The Bangor Daily News recently received a very interesting query from 85-year-old Waterbury, Conn., resident Frederick Chasse Sr., and we hope someone will be able to answer it.

Many years ago, Chasse wrote, he cut a poem out of our paper “and carried it in my wallet for so long it fell apart.”

“So I memorized it,” he continued, “and recently quoted it to my grandchildren,” of which he and his wife have 15.

The Chasses, by the way, were married Sept. 11, 1939, at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Millinocket.

Their five children “all have copies [of the poem] and want to know who wrote it,” Chasse explained.

The poem is titled “Why Bums Come to Aroostook.”

It begins “I’m bound for up in Aroostook, where the big potatoes grow, where everyone is happy, no matter where you go.

“They always call you Governor, the never call you bum, they shake your hand with both of theirs, they’re always glad you’ve come.”

Chasse would like to be able to pass the name of the author along to his children, grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren.

Having read the entire poem, as written by Chasse from memory, I can tell you it is a delightful one.

It has a very happy ending, as anyone who was born in, or moved to, that special part of Maine – The County – can well imagine.

Do you know the author of this old poem?

If so, please call or write me, or write Frederick Chasse Sr., 78 Cedar Ave., Waterbury, Conn. 06705-2701.

Margaret Brown of Orrington has provided us with two items of interest about The Altrusa Club of Bangor.

First is the fact that Altrusa’s annual Fashion Revue is 7 p.m. Monday, April 26, in the Campus Center of Husson College in Bangor.

Tickets are $12 each, and are available from Altrusa members or by calling 947-6973.

Hosts Ric Tyler and Sharon Pelletier will comment on the fashions that models will be wearing from Talbots, the Pretty Woman, Rosen’s of Bucksport, Marlene’s Uniform Shop, Filene’s, Henry’s Bridal Boutique and Kmart of Bangor.

Kathryn Foley is the pianist for the event that features homemade desserts and benefits Altrusa’s scholarship programs.

And Brown has further information for women interested in obtaining those scholarships, especially the fact that all applications must be received by Friday, April 30.

The Ruth Milan-Altrusa Club of Bangor Scholarship is awarded to a student in the Eastern Maine Medical Center-Husson College Nursing program.

These funds are administered by the Maine Community Foundation.

Applications are available in the Husson College Financial Aid office or the Nursing Program office. The award for 2003-2004 is $1,540.

Altrusa will award a $1,000 Scholarship to a Maine woman enrolled in a degree-granting program who has earned at least 15 credits at the University of Maine, Beal College, Eastern Maine Community College or the University of Maine-Augusta at Bangor.

Those applications are available in the financial aid offices of the respective institutions.

Altrusa will also award a $1,000 scholarship to a Maine woman enrolled in a degree-granting program at Husson, and those applications are available at Husson’s financial aid office. For information, call June Smith at 942-5158 or Brown at 825-3178.

In recognition of National Volunteer Week, Charles Newton, executive director of Penquis Community Action Program, thanks the more than 1,300 volunteers who donated more than 191,000 hours last year, a 9 percent increase over the number of volunteer hours the year before.

“Our volunteers donated the time equivalent of nearly 92 full-time jobs,” he wrote.

“We applaud their accomplishments, and are honored to work with such a caring and dedicated group of individuals.

Those volunteers work “to improve the quality of life in our communities,” he added.

“The achievements of Penquis CAP are due, in great part, to their tremendous contributions.”

Eleven panels tracing the history of the diversity of ethnic groups that settled Bangor are on display from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, now through September, on the second floor of Bangor City Hall.

The panels are from the Bangor Museum and Center for History exhibit, “From Away: Exploring Bangor’s Cultural Heritage.”

The panels contain information about the Irish, Greek, African-American and Jewish communities of Bangor.

The museum is installing its next exhibit, “Images of New England-Visions of Bangor: Photography and the Human Experience,” which opens Saturday, May 15, at 6 State St.

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