BANGOR – On the brink of turning 90, Kay Lebowitz isn’t about to slow down. In fact, she was out on the town Thursday night – all night – before attending a 7:30 a.m. Bangor museum board meeting on Friday.

Lebowitz attended a concert on Thursday evening in Brewer before heading to the Bangor International Airport to greet a troop flight at 1 a.m. Once there, she found out there was another group of soldiers arriving in a few hours, so she stayed.

“[Friday] morning there was a fellow who’d been through before. He said, ‘I remember you,'” Lebowitz said Friday. She went on to explain that it is comments from soldiers like him that have made her enjoy being a Maine troop greeter since Desert Storm.

The soldier told Lebowitz he had given another BIA troop greeter a poem he’d written while overseas.

“It’s because Bangor does something that nobody else does,” the soldier told Lebowitz.

“He was wiping tears from his eyes the whole time he was talking to me,” she said. “They all say it’s so wonderful to see somebody when they get off the plane.”

Lebowitz hugs each soldier because it hurts if she shakes hands with people, she explained.

“I hug ’em when they come off, and I hug ’em when they go back on,” Lebowitz said. “It’s very moving.”

Troop greeting is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to activities and organizations with which Lebowitz is involved.

Also known as “Bangor’s sweetheart” by friends and city officials, Lebowitz will be recognized for her outstanding community service at 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 27, during the Bangor City Council meeting when Mayor Frank Farrington presents her with a proclamation declaring her birthday, June 30, as “Kay’s Day.”

Although Lebowitz remains extremely active with a variety of organizations, her service to the community began when she returned to Maine in 1955 after living in Boston for several years. Lebowitz said she found herself going home every night after work, cleaning her apartment and waiting for the phone to ring.

“Nobody knew I was here,” she said.

That’s when Lebowitz decided to become involved in the community, starting as a volunteer prompter for local theater groups.

Her participation has increased over the years, and although her string of accomplishments is too long to list, she has served as a state representative and Bangor city councilor, is a member of numerous boards and committees, and volunteers at the Maine Motor Vehicle Department.

“Once you get started, it’s pretty hard to give it up,” Lebowitz said.

“If you know her, she’s wonderful,” Beth Bohnet, who serves alongside Lebowitz on the Bangor museum board, said Thursday. “She does everything.”

In January 2001, when Bohnet joined the group, Lebowitz was president of the museum board.

“The reason I got to be president is I missed a meeting,” Lebowitz said with a laugh. “You’ve got to be careful of those things.”

Bohnet, with help from others in Bangor who respect and admire Lebowitz, organized the event to honor her.

“[Lebowitz] is such an amazing gift in town, and she is so generous and such an inspiration to all of us that I just wanted people to celebrate with her,” Bohnet said.

When Bohnet told Lebowitz about the celebration to honor her, she responded in her typical demure way, Bohnet said.

“I think I convinced her she would be giving us all a gift to be receptive and allow us to honor her,” she said. “She’s going along with it, and I hope she’s going to enjoy it.”

When asked what her secret was to looking and feeling young, Lebowitz said she wasn’t really sure.

“I think you just need to keep moving,” she said. “I find that I get less done when I have nothing to do than when I have something to do.”

Although she has many fond memories of the boards and committees that she has served on, Lebowitz said some of her favorites were the Bangor museum, Eastern Maine Community College and the Maine Center for Aging boards.

She said she enjoys working to make sure older people in the community know what resources are available to them.

“Not that I’m one,” she joked.

After being born in Massachusetts, growing up in Searsport, moving to Boston and then returning to Maine, Lebowitz said this is where she’ll stay.

“I don’t plan to leave unless they kick me out,” she said. “Bangor’s a great place to live. There’s really a lot going on in Bangor, and when people say there isn’t, I really wonder what they’re looking for.”

When asked if she’d be able to go home and sleep after Friday morning’s board meeting, Lebowitz said she wasn’t sure.

“I have to be at the Department of Motor Vehicles at 2 p.m. to volunteer,” she said, “which I like because I like to help people.”