December 23, 2024
Column

YESTERDAY …

(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – June 8, 1996

BANGOR – It’s national publicity for a cause that Sheri Glazier cares deeply about, but the Bangor woman wasn’t totally pleased with Town & Country magazine’s series on women and food. She didn’t even know the story had finally been published until a friend sent her a copy.

The story quoting her, “Adult Eating Disorders,” was part of a package that included other articles: “Who Isn’t on a Diet?” emphasizing sensible eating; “The Thin Man,” about a diet guru who charges $500 for the first consultation; “Losing It,” a guide to weight management programs; and “Food for Thought,” a discussion among a group of women.

She is a success story, continuing her recovery from anorexia after several hospitalizations.

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ORONO – Mention the name Sanford Phippen of Orono among readers in Maine and be prepared for a range of responses.

“He’s the voice of Down East Maine.”

“I have his books on my shelf but I’ve never read them.”

“He writes it real.”

No one ever says anything gray about Sandy Phippen. When they speak of him, it’s always as red and hot as a steaming lobster.

In more than 20 years as a published writer, Phippen has become a Maine institution largely of his own making. His books, which include two collections of short stories, a history of Hancock, several anthologies and a compilation of essays, have all been published in Maine.

This spring saw the publication of Phippen’s first novel, “Kitchen Boy.”

25 years ago – June 8, 1981

BREWER – The Maine Office of Energy Resources announced the awarding of more than $12,000 in grants to Brewer for conservation projects.

The money will defray 50 percent of the cost of insulating the Brewer Auditorium ceiling.

Another municipal building to receive attention is the library, which has minimal insulation.

The fire station roof will have increased insulation as a result of the grant.

The final project to receive acceptance in this round of funding is the upgrading of the oil furnace unit at the public works garage.

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BANGOR – Richard Rhine, a victim of polio as a child, gestured toward the wheelchair he sat in at the restaurant table. With an operational electric wheelchair, Rhine and many others like him in Bangor will tackle almost any terrain or weather conditions.

Rhine and other residents of the Independent Living Center on Main Street keep their own apartments and have jobs or go to school.

But they do have one gripe -the time it takes to service their chairs.

“Sometimes we have to wait four to eight weeks for parts,” Rhine said.

50 years ago – June 8, 1956

HAMPDEN – A two-story farm home and large barn owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Roscoe Leonard on the Back Winterport Road in Hampden was badly damage by fire.

The barn, a total loss, contained several large pieces of farm equipment, two calves and two pigs. All were destroyed.

A total of 10 other head of cattle and calves and a horse were at pasture at the time and escaped the flames.

Mrs. Clayton Coulliard, wife of the first selectman of Hampden, who owns the neighboring farm, discovered the smoke escaping from the barn and notified Mrs. Leonard by phone that the barn was on fire.

Mr. Leonard, who works on the road, was away from home when the fire was discovered, but arrived in time to rescue some of the household furnishings.

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BREWER – Relics of Maine’s roisterous log drives, forgotten for a hundred years, are finally finding their way to the saw mill.

Giant logs, cut in the days when Bangor was the lumber capital of the world, are being rescued from the mud and silt of the Penobscot River by Robert M. Pooler, an enterprising young Brewer man, who had added a modern twist to Maine’s oldest industry.

Pooler, an experienced deep sea diver despite the fact that he is still looking forward to his 25th birthday, may hold the key to the biggest development in Maine lumbering since armies of woodsmen cleared the virgin growth from the state’s northern woods.

With a war surplus “Duck,” an amphibious vehicle equally at home on land or water, Pooler is pulling dozens of prime logs from the bottom of the river. Some of the logs, he estimates, have lain in the muddy riverbed for more than 100 years.

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BANGOR – Radio is assuming a greater part in the everyday life of Americans each year, Leon P. Gorman Jr., manager of WABI radio and TV, told the Bangor Kiwanis Club.

Gorman reminded the audience that the day may come when their lives will depend on their portable radio which, in the event of a thermo-nuclear attack, would be their only way of knowing what is going on or receiving instructions.

Radio, despite the competition offered by television, is growing rapidly, Gorman said. Since 1947, the number of stations in Maine alone has increased from eight to 22.

Today, he went on, there are 121 million radios in the nation, and though television is “more glamorous,” a radio is “the only media which allows Americans, a multi-capable people, to do other things” while they are enjoying it.

Gorman predicted that in a few years, radio “will be as much a part of you as your wristwatch.”

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BANGOR – More than 1,000 attended the annual fair of the Women’s Auxiliary of St. Joseph’s Hospital.

The event was highly successful, with booths doing a brisk business and 500 people served at the supper in the evening.

Attractively decorated booths featured attic treasures, home-cooked food, novelties, aprons, home made candy, baby items, dolls, grab bags, groceries and other articles.

Mrs. John T. Quinn was general chairwoman for the event.

Special prizes were awarded to Miss Frances Meagher, Mrs. Charles Emery, Miss Judy Orriss, Mrs. Rachel Chisholm, Mrs. Mary Harrington, Mrs. James O’Connor, Mrs. Raymond Adams and Mrs. Margaret Clark.

100 years ago – June 8, 1906

BANGOR – Groping blindly through the fog some 30 miles to the westward of Monhegan, their whistles booming over the mist-shrouded waters, the steamer City of Rockland, bound for Bangor, and the steamer City of Bangor, proceeding in the opposite direction, were in collision at two minutes after midnight Thursday morning.

The Bangor’s stern was stove in, and twisted, and splintered by ramming the Rockland about 25 feet abaft the latter’s port paddle box. Rails of all three of the Rockland’s decks were carried away for a space of 15 feet and the house on the saloon deck was jammed in, and three staterooms wrecked.

It was a glancing blow, but the impact was sharp, and after biting her way into the upper works of the Rockland, the Bangor, crippled, sheared away into the fog.

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BRADLEY – The band boys have come out in new uniform. The uniform is blue throughout, trimmed with black braid, with caps to match. The entire uniform is beautiful and neat in appearance.

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BANGOR – The double marriage ceremony of Mrs. Laura E. Reavil to Sidney J. Robinson, and of Miss Lillian Reavil to Everett W. Farnham, was one of the most novel ever held in Bangor, the two brides being mother and daughter.

The two couples moved down the center aisles of the Columbia Street Baptist Church unattended and were met at the altar by the Rev. A.B. Lorimer.

Mrs. Reavil was gowned in gray nun veiling. Her daughter wore white silk, with bridal veil, and carried bride roses.

Both couples will reside at 71 Larkin St.

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BRADLEY – Mrs. John Wellington of New York, her daughter, Ethel, and grandson John Wellington Farrel, have come to spend the summer with their uncle and aunt, T.L. McAvery and wife.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin


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