HOULTON, Maine — Author Tim Caverly spoke to the Houlton Rotary Club at the weekly meeting of April 9. Caverly, who has published seven books, uses his stories and his background to promote literacy around the state.
Caverly has presented 222 programs to 7,700 students. In addition, he has donated 1,750 books to 145 schools. His newest book, “Wilderness Wildlife,” is part of a trilogy of the Allagash Tails series.
Throughout his talk, Caverly related experiences from his 32-year career as a park ranger from which he retired in 1999. He explained that much of the inspiration for his stories comes from his time spent while serving as supervisor of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway for 18 years.
When he is preparing to write a new story, he will return to the area to be featured and spend several days in the environment so the experience is fresh in his mind as the narrative develops.
One of his books, “Andy’s Surprise,” is based on a trip on the Allagash when a moose, who Caverly has dubbed as Andy, rose up out of the water startling Tim’s partner on this particular adventure. Another book, “Allagash Haunting”, is based on the Churchill Dam Campsite. He also noted that the main character in that book, Olivia, is based on his granddaughter.
Caverly went on to recount how “An Allagash Haunting” was developed into a play by Barbara Hogan of Houlton and the script was used by the Star Bright Children’s Theater for a play. That resulted in a radio play being performed by some of the young actors for broadcast on WHOU complete with a variety of sound effects. Caverly was able to use the recording and share it at veterans’ homes, memory care programs and nursing homes along with a slideshow of pictures.
The response by the audiences in these settings has inspired Caverly to turn another of his books, “The Ranger and The Reporter,” into a similar audio production which he will donate to veterans’ homes, nursing homes and similar facilities. He has been working on raising $8,000 for this project and reported that he is halfway to his goal. Caverly shared with the group that he is working on four short Christmas stories that will be combined in a publication titled “Tis The Season,” another piece that he hopes to record and share with memory care facilities.
He also noted that a performance of “An Allagash Haunting” will be presented at the Houlton Country Club on Oct. 12. He encouraged Rotarians to watch for more information so they could attend and spread the word about the production.
