YESTERDAY …

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Editor’s note: Last week’s Yesterday column was taken from the July 12 issues of the Bangor Daily News. This week’s column is from July 5 issues.

(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – July 5, 1997

BANGOR – Friday morning, July 4, was the hot, muggy, might-rain beginning of a three-day weekend, but that didn’t stop hundreds and hundreds of people from lining Main Street for the annual Fourth of July parade.

The clowns were great, the balloons were bright and you never can go wrong with kids. But spectators showed the most enthusiasm for veterans who had helped get this country to the 221st anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Current members of the military, including local Army and Air Force Guard units, led off the parade from Brewer to Bangor with the United States flag.

Civil War re-enactors clad in navy blue paused on the Joshua Chamberlain bridge. For them and Brian Higgins, portraying the general on his horse, Charlemagne, it must have been a special moment.

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BANGOR – For many, their songs were the sound of the late ’60s and early ’70s. Their three (and for a while four) voices blended in exquisite harmony on such classic tunes as “Woodstock,” “Teach Your Children,” “Our House” and “Ohio.”

Now, more than a quarter-century later, Crosby, Stills and Nash are still going strong.

Stills has his own connection to Maine. His wife, Kristin Hathaway, is from Yarmouth, and his mother-in-law, Lynda Hathaway, is a well-known skating coach in the Portland area.

25 years ago – July 5, 1982

BANGOR – The reports from Washington had estimated that 110,000 Maine citizens would die in a nuclear attack. Bangor’s Bomarc Missile Base had a new commander and just days before the Bangor area had experienced its first sonic boom when a B-58 Hustler bomber had streaked through the airwaves, rattling china from Boston to Houlton.

The sonic boom is the “sound of security,” government officials had said, and earmarked a new age in aviation.

It was July 1, 1959, and Maj. James Simon flew the first F-101B Voodoo supersonic interceptor into Bangor.

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ORONO – The University of Maine baseball team only has enough funds available to grant the equivalent of six and one half scholarships per four years, which is just half the NCAA maximum.

As a result, only one player on this past year’s club, shortstop Pete Adams, was on full scholarship.

How would Coach Winkin revamp his recruiting if he was able to have the NCAA maximum number of full scholarships?

“It would give me flexibility with more kids,” said Winkin. “What I’ve been doing is gambling on one guy, a real blue-chipper from out of state, to whom I’d be willing to give a full scholarship. But I haven’t been lucky enough to land one the past three years. If I had the 13 scholarships, I could afford to gamble on more kids. The only way I can compete for the player who gets drafted is through a full scholarship. And I only can afford one.”

50 years ago – July 5, 1957

CASTINE – Whoever made up this community’s Fourth of July program just 100 years ago in 1857 didn’t believe in leaving much to chance.

That is what is indicated in the schedule now in the files of the Wilson Museum here.

Humor, wit and a bit of mischief went into its writing. For example:

“National salute will be fired from the head of Market Slip at sunrise and fire as long as the powder lasts.”

“Veazie’s Ophicleids, Welper’s Claronet and Oliver Bridges’ Hautboy Band will accompany the procession, and if there is any other music to be found it will be procured.”

It also promised that “the powers of the different fire engines will be tried if the mayor will permit the hose to be wet.”

Marching in the parade were such groups as the Wood Sawyers mounted on their steeds, the Castine Blackguards, Judge Woods of the Police Court, surviving soldiers and sailors of the Aroostook War, Castle Garden Fire Department, Lodge of Know-Nothings, Keeper of the Lower Forte, Inspectors of Fish, seven dogs and “persons that wasn’t struck by the Comet.”

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CASTINE – Miss Sandra Vogell was named Miss Castine Native, and Miss Ellen MacIsaac Miss Castine Summer as this community wound up its holiday activities with a dance at Emerson Hall.

Miss Deanna Collar was runner-up to Miss Vogell and Miss Betsy Dinsmore to Miss MacIsaac.

Crowning Miss Vogell was last year’s Miss Castine Native, Miss Sylvia Wardwell, and Carol Jones, last year’s Miss Castine Summer, did the honors for Miss MacIsaac.

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OLD TOWN – John Marquis, a cadet midshipman at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, King’s Point, N.Y., has completed the first two years of his four-year course and is spending the summer vacation with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Marquis, in Great Works.

Cadet Marquis, a graduate of Old Town High School in the Class of 1955 with honors, has completed the “all cruise year” of his course and traveled to nearly every continent. Cadet Marquis’ very first trip at sea with the American Export Lines took him to Calcutta, India, by way of the Suez Canal. The return trip was interrupted, however, by the closing of the canal, necessitating a longer cruise around the Cape of Good Hope, Africa. With the United States Lines and the Grace Lines he went to Japan, China, Okinawa and ports in the Pacific. He also visited South American ports.

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BRADLEY – Mrs. Filmore T. Morgan of Bradley and her mother, Mrs. Bessie Howland of Nasonworth, New Brunswick, have returned home from a visit to Mrs. Howland’s mother, Mrs. Hannah Degrasse in Salem, Ore., and other relatives in California and cities on the West Coast.

One outstanding highlight of the visit was the reunion for Mrs. Howland and her daughter, Mrs. Morgan, and their relatives as it marked the first time they had met in 49 years.

Mrs. Morgan and her mother were away four weeks and made the entire trip by plane. On their way to California they took only 91/2 hours from New York, and the return trip was made in 71/2 hours.

100 years ago – July 5, 1907

BANGOR – Bangor did not spend a wildly exciting Fourth. There was no official celebration beyond three band concerts, and nearly everyone who could manage to do so got out of town.

A man living on Hancock Street held a lighted rocket in his hand to discover what would happen. He had no difficulty finding out. A stream of fire shot up his arm. That he was not killed or seriously burned was a miracle – but as a matter of fact he was hardly injured at all.

The Bangor Band gave concerts in Center Park and as much of the music as could be distinguished above the steady roar of fire crackers, revolvers and torpedo canes was greatly enjoyed. Director Eaton and his musicians were about the hardest-working men in Bangor as in addition to the concerts in the city, they played twice at Riverside Park in Hampden.

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NEWBURGH – I.A. Whitney recently purchased a handsome 4-year-old colt.

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ORONO – Mrs. Nancy Mercer, the oldest woman in town, celebrated her 90th birthday July 4. This is quite an eventful day for Mrs. Mercer as her oldest daughter and her mother also were born on the 4th of July.

Mrs. Mercer enjoys good health and takes an interest in social functions. She attended the Methodist Ladies Aid Circle this week and was the life of the company. She is a member of the WCTU and the Women’s Relief Corps. Mrs. Mercer is a soldier’s daughter, a soldier’s widow and the mother of a soldier.

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SOUTH BREWER – A pretty but quiet wedding took place at the home of E.K. Harriman, South Main Street, on June 29 when his son Charles was united in marriage to Miss Mabel Hodgdon of Orrington. The bridal party stood beneath a pretty arch of white and green. The couple entered to the strains of the wedding march played by Miss Teressa Gosselin. The bride was gowned in white nun’s veiling and carried white roses. The bridesmaids were dressed in white.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin