Search ensues for members of 26th Air Division

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With the potential to become a “really big reunion,” organizers are searching for anyone, anywhere, who was a member of the 26th Air Division (Defense) of the U.S. Air Force.

No longer in existence, members of the 26th Air Division were the people responsible for plotting, on radar, “where planes, ships and fighter outfits were, all up and down the East Coast” from the 1940s to the 1960s, said former 26th Air Division member Glennis Pratt Cline of Greenbush.

“For example, I was stationed at the headquarters on Long Island, serving at Roslyn Air Force Station from August 1954 to June 1959.”

Cline and other members of the division are holding a 26th U.S. Air Force reunion the weekend of Oct. 12-14 in Bangor.

The date, which coincides with the height of the fall foliage season, was not set by accident, Cline said.

“We planned for that weekend,” she said. “We are encouraging people to come a day early and stay a day late” so they can see and do all that is available to them in this area, and not miss out on the foliage.

Cline said the reunion was “put together a few years ago” by those who hoped it would become a larger event than it has.

“We’re looking for anybody who served in the 26th Air Division,” she said. “There are hundreds and hundreds of these people all over the country, so there’s great potential for this event. But we’ve only had five or six reunions, and the job of getting out the word is very difficult.”

Cline pointed out that finding women who were former members of the division presents its own set of problems.

“Many are married now, and it’s hard to track them down because of their married names,” she said.

Rooms have been set aside at the Best Inn on Main Street, and reunion weekend activities include a Bar Harbor tour on Saturday and a visit to the Penobscot Marine Museum on Sunday in Searsport, followed by dinner at Jordan’s Restaurant.

Anyone who wants further information about this reunion, or the organization, is welcome to call Cline at 827-1483 or write her at 1102 Cardville Road, Greenbush 04418.

You can also call 26th U.S. Air Force reunion secretary, Charles Doran, at 937-236-0081, or write him at 5258 Pitcairn Road, Huber Heights, Ohio 45424, or crdoran@aol.com.

Bonnie Lee Tucker of Hampden, president of the Maine Affiliate of the Susan Komen Foundation, can’t say enough about the contributions being made to the Komen Maine Race for the Cure by Dysart’s of Hermon.

Dysart’s and Mike and Mary Dysart Hartt of Northern Log Homes had constructed and have donated a terrific log playhouse to the Maine affiliate, which will be won by a lucky ticket-holder at the Komen Maine Race for the Cure on Sunday, Sept. 16, on the Bangor waterfront.

The playhouse is not only on display at Dysart’s Restaurant in Hermon, it also is featured on the front of its menus.

Also featured in the menus is information about Dysart’s new cookbook that Tucker was able to present to President Bush and Lynn Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, during a recent trip to Washington, D.C.

Raffle tickets for the log playhouse, which Tucker assures me is “big enough to hold you and me,” are just $1 each.

They can be purchased at all Dysart’s locations, Darling’s Ford/Volkswagen/Audi in Bangor, through any Maine affiliate or Komen Maine Race for the Cure committee member, by calling Tucker at 862-5230 or calling Komen Maine Race for the Cure chairwoman, Juanita Taylor, at 924-1068.

The mission of the Komen Foundation is to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease.

Marty Calderwood of Searsport has issued an invitation for you to take the Carver Memorial Library Shaker Trip on Thursday, Sept. 13.

The tour to the New Gloucester site will leave at 7:30 a.m., from the Carver Memorial Library in Searsport.

“We have to be there by 10 a.m., because we are going to do the extended tour of all the different houses,” explained tour committee member Calderwood. “It takes about 21/2 hours for the entire tour.”

And she has an important reminder that was passed along to her “by one of the Shaker brothers,” she said.

On this particular tour, “there is lots of walking,” Calderwood said, “and I was told there are stairs.”

Therefore, it is best you understand that, to take this tour, you must be able to navigate freely and easily.

“He really stressed that,” Calderwood added.

The cost of the Shaker tour is $35 per person, and includes lunch at Cole’s Farm in Gray. You should be back in Searsport around 4:30 p.m.

And if you’d like a little advance preparation, you can read the book “Growing Up Shaker,” which was written by Sister Frances.

“She was taken in during World War II, when many families found it difficult to raise large families,” Calderwood explained.

Proceeds from this coach tour benefit Carver Memorial Library.

Reservations can be made by calling librarian Nancy Morley at 548-2303.

Carver Memorial Library hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday; 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday; and 9 a.m.-noon Saturday.

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

990-8288.