(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – Dec. 26, 1992

BANGOR – Meals for the elderly were provided by a dedicated group of Bangor residents. At Nason Manor, meals have been served by the Bragdon family since 1989. Donations are made by several individuals and companies.

Bill Rae, executive director of Manna Ministries, parent organization of the Christian-oriented soup kitchen, said 50 to 60 people had partaken of the Christmas Day buffet – the traditional holiday meal was served on Christmas Eve – by early afternoon. The day also featured entertainment and, of course, the opening of presents.

Rae said contributions of Christmas gifts for Manna’s clients generally target the kids, while their parents get short shrift. So this year more attention was paid to providing for the grownups. There were enough adult gifts to go around, mostly clothing to ward off the winter cold.

Not that the kids were forgotten.

“Every single kid has gotten two or three gifts,” said Rae.

Later in the afternoon, a few streets away, people were beginning to arrive for Christmas dinner at the Greater Bangor Area Shelter. Earlier, about 25 people had opened presents and shared in holiday breakfast and lunch served by about a dozen volunteers.

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OLD TOWN – Late on a wintry Friday afternoon, Rick DeGrasse leans on the bar of the Penny Post coffee house in Old Town. DeGrasse is a regular here and will stay through the early morning hours, listening to the bands, drinking coffee, hanging out, fitting in.

The next afternoon, he’ll wander back in for more of the same.

In the five years since it opened, the Penny Post has gone from neo-bohemian coffee house to the eastern Maine headquarters of the Seattle-based “grunge” movement.

On weekends, DeGrasse and other regulars say, the Penny Post is the only place where any group with a guitar, keyboard, drums and a combustible need for musical expression can get on stage and jam the night away. The blues, Beatles, heavy metal, punk, alternative music – everything is welcome here and no one is booed. For whatever anyone else thinks of the place, the Penny Post loyalists say, it matters greatly in their lives.

A few “new-alternative-metal-whatever” bands – devotees hate being asked for labels – come all the way from Boston to play here. A big name like Twisted Roots from Portland can draw as many as 250 to 300 young fans, who jam “the pit” and happily bash into each other in a post-punk dance form known as “moshing.”

25 years ago – Dec. 26, 1977

ORONO – One of the biggest complaints sometimes heard about teacher education is that prospective teachers don’t see enough of real classrooms before they get on the job.

In an attempt to overcome the problem and add relevancy to education courses, the University of Maine College of Education is placing freshmen education majors in school classrooms to find out what teaching is really like.

But placement is not limited to schools. In an attempt to broaden the appeal of the college of education in a period of declining enrollments, students also are being placed in other social agencies such as the YWCA and Eastern Maine Medical Center where they might also decide to work some day using their teacher education background.

“It isn’t solely a survival measure,” said Robert Cobb, acting dean of the college of education. “Any kind of position that involves human understanding and interaction would find a good deal of preparation in teacher education.”

The program is one measure aimed at helping students or their supervisors discover before their senior year or after they are employed that they are not suited to be teachers. “Some of them are in the classroom now and are disenchanted and pretty poor teachers,” said David Nichols, education professor.

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BANGOR – The Orono Red Riots and the Brewer Witches, who fought it out for fifth place in the first annual Greater Bangor Holiday Basketball Tournament last year, are the class of the field headed into the second annual eight-team event set to start at the Auditorium on Monday evening.

Brewer, which beat Orono 69-59 for the minor consolation prize last December, will check in with a 4-1 record after winning its last four games.

Orono, however, will bring a 5-0 early season mark into the holiday showdown, which will have no bearing on any of the teams’ standings come tournament time at the Auditorium next February and March.

Besides the first round of games in Bangor, Monday night will mark the start of three other Eastern Maine holiday specials in what promises to be a busy week of high school basketball games which will count for little more than pride as far as the players and coaches are concerned.

50 years ago – Dec. 26, 1952

ORONO – About 200 Maine 4-H club members, leaders and agents are expected to arrive at the University of Maine Monday afternoon for the opening session of the annual state 4-H Club contest. The delegates will leave for home Wednesday morning, announced Kenneth C. Lovejoy and Miss Margaret F. Stevens, state 4-H Club leaders for the Maine Extension Service.

Highlights of the 39th annual State 4-H Club contest will be the awarding of prizes to outstanding 4-Hers and clubs and the naming of two people as honorary 4-Hers. In addition, classes in poultry, dairy, crops, foods and flower arrangement will be held Tuesday morning and recreation and entertainment will be enjoyed at the assemblies Monday evening and Tuesday afternoon and evening. Each county will set up its outstanding 4-H exhibit.

Featured speakers at the state 4-H Club contest will be the Rev. Charles Dartnell, pastor of the First Methodist church, Brewer; and John Merchant, of Burlington, Vt., state 4-H Club leader for the Vermont Agricultural Service.

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ORONO – Among the University of Maine faculty who will go to Boston to attend the Modern Language Association convention at the Statler Hotel Dec. 27-29 will be Dr. Marie Mengers, professor of French; Dr. Alfred Pellegrino, associate professor of romance languages; Prof. Stuart Gross, associate professor of Spanish; Lillian Avila, assistant professor of romance languages; Dr. John F. Klein, professor of German, and Mrs. Klein.

Star of Hope Rebekah Lodge and Good Samaritan Lodge, IOOF, will sponsor a card party Thursday, Jan. 8, in the Orono town hall. The project will benefit the polio fund. The Orono Infantile Paralysis group will use one half of the proceeds and the other half will be used toward the purchase of a respirator. Purchase of three respirators for use in Maine is a statewide project of both Rebekah and Odd Fellow lodges.

100 years ago – Dec. 26, 1902

BANGOR – No matter how hard they tried and how carefully they laid their plans, not all men were able to be home on Thursday to eat Christmas dinner with their families. The needs of business and public convenience are such that it is not always for us to do as we wish.

To those who had to forego the pleasure of passing Christmas at home there is a general extending of sympathy, and it is the earnest hope that next year they won’t have to be absent from the family gathering on Dec. 25. Bangor hotel proprietors, while knowing that no dinner – it matters not how well cooked or elegantly served – can make up for the joys of being surrounded by loved ones, did their best to make their guests feel more content and less downhearted, by serving Christmas dinners that were joys to the hearts of all.

At the Bangor House, landlord Chapman presented the following tempting array of good things for the consideration of his guests:

Oyster cocktail, consomme of game imperial, green turtle a l’Anglaise. Salted pecans, queen olives, spiced peas, celery. Boiled fresh salmon, cardinal sauce, potatoes Victoria. Boiled capon, parsley sauce, native turkey, chestnut dressing, cranberry sauce. Steamed hickorynut pudding, green apple pie, lemon meringue pie, hot mince pie, strawberry ice cream, sponge drops, brandy jelly, raisins, English dairy cheese, assorted nuts. Tea, milk, coffee, chocolate.

Compiled by Matt Poliquin

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BANGOR – The day after Christmas!

It was in no sense an exciting observance of the great anniversary which was celebrated on Thursday by the good people of Bangor. At Masonic Temple early in the morning, the members of St. John’s Commandery met and exchanged the Masonic sentiment of the day – a sentiment exchanged by members of the great order throughout the country.

The dancing matinee in Society Hall was well attended; and at the Opera House two immense audiences witnessed performances by the King Dramatic Company, which are reviewed elsewhere.

At the Deaconess Home on Lincoln Street a Christmas tree was held for the benefit of its residents, after which a musical program was successfully carried out. The inhabitants were remembered with many gifts, donated by generous Bangor citizens, while the occasion as a whole proved one of much enjoyment, not only to the residents of the home but also to the numerous visitors present.

Over in the barracks of the Salvation Army on Franklin Street Christmas Day, they were busy all day long taking care of the lame, the halt and blind, the happy, the sad, the sinful and the pure – all people who needed attention, and who deserved it, and who were outside the reach of many of the charitable organizations.

The attendance at the Catholic and Episcopal churches, where special musical programs were carried out, was very large.

Compiled by Matt Poliquin