Special to The Star-Herald
I wanted a chance for my worm colleagues to share in the beauty of northern Maine, while saying thank you for their help over many years. This started with extending an invitation to the International Symposium on Aquatic Oligochaetes during their symposium in Sweden in 1994. Although there was strong competition from The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va., UM-Presque Isle was voted the meeting place for 1997.
Scientifically the symposium was a great success and the results of the papers presented were published after peer review in Developments in Hydrobiology 139, entitled “Aquatic Oligochaetes” (Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Aquatic Oligochaetes) by Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, USA, in 1999.
Although a number of people gave invaluable help, most of the three years of organization was borne by myself and an undergraduate, Susan Peterson. On the fiscal front federal grant bodies considered us too small, and Maine showed no interest. However, I got strong encouragement right from the start from Aroostook County. In recognition, I designed the emblem for the symposium to reflect this pride. The centerpiece is Aroostook County, a freshwater oligochaete (earthworm cousin) and primary focus of the symposium envelops the southern County, while a crayfish worm lurks ready to attack it from the west and the meeting place was the Star City.
Just over 51 scientists with some additional family members from 17 countries attended; most came from U.S.A. and Canada with just less than half from Europe. Although our distant colleagues came from Japan, China and Australia, Ms. Ivana Teodorovic, a doctoral student from the University of Novi Sad in Serbia said something I will never forget, “Thank you for everything and the nice people in town. It’s been wonderful not to have to worry about artillery fire and bombing for a while.” At the time American and NATO forces were bombing her city and others nearby.
An excursion into typical “County” was arranged by John Badger of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Presque Isle. He, assisted by Daniella Dana, worked with the Fish River Lakes Water Quality Association. They organized refreshments at Albert Cyr’s camp before taking us out for pontoon boat tours on Long Lake. My one regret of the day was not being able to thank personally each of the pontoon skippers. This was followed by a visit to the sewage disposal facility used by the St. John Resource Conservation and Development District and a chicken barbecue dinner in Sinclair capped off the day’s events. The views of moose, bear and bald eagles from the boats were still being talked about at the 9th symposium in The Netherlands in 2003. A grant from Monsanto Corporation, orchestrated by Mr. Cyr, helped offset the cost of the outing, and I am indebted to Sally Henderson of Littleton, a former student of mine and Monsanto employee at the time.
The banquet was held in the UMPI Campus Center and to the delight of all lobster was the featured item. Everyone applauded the efforts of Jeff Shipper, then UMPI’s food service director, and his staff.
After the meal came the “formal” handing over of the symposium convener’s ceremonial turquoise bow tie. It was bestowed on me by Dr. Christer Erseus of Sweden who had organized the previous 1994 meeting. Informal stories include Dr. Rüdiger Schmelz, from Osnabrück, Germany, digging up “potworms” from the potato field behind Audrey Thibodeau’s house, before her intently curious and fascinated eyes. Rüdiger also provided an impromptu flute performance in the kitchen of John and Johnny Cancelarich with whom he stayed an extra few days.
Although much of the time was spent on the UMPI campus with Mary Lawrence organizing the domestic aspect, attendees took full advantage of the long, warm summer evenings and discovered places like the Aroostook Centre Mall, Winnie’s and Keddy’s. My Estonian friend told me he refused 10 offers of a ride while walking to Wal-Mart from the campus; he still talks with surprise at the friendliness. To all the people who helped make the symposium the success it was, and for making the visitors feel especially welcome, thank you!
Stuart R. Gelder Ph.D. is emiritus professor of biology at University of Maine at Presque Isle.
HONORED HOST — The ceremonial transfer of the Symposium bow tie from the last convener, Dr. Christer Erseus of Sweden, to the new one, Dr. S.R. Gelder was one of the highlights of the 1997 international conference hosted at UMPI.
