YESTERDAY …
10 years ago — June 18, 2005
(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)
BANGOR — Steven Cooper has spent the last few Saturdays in a basement, living out his last wish.
It is an unlikely place for the Bangor native, 58, to choose. He has been all over the world, playing in a rock ‘n’ roll band and meeting up with such jazz greats as Ella Fitzgerald.
Even Otis Redding, after hearing Cooper play the piano in a New Jersey jazz club, asked him for his autograph, convinced that the then 16-year-old would be famous one day.
Now Cooper has cancer and he has decided to spend his last days in the company of strangers at a home recording studio in Hermon.
His last wish, he said, was to record an album of Christian rock music he’s written over the past decade.
BANGOR — Stephanie Yuskis always loved art. But growing up in Concord, New Hampshire, she never considered it a viable option for a career. Like many high school students, she was told that art and other creative skills were a dead end, and were basically worthless when trying to get a job.
Looking at her portrait, created entirely in the Adobe computer programs Photoshop and Illustrator, she has wisely ignored that advice. She took a picture of herself and used the programs to manipulate the image, turning a basic photograph into a bold, striking work of art.
25 years ago — June 18, 1990
VEAZIE — The Main Street Bridge is open. After months of construction delays, the bridge officially was opened Saturday, although the structure has been passable for a couple of weeks.
Built in 1890 with a life expectancy of 50 years, the old wooden bridge was nearly a century old when the town decided to replace it with a “state-of-the-art” concrete and steel model.
The old structure had a load capacity of of only seven tons, and was inaccessible to heavy emergency vehicles. The new bridge provides a vital link to Main Street and the school and fire station.
ORONO — When Tom Vanidestine injured his elbow in 1981, his major concern was whether he would be able to continue his baseball career. He never could have guessed that the injury eventually would lead to a decision to pursue a career as a chiropractic doctor.
Vanidestine’s injury came before his junior year at the University of Maine, where he was a right fielder in the baseball team. As his junior year passed and spring and the baseball season approached his elbow was so painful that he couldn’t throw a ball.
An orthopedic surgeon had told the young man that his days of throwing the baseball were over.
In desperation, he turned to Ronald Soucie, a Bangor chiropractor.
50 years ago — June 18, 1965
KENDUSKEAG — Rufus M. Grindle must be, without question, the “Golf Ball King of the United States,” and it will take some doing to unseat him from the title.
Since the opening of the nine-hole Kenduskeag Valley Golf Club here five years ago, Grindle, a 65-year-old former high school English teacher, has retrieved more than 10,000 golf balls from the underbrush and stream that skirt the picturesque course.
He sells or gives away all of the balls, but always has plenty in stock for the many golfers who stop by his door, across from the course, to replenish their supply.
In fact, Grindle this season alone, has scooped up more than 1,200 golf balls and is doing a nice business.
BANGOR — Staff Sgt. Charles J. Jameson, 33, son of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Jameson of 780 Union St., has returned from the revolt torn Dominican Republic to his Fort Benning parachute-infantry unit.
Detached from his normal unit in early May, Jameson has been assigned special duty with the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion’s special Dominican Task Force which has been on the troubled island republic since May 2, flying more than 1,000 missions.
During the early days of the revolution, the 229th conducted numerous missions of mercy under extremely hazardous conditions, evacuating sick and wounded, carrying food and medical supplies, and transporting important officials throughout the combat zone.
100 years ago — June 18, 1915
MILFORD — The pupils of the sixth-grade class of the Milford School enjoyed a hayrack ride to Sunkhaze, where they spent the day. All took lunches with them, which they ate in the open. They were chaperoned by their teacher, Miss Alice Hall. They returned home in the evening, a tired but happy crowd.
HAMPDEN — A special meeting of the Conduskeag Canoe and Country Club will discuss the popular project of a golf course, which it is proposed to add to the fine attractions of the resort.
Already a sufficient sum has been subscribed to make the new departure a success from the start and 62 names have been secured of those who will play the game and pay the extra expense made necessary by the purchase of the Barrows farm and maintenance of the grounds in a proper manner.
The course will be laid out under the charge of Charles H. Bartlett, one of Bangor’s best players, and other experts in the game, and it is already seen that there are fine possibilities in the “lay of the land.” One chance particularly appeals to the golfers who like a good game, namely, the laying out of a hole of 450 or 500 yards’ drive, which will be what golfers would designate a “sporty” proposition.
Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin