10 years ago – March 11, 1994

(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

BANGOR – Sam and Sally, two Sesame Streetlike puppets, were bickering about who got the most attention in the family. Sister Karen Hopkins, guidance counselor, directed the action before a rapt audience – a group of third-grade children at St. John’s School on State Street.

Hopkins’ slender, pale face lit up as she wielded the puppets, changing her voice from high to low to match the Sally and Sam characters. She dramatized the sibling-rivalry dilemma, drawing comments from the audience in the process.

It’s the type of skit Hopkins often performs with the collection of furry and friendly puppets that line a bookcase in her office at St. John’s School.

The puppets provide a safe, pleasing backdrop for kids to get in touch with their feelings, Hopkins said.

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BANGOR – Although there was plenty of slush to inaugurate warmer temperatures, Thursday brought less rain than expected.

Emergency management officials breathed a sigh of relief after the threat of flooding waned, as deep snow absorbed most of the rain.

Planes were coming and going on schedule at Bangor International Airport, although the airport did experience some delays earlier in the day. By Thursday evening, airport employees were working to keep ahead of the water that had started to freeze.

After plowing the mush and water off city streets, Public Works crews then had to go back and clean out catch basins, which had clogged and forced the melting snow into the roads. But like some other departments, Public Works was preparing for a night of treating icy conditions.

25 years ago – March 11, 1979

Americans have always had a love affair with Switzerland. Bordered on the east by Germany and Austria, and on the south by Italy and on the west by France, it has three relatively distinct sections dominated by the German, Italian and French languages.

A native of Neuchatel, almost on the border of France, is Bangor’s resident ballerina, Jeanne-Marie Aubert Robinson, who makes a happy habit of returning to her homeland each year to visit her family and to renew old ties.

“I lived in Neuchatel until I was 18,” she said, “and then we moved to Lausanne. I got a lot of my training in dance in Paris, where I met my future husband. But we weren’t on speaking terms until we got to Nice.”

Unfortunately, Mrs. Robinson said, too many Americans cleave to the high roads of the country – the marvelously engineered superhighways that criss-cross the country and often hang precipitously on sheer cliffs.

“Last summer,” Mrs. Robinson recalled, “my father took us to Les Rochers, reached chiefly by cog railway. As we climbed up, we could hear the cows lowing and their bells jingling. The pitches of the bells vary so that the animals can be located if they wander off in the mist.”

50 years ago – March 11, 1954

BANGOR – When Claude Noyes was a young man, he earned his way through college working on the great lumber drives down the east and west branches of the Penobscot River to Bangor.

Later, although he operated his own contracting firm in Orono, he still ran the logs down the river to Bangor.

Today, at 84 years old, and one of the few men who still remember the days when Bangor was the lumbering center of the world, Noyes is still working with wood, but now he fashions grandfather clocks out of “live-edged” boards.

Noyes, a great-grandfather, first started building the 7-foot hall clocks three years ago to take up time left over from his insurance business. He has made 10 of the old-fashioned timepieces. He first became interested in clocks “as a boy at school” when “wheel-working” fascinated him.

As a boy of 16, he first went into the woods working for his brother for 50 cents a day. During the winter that followed, he attended high school, and Bates College, and earned his tuition fees during spring and summers in the woods camps.

In a voice that had won first prize at the Latin School he attended before entering college, Noyes described the great drives of the 1890s when 300 million feet of lumber was floated down the branches of the Penobscot to Bangor.

Even after he graduated from college, had taught school for several winters and was operating the C.A. Noyes contractor firm in Orono, Noyes was still leading river drives in spring.

“Why,” he snorted, “a good building job never got started until the hot days were half over. There was plenty of time for them when the drives were done.”

Among the buildings Noyes constructed is the Great Northern Paper office in Millinocket. He built the International Bridge at Vanceboro and had a hand in the construction of Ripogenus Dam. He even traveled to Colorado to work on Boulder Dam.

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BANGOR – The Bangor branch of the American Association of University Women went on record to endorse U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith for re-election, not primarily because she is a woman candidate, but because she is the best candidate available for the office. The action was taken at a meeting held at the home of Miss Isabel Magee, with Mrs. Jess Storey presiding.

It was voted by the local branch to look into the sponsoring of a series of citywide book reviews in the fall.

Dr. Garland B. Russell, assistant professor of education and director of teacher training at the University of Maine, was the guest speaker at the session, taking as his subject, “World Citizenship and Television.”

Discussing the place of TV in the education of today’s child, Dr. Russell expressed his opinion that the new medium offers many educational programs which enable the child to understand the world in which he lives. He also expressed the hope that, with the expansion of television here, several hours a week would be devoted to local educational TV programs that could be prepared by the University of Maine faculty.

Tea was served at the close of the program with Mrs. George Ginsburg and Mrs. Thomas Jordan pouring. The attractively appointed tea table was centered with purple iris and yellow jonquils.

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BANGOR – Live television broadcasts from two major networks will be transmitted over Channel 5 in Bangor beginning June 1, it was announced by Leon P. Gorman, general manager of station WABI-TV.

Gorman said arrangements have been made with NBC and CBS, which will make the local television outlet one of the few stations in the United States to enter into an agreement with two key networks on a live basis.

Gorman said the new arrangements would enable television viewers in this section of the state to watch the live and original broadcasts of all the leading programs.

Sports fans will receive full consideration, he said, with two major prizefights weekly, the World Series, Saturday’s football game of the week and bowl football.

100 years ago – March 11, 1904

ORONO – Wednesday afternoon members of the Ladies Aid Society of the Methodist Church were delightfully entertained at the home of Mrs. Thomas Gilbert, president of the society.

A large number were present and many brought their earliest pictures. Over these pictures, a guessing game was held. The first prize, a pretty purse, was won by Mrs. William Heald. The second prize, a lady’s embroidered collar, fell to the Rev. W.B. Dukeshire. At the close of the afternoon a delicious chicken pie supper was served which merited all the praise it received.

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BANGOR – The Rev. and Mrs. Henry L. Griffin were tendered a most delightful reception by the members of the church and parish in the vestries last night. It was the farewell of Mr. Griffin’s people to him and his wife and although regret was uppermost, the occasion was enjoyable. Mr. and Mrs. Griffin received all the guests.

A delicious supper of salads and coffee was served during the early evening. All formality was done away with; there were no speeches or presentations. The vestries had been effectively decorated by the young people and there was a great profusion of cut flowers.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin