When Stockholm celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2006, Dana Nelson of Ellsworth honored the occasion with a story written in the voice of his ancestor John Nelson who came to Maine from Sweden at the age of 9.
Nelson’s story of a Stockholm family is one of several family stories in the recently released edition of Echoes magazine, published in Caribou. Issue 107 also features the Gardners of Allagash, the Parkers of Bangor and families in Westfield and Presque Isle.
The Nelson story, to be continued in Echoes 108, begins in Sweden and typifies the experience of many an immigrant family in Maine in the 19th century.
In a life story set in the 1940s, David Parker of Rochester, N.Y., recalls “A Year in the Bog,” when his family lived without electricity or plumbing in a cabin near the present Orono Bog Boardwalk in Bangor.
Westfield native Ron Laing remembers the garden of Nellie Smith as the prettiest place in his hometown, and Catherine Phillips Jewitt of Nobleboro commemorates the creativity of her great uncle in a childhood memory frequently recalled by her mother and aunt, Cecilia Phillips and Joan Allen of Presque Isle.
In a present-day sequel to her essay in the last Echoes about leaving home, Delaney Fitzpatrick of Patten describes her mixed emotions after fall semester at the University of Maine in Orono. And Don Cyr of Lille continues his account of the conversion of a historic church into a cultural museum in Part III of “Our Lady of Lille.”
Writers Gordon Hammond of Westfield, Glenna Johnson Smith of Presque Isle and the late Marvin Dow of Virginia all focus on the extraordinary qualities of particular dogs, while Paul Lucey of Orono chronicles his relationship with, Cleo, a backyard deer on the shore of Pushaw Lake.
Depression-era winter carnivals is the topic of Karla Wolters’ column “Past Tracks: Aroostook’s Ski Heritage.” Editor Kathryn Olmstead devotes her column to new books by three Aroostook County natives: Leonard Hutchins, David Estey and Cathie Pelletier. And in his regular column “Beyond Washburn Street,” Houlton native John Dombek of Santa Clara, Utah, reflects on how things change and remain the same with the passage of time.
A stunning center-spread photo of a starry winter night by Paul Cyr of Presque Isle is the backdrop for poems by Michele Pavitt of Brunswick, and Peg Patton Winston of Caribou. Other poets published in the current edition are Estelle Watson Sanders and Leigh Donaldson, both of Portland.
On the cover, a dog walker crosses a field on snowshoes in a frosty morning photograph by Michael Gudreau of Presque Isle.
Published quarterly since 1988, Echoes is devoted to positive values rooted in the past that have relevance for the present and the future. The magazine is based in Caribou and printed at Northeast Publishing Co. in Presque Isle. For more information visit www.echoesofmaine.com.
