Symphony group’s travel chief unfazed by illness

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Hearing her voice on the other end of the line should have come as no surprise, since I knew nothing could keep Nancy Ziegenbein down.

But also knowing she is in the acute rehabilitation unit at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, working and learning to live as independently as possible after suffering a paralyzing stroke, it was a bit of a surprise to receive her call.

I had been wondering who would be taking over for Nancy as trip coordinator of the popular Friends of the Symphony excursions that benefit the Bangor Symphony Orchestra.

Silly me!

No one is going to take over for Nancy.

“I’m still the coordinator,” she said emphatically.

And while Nancy will continue to organize the trips, she also is doing all she can to determine which trips she actually will be able to lead.

It all depends on accessibility, since she must now use a wheelchair.

“I’ll go where I can,” she said.

That might include the next Friends of the Symphony trip to London and Paris, or it might not.

“We’ll have to wait and see,” Nancy said.

But she wants readers to know she is still coordinating the Friends of the Symphony trip “Springtime in Paris and London,” which will be April 25 to May 4, 2003.

Travelers will fly to France on a Saturday and enjoy all the sights and sounds of Paris before boarding the Eurostar on a Wednesday for a three-hour train trip via the Chunnel to London.

Reservations are requested as soon as possible for the remaining spaces, and it should be noted that a deposit of $250 per person, double occupancy, is required with your reservation.

The total cost is $2,495 per person double occupancy, or $3,017 single occupancy.

You can make your reservation by calling Nancy’s home, 947-7965.

Her husband, Don, will relay the message to her, and she will return your call.

If you really want to get an early morning start on today’s holiday shopping, plan to visit the Newburgh Elementary School Annual Holiday Fair which is 8 a.m.-2 p.m. today at 2220 Western Ave., Newburgh.

Sponsored by the Newburgh Elementary School Parents, Teacher and Friends group, all proceeds will be used to benefit Newburgh school pupils.

In addition to crafts, raffles, handmade items and baked goods, this fair also is a place to take the kids if the weather’s bad. There they will find entertainment and face painting, as well as a book fair.

Brewer High School junior Brandon Libby attended a National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine recently in Boston. Forum leaders “gave us a challenge to implement a public health project in our local community,” he told me.

Libby accepted that challenge.

With the help of teachers at Pendleton Street School in Brewer, Libby is hosting a Health Fair for students from 8:45 to 11:45 a.m. Monday, Nov. 25, at the school.

There are three components in the fair, Libby explained.

First, the pupils “will learn about hygiene, safety and how the body works,” he said, “and they will also learn about nutrition and the food pyramid.”

Finally, he is asking each pupil to bring a canned or dried food product to school that day. The collected food will be donated to local food pantries as part of the school’s Community of Caring project.

Patty Huntley, who graduated from Penquis Valley High School in Milo in 1977, has a message for fellow alumni.

“For those of you who have not yet received the information,” she said, “you are invited to the PVHS Class of 1977 25th reunion at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 29, at Jeff’s Catering in Brewer.”

For more information, or to make reservations, call Huntley at 942-5135 or Laura Brown at 884-8380.

Often around the holidays, people recall time spent with old friends, and Frank Oliver of Patten is no exception.

“I am trying to locate an old Army buddy from Maine,” Oliver wrote. “His name is Scott May. I haven’t seen him since Sogel, Germany, in September 1975.”

Oliver and May were in basic and AIT and went to Germany together, Oliver wrote.

But May stayed in Sogel, and Oliver went to the Netherlands.

Oliver hopes May will read this, and get in touch with him. Or, perhaps, someone who knows May will do so.

Frank Oliver’s address is 266 Frenchville Road, Patten 04765-3231.

He can be reached by calling 528-2434 or 717-6121, and his e-mail address is sargeollie@yahoo.com.

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