YESTERDAY …
10 years ago — May 28, 2005
(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)
BANGOR — A former restaurant owner and a local financial planner got a brand-new bag. Michael Sturdee, along with silent partner Gary Brewster, have purchased My Maine Bag from a local woman who founded the handbag manufacturing company 25 years ago.
Patricia Hannan-Smith started My Maine Bag in 1980 in the basement of her Bangor home, making handbags of canvas and tapestry. As of March, when she sold the business, is it had grown to roughly 20 employees, most of whom work at the firm’s manufacturing and warehouse facility at the corner of Parkview and Mount Hope avenues.
Hannan-Smith said that she was not looking to sell the business, which includes a retail store at Bangor Mall, when Sturdee and Brewster inquired about it last fall. Having just sent off the youngest of her three children to college, she said, she decided it might be a good time to simplify her life.
ALTON — Eloise McLaughlin hasn’t found just the right cup yet. Her husband, Fred “Buster” Mogollon, died last June but she still hasn’t placed a teacup and saucer in his memory in one of the cabinets at the Alton United Methodist Church.
“It’s hard to find one with the deer jumping through the woods on it,” she said, only half joking.
When McLaughlin finally finds the right cup, it will join the more than 100 others kept in for handmade cabinets on the back wall of the church fellowship hall. Numbered and displayed with the name of the person for whom it was donated, each cup honors a church member, a relative of a church member or resident of alton, a town of 800 just north of Bangor.
Most of the year, the teacups and their saucers stay in the cabinets. A few times a year however they are carefully removed and used for special events such as the annual mother-daughter tea or programs with other churches.
25 years ago — May 28, 1990
BANGOR — Garland Street Middle School was the site of a recent ice cream social sponsored by Chemical Help Peer Helpers. Activities to promote drug-free awareness and to thank the pupils for their support throughout the year include making sundaes and listening to a live broadcast by WWFX radio. Food was donated by Giffords Icecap cream, Pepsi and Coca-Cola.
EDDINGTON — Girl Scout Troop 703 of Eddington was busy sprucing up Riverside Cemetery on Route 178, picking up litter along the roadside, and planting trees in the cemetery in preparation for Memorial Day and to note Arbor Week, which is defined by state statute as a third full week in May. Amanda Newey and Megan Smith were among the Girl Scouts helping with the effort.
50 years ago — May 28, 1965
GLENBURN — Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. Sawyer, Hudson Road, Glenburn, believe that if a thing has to be done, let’s make a complete job of it. Thus, their four sons, Rodney, 4; Craig and Jeffrey, 7; and Charles Junior, 9, had their tonsils out all on the same day at St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor.
CASTINE — The SS State of Maine arrived home from the nation’s capital where she was the central attraction in a weeklong salute to the Merchant Marine.
Ten thousand people – one for each of the ships 10,000 tons – visited the Maine Maritime Academy training vessel at her berth at the naval gun factory.
The largest turnout was on Saturday when 5,000 people thronged to see the 493-foot ship, reportedly the largest ever to steam up the Potomac River.
Among the visitors were political figures, business leaders, alumni of the nations maritime academies, parents, friends and just plain people. They retreated to parties, buffets, guided tours and a dance; and serenaded by the ship’s band while looking at the 43 exhibits in the Maine Products Show Afloat.
When the 350 midshipmen were not entertaining visitors on board, they were off visiting for themselves. The middies toured the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, the David Taylor Model Basin and the U.S. Oceanographic Institute.
100 years ago —May 28, 1915
BANGOR — A large and ancient elm tree in Main Street, near the corner of Union, which is the landmark for years, has succumbed to the fate of many old and decrepit things, the high wind of Thursday having called attention in a vivid manner to his unsafe condition, which has been made manifest before. A large limb was blown down Thursday afternoon and fell across the trolley wires of the B.R.&E. Co., breaking down the wire at the Union Street curve in interfering with the streetcar service for a time.
A crew of skilled tree man was summoned and work was begun ticking off the top lens, and much skill being shown in handling a difficult situation and a large crowd watching operations of four hours. The forces of the wind was so great in the lofty elm that the trunk swayed sufficiently to crack the concrete in the sidewalk.
Some time ago a large limb was blown down, striking directly in front of two schoolgirls, who would surely have been killed, it is believed, if they had been a step nearer. As it was they were badly frightened.
HAMPDEN — The Columbia Country Club is the appropriate name adopted by the proponents of the new organization of Catholic young men for their property at Columbia Heights. This property is on the banks of the Penobscot River located in Hampden on the large tract recently purchased by Lawrence Rooney on behalf of the Knights of Columbus and others of Bangor who desire to have a country place for outing parties. Club will soon be incorporated, and building operations will follow.
The heights with the clubhouse will be located has a commanding view for many miles and is covered with a magnificent growth of trees. There is a sheer drop on the riverfront, the cliffs being among the most picturesque on the beautiful Penobscot River as viewed from the water, and many thousands in passing up and down the river have admired and remarked volubly upon their grandeur.
Plans are being formulated for handsome clubhouse, with broad verandas and the low roof which would be appropriate to such a high setting. There will be a spacious and convenient kitchen, a great fireplace will extend cheer in the cold nights and in the winter season. Winter sports are on the program for the future, with the toboggan slide is a possibility, the hill making a natural slide which would extend to the trolley line on the main road.
The electrics pass the street end of the property, making it a most convenient location for Bangor people. The Lincoln school building at Hardy Hill, shortly below Frost’s switch, is the point of alighting from the cars. A road for automobiles and carriages will be constructed from the main road to the clubhouse.
Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin