’s festivities will attend.

If you wish to do so, you can contact your local lodge or call Noonan at 427-3325.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.