What a wonderful day Jaime Dyer Pangburn of Eddington has planned to honor her father, Bob Dyer of Sherman Mills, for the two years he has been free of colon-liver cancer.

Dyer is a well-known, popular educator and championship soccer coach who retired in 2004 after more than 30 years of service to the young people of Katahdin High School in Stacyville.

In recognition of Dyer’s valiant battle against this disease and his success in living each day to the fullest, his daughter is hosting a Celebration of Life event to benefit the CancerCare of Maine Foundation.

The celebration begins with registration at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, at Katahdin High School.

Participants are asked to make a minimum donation of $15 per person.

Pangburn wrote that the event features a 1-mile walk, a 3-mile ski and spaghetti feed for cancer survivors, their friends and families.

The walk-ski events begin at 10, and an inside area will be provided participants who cannot walk outside.

Awards and door prizes will be given out at 11:15, and the spaghetti feed begins at 11:30.

Pangburn said her parents, who own a condominium at Vacationland Estates in Island Falls, are donating a visit there to the person participating in the fund-raiser “who is the longest survivor of cancer.”

“We are trying to encourage the Katahdin area people to get out and enjoy the great snow while showing their support for the many people affected with cancer in this area,” Pangburn explained.

There is a skating rink, and child care will be provided from 9:45 to 11:15 a.m., she added.

To obtain pledge sheets, call Pangburn at 843-7377, or her mother, Patsy Dyer, at 365-4676.

With all this beautiful new snow, it should be a fun event as well as a great opportunity to celebrate the life of this man who made such a difference in the lives of so many young people and who is now, by example, showing them how to continue to enjoy life, no matter what adversity they face.

Marlene Doucette reports that the Orono Thrift Shop and Boutique is preparing for its end-of-winter sale.

The Shop and Boutique will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays, beginning Feb. 16 and continuing through March 2; and from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays, beginning Feb. 19 and running through March 5.

The facilities are housed in the Birch Street School Building, also known as the Parker Dining Hall.

Doucette suggests those new to the area “go down Pine Street in Orono, and take your second right.”

In the Thrift Shop, you can fill a bag for $1, and find half-price items in the Boutique.

The facilities will be closed for cleaning Sunday, March 6, through Tuesday, March 22.

“We will reopen at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, March 23, with spring and summer merchandise,” Doucette wrote.

Katherine Marks-Molloy, director of the Orono Public Library, urges readers to “be on the lookout for your favorite Words about Winter” and participate in “an informal sharing of favorite writings about the winter season” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24, at the library on Goodridge Drive in Orono.

Attendees are asked to bring your own selections to read aloud and share with others, whether it is “a poem, an excerpt from fiction, or something else of your choosing,” she wrote.

All ages are welcome.

Marks-Molloy suggests you “bring the family” as well as “your own rolls or bread to go with the soups” that will be provided by Friends of the Library.

For more information, call the library at 866-5060.

Congratulations to Samantha Dunton, a seventh-grader at Samuel L. Wagner Middle School in Winterport, who was named one of Maine’s top youth volunteers for 2005 by Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a national program that honors young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism.

Dunton collected and refurbished gently used teddy bears for distribution by the Bangor Police Department to children involved in a domestic crisis.

As a state honoree, Dunton receives a $1,000 award, an engraved silver medallion and an all-expense-paid trip in May to Washington, D.C., where she will join other honorees from each state and Puerto Rico for several national recognition events.

The program is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

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