Book kindles memories on Dexter sports

Baseball, basketball, football and track, to be sure. But swimming and swimming areas? Carnival and circus locations? Roller-skating? Metal detecting? These are just a few of the topics in James Wintle’s “A History: Dexter Sports and Recreation.”

Take the Dexter Rockets, for instance. Wintle remembers riding in the back of Ralph Simpson’s milk truck to see a football game in Winslow in the late 1930s. The highlight of the game was a 50-yard touchdown pass thrown by Omar Cloutier to Dud Farnham.

Did you ever hear of boxers Maurice “Seattle Kid” Richards, or Francis “Jim Toland” Richards, or Bernard “Larry Walsh” Clukey? How about equestrian Avis Nelson Shaw and her horses Golden Dancer and Painted Lady?

Maybe you remember the team that set a world candlepin bowling record – Lane Mountain, Del Higgins, Loto Clukey, Elmer Seavey and Joe Bolduc.

Wintle offers plenty of black-and-white photos, including basketball teams the Dexter Athletic Club from 1924, Villa Banner from the 1930s and some of the members of the Tydol Five in the 1930s.

Recreation pics include the Dexter Junior Literary Club around 1940, the cast of “There She Goes” in the late 1940s, and, from 1914, a group of Dexter girls who got together “once a month during their teens for a supper, and just to make things interesting, dressed up like boys for the occasion.”

My favorite photograph isn’t one of the old ones, however. I like the picture of the Dexter-Dover hockey team, whose members included the late Rusty Sweeney, my high school math teacher.

The 104-page book is not intended to list every athlete or performer that Dexter ever had. But it’s a lot of fun to read, especially if you lived in or around Dexter, and it’s obviously written by someone who has a lot of love for the town.

By the way, Wintle is the dad of Sandra Wintle Blaney, author of “Entering Ripley.”

To order “A History: Dexter Sports and Recreation,” send $15 plus $2 postage to James Wintle, 187 Ripley Road, Dexter, ME 04930.

The Michaud Family Reunion will be held June 26-29 in conjunction with the Acadian Festival in Madawaska.

Last year’s family was the Martins, and this time the reunion will gather descendants of Pierre Micheau and Marie (Ancelin) Micheau.

Pierre came to Quebec in 1656 and 11 years later married Marie Ancelin. The couple had 10 children, 79 grandchildren and 458 great-grandchildren.

For that reason, Franco-Americans will sometimes find that Pierre and Marie crop up in their ancestry more than once – even eight or 10 times.

Registration for the reunion will be held 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday in the cafeteria at Madawaska High School. The registration is $3 a person or $5 a family in U.S. funds, $5 a person or $8 a family in Canadian.

The planting of the Michaud family tree will take place at 2 p.m., and the re-enactment of the historic Acadian landing at 4 p.m. Thursday near the Acadian Cross, on the river behind Tante Blanche Museum in St. David, just outside Madawaska.

The reunion banquet is scheduled for 5-7 p.m. Saturday at the Multi-Purpose Center in Madawaska, with a social afterward.

The reunion Mass will be held at 8 a.m. Sunday in the church at St. David. The Acadian Festival Parade is set for 1 p.m. Sunday on Main Street in Madawaska.

For more information, check www.geocities.com/MichaudReunion2003.

The Graham-Ross Family Reunion will be held Aug. 16 in Houlton.

Those interested are the descendants of William Alexander Graham and Irene Virginia (Ross) Graham, as well as families of the Ross siblings.

For information, contact Laura Steele at Mummasteele1@aol.com, writing “Reunion” in the subject line; call 827-3571; or write her at P.O. Box 36, Old Town, ME 04468.

3237. SILVA-CUNNINGHAM. Would like to correspond with descendants of Clara (Silva) Cunningham, wife of Wesley Cunningham of Patten. Clara was daughter of John and Agnes Silva. Wesley and Clara had: Marie L., Patricia A., Laverne D. and Anita L. J.E. Deacon, 111/2 North Van Buren Ave., Apt. 303, Freeport, IL 61032.

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or send e-mail to familyti@bangordailynews.net.