You know that summer really has arrived in Brooks when Marsh River Theater opens its 2005 season with two performances at 8 p.m. Friday, June 24, and Saturday, June 25, at the theater on Route 139 in that community.

Season ticket prices are $60 and $80, and individual performance tickets are $7 and $10.

Reservations for performances of the theater’s ninth season can be made by calling 722-4110.

MRT founder George Wildey wants you to know that “the Friends of MRT have worked hard this spring getting the theater ready for the season.”

“The lobby has been painted, a new front door has been installed, and the front gardens look beautiful.

“The season opens with our own popular Marsh River Singers, followed by some outstanding Maine artists,” he said. “The Memphis Belles will do their final concert at Marsh River this year,” he reported of the well-known area 1940s singing trio who “opened the theater on August 24, 1996.”

What follows is the full MRT schedule, with the reminder that all performances begin at 8 p.m.

Anni Clark appears July 2, followed by Two Old Friends, July 9; The Maine Women’s Balkan Choir, July 16; Senior Theater Camp Presentation, July 22-23; The Dave Rowe Trio, July 30; The Memphis Belles & The Bell Hops, Aug. 6; Bruce Nye, The Elvis Guy, Aug. 13; Junior Theater Camp Presentation, Aug. 19-20; Erica Brown and The Bluegrass Connection, Aug. 27; Amateur Night, Sept. 3; and finally, The Community Players present “The Police Know Everything,” Sept. 9-10.

While we’re on the subject of local theater, Penobscot Theatre Company volunteer Norma Cram reports that auditions for the 2005-06 season will be conducted from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday, June 27, and Tuesday, June 28, at the theater in the Bangor Opera House on Main Street.

If you need more information or wish to schedule an appointment, you should call the PTC box office at 942-3333.

Openings are still available for the Good Samaritan Agency 5th annual women’s golf tournament beginning with registration at noon and a 1 p.m. shotgun start Friday, June 24, at Bangor Municipal Golf Course.

Your $50 fee for the nine-hole event includes a golf clinic at 12:30 p.m., several contests, a social hour after the tournament and the opportunity to win awards and prizes.

Individuals registering for the all-women scramble will be assigned teams if they are not part of one.

Theresa Bragg and all associated with the agency that offers services to single parents hopes you will take advantage of this special opportunity to “have fun and raise money for a good cause.”

To register, call Good Samaritan Agency, 942-7211.

On behalf of the Penobscot Historical Society, Audrey Peasly invites you to enjoy a chowder supper beginning at 5 p.m. Saturday, June 25, in the vestry of Penobscot United Methodist Church on Route 175 in that community.

Seafood chowder and vegetable soup are on the menu, Peasly wrote, “with cottage pudding for dessert.”

Admission is a donation of $8 for adults and $4 for children.

My first full-time job, in the early ’60s, was serving as secretary for the late Malcolm E. Morrell, Jr., at what was then the seven-man law firm of Eaton, Peabody, Bradford & Veague in Bangor.

“Mal” was a tough taskmaster who loved the law and served it well.

I learned a great deal working with him and was proud to be associated with the firm which he eventually headed.

It was a great time to be living in the Queen City, which still had a bustling downtown, people walked to work, and you did your shopping and found your entertainment within its core.

Mal was an integral part of that hustle and bustle, as counsel for many of its businesses and an active member of his community.

He worked and played hard, and his love of family, his profession and his home state benefited from that dedication.

Mal was truly a man of Maine.

His soul knew, exactly, where “the mountains meet the sea,” because he was equally at home “sailing” down one or upon the other, an inspiration to all who followed his lead.

With his wife, Mim, his family, partners, associates and friends, we share the sorrow of his passing and respect the legacy of the diligent service he left behind.

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