Staff Writer
When the graduating Class of 2008 at the Limestone Community School received their diplomas, they celebrated not only receiving their diplomas but having the honor of being the 100th graduating class.
Aroostook Republican photo/Barb ScottThree of the hundreds of alumni that attended the Limestone banquet were from left State Reps. Bernard Ayotte and Peter Edgecomb. Maria Lewis, at right, graduated in the class of 1934.
Celebrating 100 years of education, the Limestone Community School was the site of the popular Alumni Banquet held July 5. With 424 alumni and 181 guests pre-registered registered to attend the event, the gymnasium was lined with tables labeled with each graduating class year. As former students entered the school’s lobby it became a sea of smiles, some tears, handshakes and hugs as classmates, many for the first time, returned to their alma mater and to get re-acquainted with old friends.
Guests of honor attending the alumni banquet included Daniel Boothby, a former Limestone superintendent for more than 20 years, who championed the construction of a new high school at a time when the community high school housed an estimated 1,500 students, forcing a double session of classes; one session running from 7 a.m. to noon, the second from noon through 5 p.m. A large number of faculty and administrative alumni were also in attendance including Albert Watt and Sheldon Lauritsen, both former principals in the Limestone School system.
Other honored guests who are also Limestone alumni were State Reps. Bernard Ayotte of Caswell and Peter Edgecomb of Caribou. The two lawmakers co-sponsored a Legislative Proclamation in honor of Limestone High School’s first graduation 100 years ago and the continued success this academic facility has achieved over the years.
The Legislative Proclamation was also given in recognition of the 2008 graduated class and of the oldest alumni present, Maria Lewis, a member of the 1934 graduating class. Both Ayotte and Edgecomb spoke briefly before the proclamation was read. Edgecomb, also a former teacher at the high school, related a story of how as a rookie teacher, one of his duties was to stand watch in the boys’ room, making sure no student used the ‘facilities’ as a ruse for sneaking a cigarette.
“One morning I was standing in the bathroom when a student came running in and standing right beside me lit one up. He hadn’t even noticed me until some of the others there said, “man, what are you doing?” Edgecomb noted that was probably the only time he ever actually caught anyone smoking in the boys’ room.
