To the editor:
A few years ago, Glenn and Diane Hines were approached by Leigh Cummings, postmaster of the Houlton Post Office, to cast a copy of the Samantha Smith statue that is in Augusta, sculpted by Glenn in 1985.
They asked permission of Jane Smith and she was happy that Samantha would be celebrated in the communities in which she was born, raised and buried which is Houlton and Amity, and Hodgdon, where she went to school.
Next, the Hines had to make sure that the mold was still in good condition to make the bronze cast, and they found that the mold was still usable. They could not find some of the mold pieces. A year later, when the foundry in New York moved part of its operation, the pieces were found. More discussion followed with Leigh and other folks who were interested and the casting was initiated.
Twenty-three years after the original sculpture was placed in Augusta, a tribute to Samantha can happen in Houlton. A fund-raising effort to complete and set this memorial near the Cary Library is now beginning.
Please send your donation to support this effort to Vital Pathways, (with Samantha Smith Statue in the memo line), P.O. Box 1437, Houlton, Maine 04730. Anyone interested in joining the committee, please call 207-538-8100. Thank you.
The Samantha Smith Sculpture Committee
Leigh Cummings
Linda Faucher
Alison Bossie
Pat McIntosh
Diane Hines
Houlton
