YESTERDAY …
10 years ago — June 11, 2005
(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)
ORONO — Ed Rice made his case for Indian Island legend Louis Sockalexis, asking for recognition and respect for the best baseball player during a talk at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Rice, author of the Sockalexis biography, “Baseball’s First Indian: Louis Sockalexis: Penobscot Legend, Cleveland Indian,” appeared at the final session of the 17th Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, where he spoke for about an hour to an audience of 30 people.
“I hope to someday come to the Hall of Fame and see some sentences that celebrate the legacy of Louis Sockalexis,” he said.
25 years ago — June 11, 1990
DEDHAM — Residents in Dedham and Lucerne want to regain some of the peace and quiet on the lakes in those communities, and the comprehensive planning committee may be ready to suggest a way they can do it, even before the updated Comprehensive Plan is completed.
The committee said at a meeting last week that it might recommend that the selectmen in Dedham and the Lucerne overseers post speed limits on some of the larger lakes in town, a move that would reduce the noise produced by high-performance boat motors.
Setting speed limits on the lakes was one of the ways to deal with the noise problem discussed. Other options, according to committee chairman Sally Lavertu, included limiting the size of boats on the lakes and limiting the size of the motors on the boats.
50 years ago — June 11, 1965
BANGOR — Rachel I. Lait, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Lait, of Bangor, was a member of the first class of high school juniors admitted to the University of Maine as freshmen, starting in the summer of 1962. This is the young woman who skipped her senior year in high school and completed four years of college in three years.
On Aug. 20 of this year, she will be graduated from the college of arts and sciences with a bachelor’s degree in English which certifies her as a teacher for secondary schools. She will be graduated when she is 19, for her birthday isn’t until Sept. 1.
Eventually she hopes to receive her Ph.D. and would like to do clinical hospital work of go into private practice.
In 1963, the year she would’ve been graduated from high school, she was a awarded a certificate of merit in lieu of her diploma at the Bangor High School graduation after the members of the class of 1963 had been given their diplomas.
BREWER — Two hundred and forty-three Derby hopefuls are putting the finishing touches on their racers today in preparation for the 18th annual NEWS-Chevrolet Soap Box Derby in Brewer.
Although the number of boys racing has dropped slightly from the 1964 race, the competition promises to be very keen, since the greater part of this year’s entrants are two- and three-year veterans with new and more sophisticated racers.
Included in this number of such Derby vets are Hampden’s Dave Johnson, Milford’s Edgar LeBlanc, Millinocket’s Dick Bernier and Dom Dagostino, Bradley’s Robert Petrie and many others. Also, many first-timers have produced coasters that look like sure winners.
100 years ago — June 11, 1915
ORONO — Miss Miretta Bickford, who graduated from the University of Maine with honors, has been offered a position in the high school in Torrington, Connecticut. Miss Bickford has been a very successful teacher in the Orono high school for three years and has many friends who regret her leaving town.
BANGOR — A fierce thunderstorm broke over Bangor in vicinity at 6:30 a.m. Thursday, and the flashing and banging kept up for more than an hour. It was like the bombardment of Przemyal [a city in Poland that was the site of fighting during World War I] — in fact, Co. G and the new machine gun company together couldn’t have made any more noise. For a time rain fell in a solid sheet, turning the streets to rivers, all of which was most unusual for a decidedly cool morning. Most thunderstorms come at the close of sultry days.
A lightning bolt struck a horse, belonging to Dr. Alfred Murch of Bangor, as it stood in the yard of the Stearn’s farm in Hampden, killing it instantly. This horse, a handsome chestnut purchased by Dr. Murch of the Pullitzer estate and valued at $800, had been ridden by Mrs. Mary Stearns. Inmates of the farm didn’t realize until afterward that the lightning had struck so near. But this so far as known, was the only damage done by the storm.
ETNA — The Rev. Mary S. Vanderbilt of New York will lecture on voice spirit messages during the Spiritualist June Campmeeting at Etna Campground.
Mrs. Vanderbilt has fully recovered from the effects of her recent serious illness and will officiate at this meeting at the earnest solicitation of the management and her many friends in Maine, declining flattering offers to serve societies in the middle West. The prosperous condition of the Etna Association is largely due to Mrs. Vanderbilt’s work; in fact, her ministry in Maine during the past years has given Spiritualism a decided impetus throughout the state.
Camp Etna Hotel is open for the season under the able management of Walter J. Bartlett, who has a five-year lease. Many of the cottages on the grounds are open for the season. The association store on the grounds is being run this year by the directors.
An unusually large attendance is expected. Trains will stop at the grounds. Reduced rates on on all Maine Central lines tickets will be on sale.
BREWER — A very quiet wedding was solemnized when Miss Stella Maude Kealiher of this city became the bride of Maurice S. C. Baker, also of this city. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. James Albert Weed of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the new home which is prepared for them at 117 Union St. The single ring service was used. The bride was dressed in a traveling suit of blue garbadine with a white hat. The couple left by boat for a stay of a week or more in Boston.
The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Kealiher, who reside in Maple Street, having moved here from Lagrange last November. The groom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Baker and is employed as stenographer with the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad.
Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin