SOLON & BEYOND, Week of October 5, 2017

by Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percy
grams29@tds.net
Solon, Maine 04979

Good morning, dear friends. Don’t worry, be happy!

I haven’t come back to earth yet after again reaching my goals from writing these many columns for papers for over 50 years! It is such amazing news, in my mind, anyway, for this wonderful little paper, but especially its editor Roland Hallee.

Now I will back-track a little, I know I have shared with you how I first met Roland back when I was writing for the Somerset Gazette, in Skowhegan. Then, when that paper closed and he called and asked me if I would like to write for The Town Line. He wasn’t the editor of the paper at that time, but I was hired to write a column and I did under a couple different editors for awhile but couldn’t seem to get along with one of them, and started my own paper for awhile. Then Roland became the editor, and again I was writing for The Town Line. When I went to South China and met with Roland as the editor, I asked him point blank, “How much mushy stuff will you let me get away with?” And I don’t remember his exact words, but in essence, he said to write from my heart! That was what I was waiting to hear, and he has always kept his word!

Now for the reason I haven’t come back to earth yet is because one day last week when Lief and I happened to be at Griswold’s having lunch, two men stopped at our table,and one of them started saying, “Oh you’re just the person I wanted to see!” It was Bob Therrien, who I had done a column a few months ago about him and his Cuckoo clocks that he builds. He was very excited and he grabbed my hand and started thanking me and the article that I had written for this paper about him because it had made it possible for his long lost brother to find him.

It seems that someone in the many towns this little paper covers, had seen the article and cut it out and sent it to Bob’s brother, Donald Therrien, and that morning that we saw them at Griswold’s he had come to Bob’s home on North Maine Street, in Solon, and surprised him. Very seldom have I seen anyone so excited and grateful as Bob was, and he said, “What a good thing you did for me!” His brother was very appreciative and pleased about finding his brother also and thanked me over and over.

Bob said, “This is the best thing that has happened to me in 50 years!” (They hadn’t seen each other in that many years.)

My goals in writing all these years have been to bring, peace, love, happiness, and laughter, along with the facts of happenings going on in this area all these years. When I learned what happiness one of my columns had meant to Bob Therrien and his brother Donald, it made me very happy indeed! And I’m hoping they can get together for many more happy moments in the years to come.

October 8 will be Country Sunday/Open Mic from 1 – 4 p.m., at the Embden Community Center. The October 14 supper at the Embden Community Center will be held at 5 p.m.

Dan Schall Ministries preached and sang at the North Anson Congregational Church on Sunday to a very attentive audience. He and his wife Linda have compiled a little book of Stories & Anecdotes which is very interesting. In the introduction it says, “Our stories come from church bulletins and writings that people have sent us. I am going to use one of them this week for Percy’s Memoir: Young Construction Worker: A strong, broad shouldered young man at the construction site was bragging that he could outdo anyone in a feat of strength. He especially made fun of one of the older workmen.

After several minutes, the older worker had had enough. “Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is,” he said. “I will bet a week’s wages that I can haul something in a wheelbarrow over to that building that you won’t be able to wheel back.” “You’re on, old man,” the braggart replied. “Let’s see what you got.” The old man reached out and gabbed the wheelbarrow by the handles. Then, nodding to the young man, he said, “All right, get in.”