For people in the Bangor area, Flag Day 2002 will be a dual celebration. Organizer Judy Butler of Eddington invites everyone to join her on the Bangor waterfront at 11 a.m. Friday, June 14, for the traditional Flag Day ceremony.

Then, she urges you to return at 6 p.m. that day to the waterfront, for a special Flag Day celebration featuring patriotic music, poems, speeches, readings and much more to honor the flag that represents our country.

Expected to be participating in the evening ceremony are the Brewer Hometown Band, the New Renaissance Singers, American Indians, representatives of the Boy Scouts of America, the U.S. military and Eastern Maine Technical College in Bangor.

Sterling Diamond will offer a narration of the black history of the Bangor area.

The Rev. Bob Carlson will serve as master of ceremonies for the event that will give everyone who attends an opportunity to celebrate the freedoms, liberties and opportunities we are so privileged to enjoy.

Members and guests who want to attend the Friends of the Symphony annual meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 19, at Pilots Grill in Bangor must make their reservations by today.

The event honors retiring board members who have given many years of superb service, and is an occasion to celebrate a new era for the Bangor Symphony’s 107th season.

Reservations for the annual meeting can be made by calling the BSO at 942-5555.

You are also invited to make your own dinner reservations after the annual meeting by calling Pilots Grill at 942-6325.

On behalf of the Peony Society of Maine, Betty Hodge invites the public to attend the second annual Peony Garden Tour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 15, at 23 Ohio St., Bangor.

Your $2 admission donation will be used to donate peony plants to the Littlefield Demonstration Gardens at the University of Maine in Orono, and to the Ecotat Gardens in Hampden.

On this tour, you will see a city garden that features more than 80 varieties of tree and herbaceous peonies in approximately 100 different peony plants.

Hodge reports that members of the Peony Society will be on hand to serve as guides and to answer all your questions about peony culture.

For those who are interested in learning more about the cultivation of this perennial plant, you might inquire of society members about a seminar the organization will offer later in the year.

If you want more information about the tour, call 862-6671.

The tour is open to all, and reservations are not required.

Organizers for Orrington Olde Home Week want you to plan to be part of that event July 20-July 28, and are especially interested in finding participants for its Olde Home Week Parade.

This year’s parade will start at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 27, at Center Drive School in Orrington. The parade theme is “Patriotic Celebration.”

Chris Lavoie wrote that organizers hope families, groups, churches “and anyone who wants to be in the parade,” will call her at 825-3245, 989-1488 or e-mail babydzl2@aol.com.

Those who want to enter the parade must inform the organizers no later than Saturday, July 20.

Lavoie wants you to remember that “there are awards for the parade, so get out there and get a group of your friends together, and be in the parade.”

She added that beads again would be given out to those along the parade route.

Event organizers are also seeking groups or churches “to do meals and/or events during the week,” Lavoie wrote, and you should contact her by Monday, July 1, if you are interested in this aspect of Olde Home Week.

Finally, Lavoie reminds readers that “we still can use some help with the organizing of the week’s events, so just call, and we can put you to work on a worthy cause.”

Recalling the life of the late Dick Everett of Bangor, who died last week of lung cancer at 69, one line of an old hit song comes to mind: “I did it my way.”

In death, as in life, Dick Everett did it his way.

No funeral. No memorial service. Nothing. Scatter my ashes at camp.

Those were his orders, and his family, who appreciated the fact that Dick took care of everything, for everyone, so well and for so long, followed them to the letter.

Many people may not know that, 40 years ago, Dick opened one of the first carwash businesses in Maine.

“He got his whole family involved,” daughter Raena Everett said, “and they opened carwashes all over the state.”

Dick loved golf, and the photo with his obituary was taken after he made a hole in one.

For his family and friends, this is a difficult time, but the tears will be few, because that was not Dick’s way.

There will be laughter and jokes, and shared memories of a man who left his mark doing it “My Way.”

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