101 Years Ago – March 7, 1918
Fundraiser — The sum of $31 was netted from the musical given the previous week at the Baptist Church under the auspices of the U.B. Ladies’ Aid. The society added to this sum $4 from the treasury and a check of $35 was sent to Mrs. Moses Burpee, Houlton, for the Y.W.C.A. War Work Fund. Mrs Burpee was the county agent and she forwarded the same to Miss Dunbar at headquarters. Presque Isle had more to raise, done by individual subscriptions.
The Red Cross Chapter — The cash receipts for The Ben Greets, aside from the season tickets, were $127.50. From the four entertainments already given, the sum of nearly $200 had been cleared for the Red Cross Chapter. There was still one more entertainment: The HintonVerdi company, literary and musical.
75 Years Ago – March 9, 1944
Scrap metal champ — Announcement was made by Richard M. Hallett, chairman of the Maine Salvage Committee, that Aroostook County and the Town of Bingham won first prizes in the collection of scrap metal by Maine counties and communities, respectively, in 1943. As a result, two first-place trophy cups, donated by the Bath Iron Works Corp., were presented Aroostook and the Town of Bingham. A third cup, for runner-up prize among the counties, went to Somerset County, largely because of the outstanding collection at Bingham.
Scouts collected scrap paper — Thirty-seven Boy Scouts, aided by Army trucks from the Base, collected scrap paper on a house-to-house basis. The drive, sponsored by the Lions Club, was directed by Harry Stephenson, Harr Sutter and John Pasqual.
50 Years Ago – March 5, 1969
Presque Isle firm honored — Gould and Smith, Inc., located in Presque Isle, was honored as a member as a member of the 1968 President’s Honor Council of Oliver Corporation, Chicago-based farm and contractors equipment subsidiary of White Motor Corporation. Frank A. Smith, president of the firm, with Assistant Treasurer Edward Little, and their wives, Barbara and Mary, represented the dealership at one of the three consecutive meetings of the Council in Cuernavaca. Oliver president James D. Wormley and the manager of Oliver’s sales and service branch for this region presented the local dealership with a handsome engraved plaque in recognition of its achievement. Only 200 Oliver dealers in the entire United States were so honored in 1968, a year of challenge throughout the farm equipment industry.
Mars Hill man promoted — Danny L. Bird, the son of Maxine Bird of Mars Hill, was promoted to the rank of sergeant. Stationed in Bavaria, Germany, he entered the U.S. Army in in 1964. Bird served in Korea and Vietnam.
25 Years Ago – March 9, 1994
Together again — Members of the 1994 version of The Northern Lights Youth Choir sang enthusiastically during a Feb. 20 performance at the Presque Isle Wesleyan Church. Led by director Patrick Moore, the 30-member choir made up of Central Aroostook teenagers performed for more than 90 people in the second of three county concerts, prior to an April tour through central and southern Maine and Massachusetts. The group, formed in 1974, had performed more than 300 concerts for church, camp, high school and college audiences in a 20-year history, but had been inactive since 1990.
Receiving his doctorate — Edward A. Adams, son of Walter and Lucy-Jane Adams of Presque Isle, received a doctorate degree in English literature from Yale University. Adams entered Yale Graduate School in 1988 as a Yale fellow. He completed his dissertation, entitled “Epic History and the Novel: Gibbon, Ruskin, Adams and the Decline and Fall of Country-House Civilization.” He was a 1982 graduate of Presque Isle High School, where he was a National Merit Scholar, a member of the 1981 state high school chess championship team and the 1982 Maine high school individual chess champion.
