Residents and town officials in Troy have launched a most ambitious task: raising money for a veterans memorial “for all veterans from the town of Troy,” wrote Selectwoman and Troy Veterans Memorial Fund committee member Frederica “Freddye” Fuller.

According to Fuller, “Kate Hillman, Troy’s oldest citizen, at 95 years young, is the honorary chairman of this effort.”

“She has spoken to anyone who will listen, and expressed her concerns that many towns have veterans memorials, and Troy should have one” of its own, as well, Fuller wrote.

“Kate is the mother of three veterans in two wars.”

Apparently her words were heeded, because, as Fuller explained, “community residents, organizations and business owners will be asked to help fund the project.”

The committee also welcomes donations from former Troy residents, and others, interested in establishing the memorial, Fuller added, and donations sent in memory of a veteran will be acknowledged.

Fuller ex-plained that anyone interested in obtaining more information about the project can visit the Town Office, where a record book is available that contains the names of all Troy veterans, from the Revolutionary War to the present.

That record was compiled by Town Clerk Jan Cropley over several years, Fuller wrote, adding that the record book is still open for additions and corrections.

In an e-mail subsequent to receiving Fuller’s letter, Cropley informed me that Troy has been a town of many names.

It began “as Town 4, in 1792, when first surveyed,” she wrote, and was still part of Massachusetts when it was first settled, in 1793.

In 1795 Troy was 25 Mile Plantation. It became Bridgeton in 1800; was incorporated as Kingville, the 189th town of the Province of Maine in 1812; became Joy, in Kennebec County, in 1815; was known as Montgomery from 1825 to 1826; and, finally, in February 1827, “it became Troy, Waldo County State of Maine,” Cropley wrote.

Troy is located 22 miles northwest of Belfast. Its population apparently peaked in about 1850 with more than 1,500 residents, Cropley reported. The 2000 census lists its population at 963.

By whatever name it was at the time, Troy is seeking to recognize those who left their homes to serve their country.

Donations can be made out to the Troy Veterans Memorial Fund and sent to the Troy Town Office, 129 Rogers Road, Troy 04987.

More information is available at the Town Office, by calling 948-2283, faxing 948-5456, or e-mailing townoftroy@uninets.net.

Since January, more than 300 school spelling bees have been conducted in preparation for the State Spelling Bee, sponsored by the Bangor Daily NEWS, which begins at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 26, in Rangeley Hall on Sylvan Road on the Eastern Maine Community College campus in Bangor.

Sixteen county champions will compete in the contest for the opportunity to represent Maine and receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in June in Washington, D.C.

I congratulate the young spellers on winning their county contests, and wish them well in the state bee.

In addition to the competition, the event features an address by guest speaker Sen. Susan Collins.

Because space is limited for the Woodlawn Museum Workshop on the Care of Old Photographs and Documents, you are advised to make a reservation.

The workshop, conducted by local historian Nancy Alexander and Woodlawn collections manager Rosamond Rea, is 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 2, at the museum, located on West Street (Route 172) in Ellsworth.

The cost of the workshop is $5, and reservations can be made by calling the museum at 667-8671.

You are invited to bring material from your personal collections, including letters, diaries, store ledgers, albums and photographs.

Alexander will discuss historical context and how the documents reveal the time in which they were created and the people who created them, and Rea will provide information about the care and storage of personal collections.

Samples of proper storage materials will be handed out, and resource catalogs will be provided.

Oops! I automatically mistyped one very important part of the telephone number for you to call to obtain more information about volunteering for the American Folk Festival on the Bangor Waterfront, which is Aug. 26-28 in Bangor.

It is not the 990 exchange, but the newer 992 exchange. The correct American Folk Festival telephone number is 992-2630.

You can also e-mail debbi@americanfolkfestival.com.

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