Johnson’s Farm summer camp reunion planned

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For more than a year now, former Hampden resident Margaret Health Carigan of Portland and I have been corresponding by e-mail as she was contemplating an idea that finally is going to become a reality.

Carigan is organizing a reunion of Johnson’s Farm Riding Camp Alumni, and she informed me a few days ago that “we have a date: Saturday, July 16, at the farm” in Newburgh.

“We’re looking at a big potluck” event, she wrote. “Very simple stuff. We hope people will bring pictures, stories, wander about, and just have fun.”

For many young people growing up in the Bangor area during a special period between the mid-1960s and mid-’90s, Johnson’s Farm was a “home away from home,” especially in the summer months when Sandra Johnson, who now lives in Orono, ran one of the most popular summer day camp programs around.

And while much of the focus was on horses and all the attendant experiences they afford, the camp also offered swimming and arts and crafts.

For many young people, such as Carigan and my daughter, Sue Averill, it was a way of life that did not end when camp closed in August, but continued through the year, when they had horses of their own to care for and ride no matter what the season.

The impetus for this reunion, Carigan told me, is that Sandra Johnson recently celebrated her 80th birthday, which many Johnson Farm alumni were unable to attend.

The reunion is just another way of saying happy birthday to a woman whose love of children, horses, arts, crafts and wide-open spaces made such a difference in the lives of so many young people

Many of those campers – and my daughter is one – took what they learned there and brought those caring, compassionate values and attitudes with them into their life’s work.

Carigan is trying to get in touch with as many Johnson’s Farm alumni as she can, and she hopes this column will reach those whom she might not otherwise find.

If you are a Johnson’s Farm alum, and you would like to be part of this great celebration, write Margaret Carigan, 91 Edwards St., Portland 04102, or e-mail gritty@Maine.rr.com.

A volunteer opportunity exists for individuals who have the interest and the desire to work with grieving children – children who have experienced the loss of a loved one or are in the midst of dealing with that most difficult life situation.

Pathfinders: Support for Grieving Children, needs volunteer facilitators to assist with its spring session, which begins the first week of March.

Training sessions include one day and three evening meetings, and will begin Sunday, Feb. 13, in Bangor.

Pathfinders offers special bereavement support for children and teens ages 3 to 18.

Volunteers new to the program will be paired with a seasoned facilitator and work with children in a particular age group.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer for Pathfinders, call Linda Boyle at 973-8269.

College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor has announced that the Rebecca Clark ’96 Memorial Scholarship in Marine Studies has been created in memory of the COA graduate who was killed in the December tsunami while working in Thailand.

COA trustee Edward McC. Blair launched the scholarship with a $50,000 donation in memory of the young woman with whom he had shared whale-watching expeditions through her work with Allied Whale, the college’s whale research institute.

At the time of her death, Clark was working at a marine research station run by Naucrates, an Italian organization dedicated to the study and protection of sea turtles and mangrove forests, according to a college press release.

Additionally, a memorial plaque for Clark will be placed on the campus shore, and a room at the Blair Marine Research Station at Mount Desert Rock will be named in her memory.

For more information about Clark, visit www.coa.edu/

news/rebeccaclark.html.

For more information about the scholarship, write Donna Gold, director of public relations, College of the Atlantic, 105 Eden St., Bar Harbor 04609 or call her at 288-5015, ext. 291.

Brownville Days 2005 kicks off with a public buffet supper from 5 to 6 p.m. today at Brownville Junction High School Alumni Hall in Brownville Junction.

Tickets are $5 for adults and $2 for children under 12.

The menu includes baked beans, casseroles, salads, desserts and homemade rolls.

For more information about activities of Brownville Days Committee 2005, call Linda Coburn, 965-8421.

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