Flags retired
A flag retirement ceremony was held at Washburn’s Story Park on Tuesday, Aug. 19, and was a combined effort of several entities including Washburn’s Boy Scout Troop 177, Caribou Girl Scout Cadette Troop 016, Presque Isle Boy Scout Troop 171, Members of Oscar Dow Post 48 American Legion and members of Washburn Rotary.
The ceremony included an inspirational rendition of “TAPS” offered by buglers Boy Scout Taylor Skinner and Rotarian Keith Brown. They were at opposite ends of the park, and the “echo” or “shadow” effect was great.
The Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, leaders, Rotarians and Legionnaires all took part in folding the flags to be retired, and then took turns in offering them to be retired by fire. Accepting the flags for retirement were Scouts Adam Wilcox and Curtis Thompson. Fire Tenders were Legion members Dale Whitten and Bud Umphrey, with special attendance by David Guerrette.
Members of Boy Scout Troop 177 led the pledge of allegiance and Legion member Willie Drost opened the ceremony, and the flags were inspected, with prayer given by Chaplain Sue Brown. Also during the ceremony, the flood light in the park was dedicated in memory of Calvin O’Clair and his widow, Jackie, and the O’Clair family donated several flags to be retired.
There were 285 flags retired with names of the veteran being honored and a bell was rung for each as well, with Scoutmaster Larry Harrison sounding the bell and Eagle Scout Jensen Reed naming the veterans. The names were gotten from area cemeteries, and those not being named during this ceremony will be done at the next one.
Legion members attending the event included: Bob Brown, Willie Drost, Herman Carman, Chaplain Sue Brown, Kathy Philbrook, Stanley Theriault, Bud Umphrey, Steve Boddy, Dale Whitten and David Guerrette.
Boy Scouts participating included: Cameron Preston, Keagan Page, Adam Wilcox, Jensen Reed, Curtis Thompson, Jacob Reed, Stephen Kinney, Stephen Kimball, Jimmy Stepp, Chris Stepp and leaders Mike Thompson, Greg Page, Pam Wilcox, Donald Wilcox, Tony Sellars, Larry Harrison, Tom Peary and Charles Alley.
Girl Scouts participating included: Cassie Caron, Rachel Wasson, Kassy Belk, Alexis McCrossin, Jenna Gustafson, Bekah Walker, Courtney Sheldon, Sarah Hamlin and leaders Tracy McCrossin and Beth Walker.
The Rotary Club sponsored this event, including donating and cooking the hotdogs and furnishing potato chips and sodas for all. Rotarians attending included: Mike Umphrey, Ellen Fitzsimmons, Stuart Turner, Barbara Turner, Kermit Fuller, Keith Brown, Peggy Bugbee and Andy White.
Birthdays/anniversaries
Those celebrating birthdays this week include: Katie Mae Powers, Sam Ingersoll, Burton Kierstead, Dan Robertson, Caleb Gordon, Justin Farley, Tiffany Bragg, Sandy Buckingham, Charity Hebert, Martha Bouchey, Doug Drost, Tiffany Carter, Kevin Tompkins, Lionel LaPlante, Tony Creasey, Atwood Sperrey, Mable Brown, Nolan Cunningham, Angelia Burchett, Kitty Cunningham, Herschell Conley, Victoria Levesque, Jennifer Olson, Abigail Thompson, Zachary Bird, Condrad Helton, Kim Crouse, Sandy Buckingham and Mike Amero.
Those celebrating anniversaries this week include: Joe and Germaine Whitten, Mark and Debbie Tarr, Galen and Carol Doody, Mike and Peggy Kelley, Dale and Cindi Turner, Loren and Judy Johnson, Tom and Bette Olson, Rodney and Shelley Chavez, Mike and Nola Amero.
“Perham History Book”
The Perham Ladies Group is looking for town history information and more photos to be included in their next edition of the Perham History Book. Volunteers are also welcome to join the group. For more information, contact Joan Connolly at 455-4433 or 455-8340 or Ellie Snyder at 455-8016.
Anyone interested in joining the County Guild of Farmers and Artisans is urged to contact Debra Viola at 498-3433 or Gary Kaszas at 554-7773. This group is involved in discovering new ways of providing energy and viable ways of energy-saving farming.
More information can be found on the Web at aroostookcoop.freeforums.org.
Events/reminders
The Washburn Rotary calendar is still available, and the feature photos for September are nine beautiful scenic photos of Wade. Photos include everything from hay fields to autumn trees in all their finery to the main photo showing the wanderings of the Aroostook River from a hill in Wade. Calendars are available from any Rotarian, White’s Service station or phone 455-8034. These will certainly make a fine family and community keepsake.
New summer hours for the Town Office are Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the lunch hour remaining from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and Fridays from 7 a.m. until noon. These hours will remain in effect until further notice.
TOPS will be meeting each Monday at the Washburn Trailrunners clubhouse, starting with weigh-in at 4:15 p.m. and the meeting from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. For further information, contact Birdena Cochran at 455-8353.
Friendly Coop will be taking orders the week of Sept. 1 through 5. The delivery date will be Friday, Sept. 12. Please phone your order in to Brenda at 455-8421 or by e-mail at bunny@ainop.com.
There will be a meeting for the Washburn Water and Sewer District on Monday, Sept. 8, at the Civic Center at 5 p.m. This will be followed by the regular September meeting of the Washburn Town Council.
The Salmon Brook Historical Society will be holding their quarterly meeting on Sept. 25 at the Washburn Civic Center at 6 p.m. There will be a potluck supper followed by a business meeting. Please bring a main dish or dessert and a place setting. New members are always welcome.
Library bookmarks
Washburn Memorial Library had a very successful summer reading program. The theme was “Catch the Reading Bug @ Your Library.” There were 68 children who registered for the program and 55 of those read at least two hours, completing the program. A grand total of 1,222 and one-half hours were read by area youth over the six-week period.
The winners of the program were Nicholas Silver and Scott Flood who each received a video camera. Virginia Farley won the drawing of the children who read at least one hour over what they had committed to, and she won a digital camera.
During the program, the library held three story times with themes including “Backyard Safari,” “A Bug’s Life” and “Butterflies.” The Middle School Book Group read “How to Eat Fried Worms” by Thomas Rockwell.
Participants each received prizes which included magnets, balloons, grow bugs, spider erasers, Burger King and McDonald‘s coupons, along with Arby’s and Pizza Hut gift certificates.
Librarian Kathy Corey wants each and every child who participated to know how very proud she is of them and appreciates their great work.
Christie Cochran is the correspondent for Washburn, Wade and Perham. She can be reached at 455-8034 or gramchristie@yahoo.com.
