The Bangor Garden Club, which is in its 53rd year, maintains gardens in our community and grants scholarships to students studying botany and forestry at the University of Maine.

One of the club’s major fundraisers is its annual day trip to Boston for the flower show sponsored by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.

Caroline Tully, Bangor Garden Club trip chairwoman, has announced that reservations are being accepted for the 2007 New England Spring Flower Show trip on Tuesday, March 20, at the Bayside Expo Center in Boston. The cost of the trip is $70.

Reservations can be made by calling Tully at 945-3807.

The cost includes round-trip bus fare and admission to the show. The bus leaves from Bangor and makes stops in Newport and Waterville, and the return trip includes dinner at Newick’s Seafood Restaurant in South Portland.

The title for this year’s show is “Yes, You Can!”

According to information available on the Internet, the theme derives its title from the understanding that “New England is filled with traditions, most of which are quaint and lovely, others a bit more restrictive,” including the admonition that you “don’t wear white after Labor Day.”

During this show, “exhibitors will bend those rules, showing us just exactly what happens when we take that road less traveled!”

The garden landscape exhibits are intended to “make our guests walk away saying, ‘Wow! I didn’t know you could do that!'” to which the response is the 2007 theme: “Yes, You Can!”

A Japanese menu will be featured during a Women of the World luncheon at noon Monday, Feb. 12, at Church of Universal Fellowship on Main Street in Orono.

Japan native Nobuko Yamada has selected recipes to demonstrate how easy it is to cook authentic Japanese meals, and has crafted handmade chopsticks for the event.

WOW offers women from around the world the opportunity to learn about new cultures and new cuisine.

Lunch is $4 for women and children over 10; $2 for children 6-10; and free for those under 6 who attend with their mother.

For more information about WOW, call Mireille Le Gal, 581-3423.

In recognition of February as Oral Health Month, Sandy Evans of the Waldo County Dental Project will explain the services that program offers at a meeting of the Senior Resource Collaborative at 12:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12, in the Waldo County General Hospital Education Center, 118 Northport Ave., Belfast.

The Senior Resource Collaborative meets the second Monday of the month, offering information specific to older adults and agencies that serve them.

For more information, call Amy Wagner, Healthy Living Project coordinator, 930-2650.

To help seniors reconnect with loved ones on Valentine’s Day, U.S. Cellular will provide free local and long-distance calls for them from 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 14, at the Hammond Street Senior Center in Bangor.

In expressing her gratitude for that opportunity through a press release, senior center program Director Alexandra Turallo pointed out that, “for many reasons, our seniors often lose touch with friends and family members, and a simple phone call can go a long way to lift their spirits.”

All seniors are invited to stop by the senior center to make a call.

Under the chairmanship of Yovanne Stevenson, members of Bangor High School Class of 1952 are preparing for their 55th reunion, which will be Saturday, July 21, at the Bangor Elks Lodge.

Among the “recent missing members” of that class are Emma-Jean Betterley, Virginia Call, Robert Chandler, Carol Collins, James Hanson, Robert Lunt, Robert Perkins and Arthur Zalkan.

The hope is that some of our readers will be able to provide contact numbers or addresses for those individuals.

But here’s an even bigger quest: Yovanne told me that, in all these years, “we’ve never been able to find 18 of our classmates.”

That’s the real challenge for this year: Locating those who were never heard from once they left BHS.

Those “permanently missing” from the BHS Class of ’52 rolls are Majorie Bubar, Beverly Lane, Charles Harlow, Beverly Livingston, Jean Mayo, Robert Montgomery, Ruby Harmon, Katherine Irvine, Donna Kennard, Henry Clements, Ethel Crossman, Marjory Dudley, Patricia Ellis, William Eldward, Wayne Oakes, Christina Stuart, Alexander Vardamis and Barbara Whidden.

If you know the whereabouts of any of these people, please call Yovanne Stevenson at 942-9507 or email rsteven584@aol.com.

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