YESTERDAY …

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10 years ago – Aug. 19, 1994

(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

BANGOR – If you simply must challenge Chris Mogridge to swim the 100-meter breast stroke or crawl, here’s a tip: Make sure the venue is a short pool with lots of flip-turns. Americans, he points out, are the best at those.

It has been a while since Mogridge was winning national competitions in his native Australia, but his love of aquatic sports will be an asset in his new job as executive director of the Bangor YMCA.

His journey “from Down Under to Down East,” as he puts it in his delightful accent, took a while. As a teenager he came to Rye, N.Y., with his parents, and soon found the local YMCA very interested in the former “beach surfguard” from Sydney. He updated his training, began working for the organization and remained involved throughout his studies at Hofstra University.

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ORONO – When Katherine Molloy took over as librarian at the public library at the beginning of the year, she set several goals for herself.

Now she is in a period of reassessment.

The Orono Public Library is unique in that it is connected to the high school and middle school, and students can enter the library from the school hallways. The public can enter through the front of the building.

Molloy found that because of its proximity, the library was used extensively by the student population, but in those early months, January and February, she noticed that the adult population did not visit the library very often.

When school closed, she promised herself, she would use the quieter summer months to develop plans she had for the library’s improvement. However, as the icy grip of winter started to relax, more and more of the adult population began to patronize the library.

By the time summer arrived, and with it the library’s youth reading program and an influx of adult patrons, Molloy’s lazy days of summer devoted to planning ended up being devoted to work.

25 years ago – Aug. 19, 1979

ORONO – Myra Luce just chuckles if you tell her she’s too old to be getting a college degree.

At age 79, Myra Luce received a master’s degree in conservation education from the University of Maine at Orono, graduating with a 3.87 average.

And don’t tell her she’s too old to start a new career, or she’ll laugh again.

Armed with her new credentials, she is returning home to Massachusetts to try for a seat on her city’s conservation commission. If she isn’t appointed right away, she still has teaching at the Red Cross, serving on her church committee, taking stained glass and chair caning lessons, advising senior citizen groups and volunteering for the Massachusetts Audubon Society to keep her busy.

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I write poems

to spill laughter

from my lips,

to ease the weight

of tears frozen

in my heart,

and to still

the tumult

in my soul.

These are the reasons Ina Ladd Brown of Garland Street in Bangor writes poetry. They are the reasons that inspired her to start writing poems at age 7 and that have sustained her through nine volumes.

Her ninth book, “Echoes,” has just been published by The Golden Quill Press in New Hampshire.

To talk to her, one would never suspect there is “tumult in my soul” as she says in her poem. She is humorous and open: “I’ll tell you anything about myself – except my age. I’m always going to be young!”

50 years ago – Aug. 19, 1954

BANGOR – The Bangor Theological Seminary faculty and staff have been engaged in, not a spring housecleaning, but a century housecleaning, and from various attics and basements have gathered together an interesting, varied and valuable collection of articles that they have now decided to offer for sale at public auction for the benefit of the Seminary.

Some of the items have been stored away for more than a hundred years. Antique lovers and collectors will be delighted to find so many rare pieces brought to light.

Among the articles to be sold are a damask covered parlor set, rugs and carpets, walnut book cases, bedroom furniture, odd chairs and stands, an Empire sideboard, round-about chair, desk table, office chairs, a typewriter, an antique sewing machine, trunks and chests, pictures, mirrors, books, dishes, large black board slate and bric-a-brac.

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BANGOR – Sgt. Clifton E. Sloane of the Bangor Police Department has accepted an invitation to attend the 54th session of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s national academy in Washington, D.C., said chief John B. O’Toole.

The invitation was extended by J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, and Harvey G. Foster, special agent in charge of the bureau’s Boston division. Sgt. Sloane will receive the same training and instruction that has been given to 2,826 law enforcement offers since the opening of the FBI academy in 1935.

Sgt. Sloane, a member of the local department since 1943, was promoted to his present rank last October. He has had an unusually active police career and has worked on most of the city’s biggest cases during the past 10 years.

He was wounded by gunfire on one occasion and narrowly escaped death another time.

100 years ago – Aug. 19, 1904

BANGOR – The “Little City” turned itself inside out yesterday in formally observing the opening of the Center Street trolley loop. A big reception was held at the home of Louis Kirstein, in Center Street, who owns the little city, and free rides were given around the loop by the Public Works Co. The Bangor Band played a splendid program, punch and crackers and cake were served, cigars were passed around and there was a general “blowout.”

There were probably 2,000 people on the Kirstein grounds during the concert, and not one of the people went away without having had a little taste of the Kirstein hospitality.

The house and grounds were attractively decorated with flags and bunting, and many other houses in the neighborhood had been trimmed for the occasion. A carpet had been stretched from the car track to the lawn for use by city council members and other guests.

Those who assisted at the reception were Miss Kirstein, Miss Grace Gardner, Miss Bessie Warren, Miss Wordsworth, Miss Reed and Miss Hathorn.

The “Little City” extends north from Montgomery paralleled by Center and Fountain streets. It comprises some 25 acres of splendid building sites. There is also another tract of 125 acres along Broadway beyond the juncture of Center Street and Broadway.

With the impetus given from the loop and the “opening,” it is expected that land will soon boom vigorously in the locality for some time to come.

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OLD TOWN – People are wondering what has become of the recent movement to prohibit fruit hawkers from doing business in this city. None of those interested seem to know whether or not the petition asking for the prohibition will be presented at the next regular city council meeting.

It looks as though the petitioners have found out they have undertaken a gigantic task and were disposed to let the matter drop.

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OLD TOWN – Residents of this city would doubtlessly not be averse to having a good band numbered among the organizations in the city. Plenty of musicians may be found, who would make the venture a great success. Instruments are on hand and a competent instructor has already promised his assistance.

One necessary adjunct of the idea is lacking a suitable hall. Several halls might be secured, but the price asked is so high that the men concerned cannot afford to hire either of them. A petition will soon be presented to the city council asking for the free use of an unused hall in the fire station on Main Street. Several of the young men are working hard for the organization of the band and if the hall can be obtained they will commence rehearsals immediately.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin