Welcome home, John Bapst Crusaders! Whether you attended John Bapst High School and walked through the separate boys or girls entrance, or you attended John Bapst Memorial High School and entered together, you are invited to take part in this week’s homecoming activities.

Of particular note are the 1 p.m. girls and 3 p.m. boys home soccer games with Caribou on Saturday, Oct. 7; and then the 7 p.m., varsity football game against Winthrop.

In between, there is a tailgate party, for which you must register, beginning with setup at 3:30 p.m. in the William Cohen School parking lot on Garland Street.

Judging begins at 4:30 p.m., and prizes will be awarded for everything from Best Costume to Tastiest Food.

You’re sure to enjoy the musical parade starting at 5:30 p.m. at 100 Broadway and proceeding to the Cohen school. The parade features the JBMHS band, chorale, clubs, teams and cheerleaders.

A pre-game show by the band, chorale and cheerleaders is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the football field, and the John Bapst Chorale will perform the national anthem before the homecoming game with Winthrop at Cameron Stadium.

Melody Weeks does remind readers, however, that the homecoming dance, 8-11:30 p.m. Saturday, in the JBMHS Auditorium, is for Bapst students only.

The Maine Alzheimer’s Association annual Memory Walk begins with registration at 8 a.m. and the walk at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, at the Bangor Raceway Grandstand at Bass Park.

To register for the walk, make a donation, or learn more about Alzheimer’s disease, visit www.mainealz.org.

Preregistration is encouraged, and you can do so at the above Web site or by calling walk chairperson Kristie Miner at Westgate Manor in Bangor, 942-7336.

My colleague Jim Goodness his wife, Jane, and daughter, Kate, will be there, honoring his late mother, Virginia Goodness, and the Alzheimer’s Association for support the family received during his mother’s illness.

In urging you to participate in this fundraiser, Jim reminds you that “all donations raised will stay in Maine to help support the nearly 30,000 people in our state affected by this disease.”

The 3.1-mile, noncompetitive Heartwise Walk for Life fundraiser begins when pledges are collected at 9:30 a.m., and the walk at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, at Piscataquis Regional YMCA in Dover-Foxcroft.

Pledge forms are available from Heartwise in the Mayo Medical Office Building at Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft.

All walkers receive a gift, and those raising $25 or more receive a T-shirt.

Last year’s walk raised more than $12,300 to purchase exercise equipment and provide scholarships for Heartwise patients.

The goal of this year’s event, in memory of Dr. Harold “Hap” Gerrish, is $13,000.

For more information about Heartwise or the Walk for Life, call 564-4207.

On behalf of the Searsport District High School Alumni Association, and in conjunction with Save Our Schools, Natalie Knox invites the public to attend a dedication ceremony in recognition of the newly installed high school-middle school sign at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, at the school on Mortland Road in Searsport.

Save our Schools donated the sign, and its president, Deb Middleswart, will welcome SAD 56 dignitaries and other guests to the event.

Betty Jean Maybury of Brewer and members of the Business & Professional Women’s Club, District III in Bangor, Dover-Foxcroft, Ellsworth and Swans Island, invite you to a Gubernatorial Forum on Women’s Issues.

The event begins with a Dessert Social at 6 p.m. with the forum at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, at the G. Peirce Webber Campus Center at Husson College in Bangor.

Maine State BPW president Shawn Cunningham will moderate the nondebate forum that will cover topics on justice, taxes, the economy, pay equity, health insurance and abortion.

For more information, call Uptown BPW president Marie Saucier at 992-5042.

Marie Dow wrote, “to all of the people who made Roger Dow’s benefit supper a success, thank you is not nearly enough to say.

“Your presence, and your donations, were more than anyone could ask for.

“If you did not sign his book, I don’t have your name; and if you took part in planning, playing music or just being there, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and we thank God for all of you, and may He bless you abundantly.”

Proceeds from the benefit are to help with cancer treatment expenses.

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