Presque Isle area From our Files – Week of March 2, 2020

4 years ago

75 Years Ago –  March 8, 1945

Carleton Whittaker received promotion — Mr. and Mrs. Bert Whittaker of this city received word that their son, Second Lt. Carleton L. Whittaker, was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant.

Lieut. Whittaker was stationed at Greenville, Miss., as special intelligence officer at the Prisoner of War Camps.

Beck guest speaker at Rotary Club — Andrew J. Beck, Presque Isle attorney, was the principal speaker at the Rotary Club luncheon, presenting a brief but highly interesting outline of thotsihery, the history of banking the United States. The former Maine Bank Commissioner was introduced by the program chairman, Bert B. Brewer. William Taylor, manager of the Atlantic Commission Company Branch in Presque Isle, was introduced as a new member of the club.

50 Years Ago –  March 11, 1970

Perrier honored — Edward G. Perrier of Presque Isle was honored with a man of the year award for the Maine agency of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. Perrier was the production leader of the state for the Maine agency, according to A.W. Hartley of Portland, general agent. During 1969, he placed in excess of $1 million of personal and business life insurance. Among other company honore, he qualified for a consecutive spotlight award, having placed $40,000 or more life insurance each month for one year.

Selected for Boys’ State — The Ray Goding Post No. 88 American Legion announced the selection of the Presque Isle High School junior students attending Boys’ State for one week at the University of Maine. They were: George Gartley, Alan Harding, Paul Hunter, Robert Kilpatrick, Mike Foster, David MacKinnon, William Fox, John Duncan, Daniel Lyons, Alan Fields, Wayne Merritt and Lance Kelley.  

Central Aroostook team did it again — Central Aroostook High School won the Eastern Class A Regional Ski Meet held in Pittsfield with 383.7. Fort Kent skied second with 378.3; third was Madawaska with 370.4; fourth, Presque Isle with 359.2; and fifth, Van Buren with 346,4. The individual winners of the ski meet were: first, M. Barnes (CAHS), skimeister, with 388,9; second, R. Hunting (Madawaska), 384,8; third, K. Weeks (CAHS), 372,6; and fourth, T. McCrea (CAHS) 364,4.

25 Years Ago –  March 8, 1995

Presque Isle mall appointed manager — There was a new face on the business scene and the fact that she was in charge of a multimillion-dollar venture didn’t phase her one bit. Patti J. Crooks, originally from Chicago, was named as the new mall manager of the Aroostook Centre Mall, transitioned from managing the Turnpike Mall in Augusta. She replaced Neil Rollins, who left the position in November 1994 to pursue a similar position in California. 

New board members named at Husson College — Husson President William H. Beardsley announced the appointment of Virginia Pinkham of Ashland and Stephen Mitchell of Chepachet, Rhode Island, to the college’s board of trustees. The two new members were unanimously elected by the board. Educated as a nurse at Cornell University and Columbia University, Pinkham had been a leader in rural health in northern Maine. She worked as a school nurse and later as administrator for the Aroostook Valley Health Center. She served on the board of the center and as a corporator of The Aroostook Medical Center in Presque Isle.