Yesterday …

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10 years ago – May 20, 1994

(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

HERMON – A piece of Hermon history is coming down along the Old New Boston Road and Route 2. The farmhouse and barn have been ordered razed by the Zoidis family of Bangor, owners of the property.

From the 1800s to the 1960s, this site was more than just a home. Horses and cows went to pasture, the smell of fresh mown hay mingled with manure pile, wild flowers dotted fields, bright red raspberries, corn with bearded tassels, peas, beans, squash and pumpkins clung to their portions of the soil. It was a family, self-sustaining, working farm.

Bill Zoidis of Pilots Grill said he knew very little of the history of the building, but suggested that Jackie Tapley of Tapley Pools, a nearby neighbor, might.

Tapley said she looked upon the demolition of the house with sadness. As a child, she said, she remembered when it was still being run as a farm. Mr. King, a bachelor, considered to be a very frugal man who never went to town to purchase anything, was the last resident to farm the property.

The white farmhouse always attracted photographers looking for a typical farm, Tapley said.

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BANGOR – It is easier and less costly to adopt a child than many people think, according to the Bangor-based Good Samaritan Agency, whose leaders have announced an expansion of adoption recruitment efforts.

People older than 50 can adopt. Single people can adopt. And adoption can take place in as little four to six months if a mixed-race child is considered.

In its 92nd year, the Good Samaritan Agency wants to dispel a few adoption “myths” in hopes it can lengthen the list of adoptive parents, according to Madonna Flanders, the agency’s executive director.

To expand adoption efforts, Good Samaritan’s board of directors has decided to reopen the agency’s international adoption service.

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BANGOR – A variety of people show up for the New England Regional Conference For and About Adult Children of Alcoholism. There will be “adult children,” as well as alcoholics themselves. There are professionals who work with either group. There are also educators and members of the public.

“Affected people,” sums it up, according to Sally Baker, one of the co-chairmen.

The theme will be “A Celebration of Our Common Ground and Diversity.”

25 years ago – May 20, 1979

BANGOR – A new program for teenagers in Greater Bangor will offer crafts and travel as part of the activities planned for the summer.

Sponsored by the Bangor Jewish Community Council, it is a nonsectarian program and open to young people who will be entering grades seven to nine this fall.

The itinerary includes wilderness camping at Baxter State Park; use of the facilities of the Hilltop Craft Center at the University of Maine at Orono with expert instruction in the art of making pottery, silver jewelry, leather craft, and photography, among others; use of all the athletic facilities on the campus; a bicycling tour and back packing trip in the Acadia National Park-Mount Desert Island region; and finally, a trip which begins with a performance at Lakewood Theater, continues on to Portland for planned activities and is capped off with a visit to Boston to take in a Red Sox game.

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BANGOR – Bangor Theological Seminary has received a $35,000 gift from the Stratford Street United Church of West Roxbury, Mass., to initiate the endowment for the seminary’s new Church and Ministry Unit Program.

The Rev. Dr. Finley M. Keech, pastor of the Stratford Street Church, presented the grant to seminary President Wayne G. Glick at the inaugural luncheon on May 5.

Endowment for the church and ministry units will enable the seminary to add to its basic academic program a series of short one-credit courses. The new program grew out of a curriculum study during the seminary’s 1977-78 academic year and was initiated during the fall semester of this year.

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BANGOR – Housing for older persons is popping up throughout the state now, but 15 years ago it was far from plentiful.

But the need was there and the Rev. Edward G. Ernst, pastor of the Hammond Street Congregational Church in the early 1960s, responded when some members of his church said they were having a problem finding suitable living conditions.

A committee of the church looked into the problem and developed a design for some apartments and picked out a location on Broadway in Bangor.

Miss Barbara Pfaff gave the Sunset Manor Associates, the name of the group after they incorporated, a large gift to cover organization and operating costs. But a snag with federal funding delayed the project for a number of years.

Finally, in 1968 construction started and by that fall the building was up and occupied. There has been a waiting list ever since.

50 years ago – May 20, 1954

BANGOR – An interesting new play, “Dark Music,” was presented at the Garland Street auditorium by the Bangor Civic Theater group.

Written by poet Ina Ladd Brown and ably directed by Balielisa Van Pelt, the three-act drama opened slowly, but achieved a good second-act curtain and closed with an unexpected dramatic climax.

A first full-length drama by Mrs. Brown, the play was well written and showed great promise.

Dominated by Carlotta Trent, actress and singer, played with professional polish and fire by Frances Reynolds Stanley, “Dark Music” also afforded an excellent vehicle for the talents of Ray Spencer and Marguerite Marley.

A fine bit of acting was turned in by John Ballou as Dr. Erlich. Sound performances also were given by Lucille Sprague, Carol Sloane, Ted Nelson, George Bell, Natalie Coleman, Barbara Browne, Peter Caputo, Robert Treworgy, Peter Aloupis, Charles Coleman, Vicki Van Pelt, Richard Sheppard, Sally Huggard and Alexina Sloane.

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BANGOR – The Orascope, newspaper of Bangor Senior High School, has placed in the First Division of the 1954 Echo-Lovejoy Newspaper Contest.

Orascope received a rating of excellent from a panel of judges which included Duncan Oliphant, editor emeritus of the Portland Press Herald; Edward Penley, editor of the editorial page of the Lewiston Sun Journal; and Gerald White, editor of the Eastport Sentinel.

Twenty-two Maine high school and preparatory school papers entered the contest. The event, aimed at improving school journalism in the state, is named for the Colby newspaper.

100 years ago – May 20, 1904

ORLAND – The alewives have made their regular annual appearance in the bay and fishermen are all busy caring for them. They are being taken in large numbers at the locks.

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BANGOR – The grand council of the New England Commercial Travelers of America will open its tenth annual session in this city. The occasion will be one of the most elaborate affairs of its kind which Bangor has ever known, and already commercial travelers are arriving from all parts of New England.

The meeting will be called to order in the U.C.T. Hall, McGuire Building. Upon adjournment of a secret session meeting, the members of the grand council will be escorted to the Modockawando club where a reception will be held.

Saturday’s program will open with a meeting and in the afternoon the grand council, escorted by the Bangor Band, will be taken by special trolley cars to Riverside Park in Hampden, where a shore dinner will be served, followed by athletic demonstrations. Evening festivities include a banquet at the Windsor Hotel, music being furnished by Pullen’s orchestra.

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BANGOR – Civil engineer Frank L. Marston is making a handsome new map of the city for the police department. It is one of the largest maps of Bangor that has ever been compiled and will be invaluable. The recently arranged routes for the patrolmen are marked in red to facilitate the handing of men from headquarters, and it was for this reason especially that the map was prepared.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin