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

Have been going through some of my old columns to find something to write about, and found some about when I was visiting people to get their picture to put in the paper. Found some interesting ones in the year 2004. (This was before Percy!) It was when I was visiting people to get their pictures and a recipe to put in this column. Back then my column was called “The Community Cookbook,” by Marilyn Rogers, and the first one states”Catching Up With Dale”. It was hard to catch up with Dale Redmond – she is a very busy person — but we finally connected at the Solon Congregational Church one cold day recently.  (The following article was on February 7, 2004.)

Dale was born in Jackman and graduated from high school there, then went on to get an associate’s degree in animal medical technology from the University of Maine at Orono in 1975. She has lived and worked in many places: She resided in Weld for 10 years. She worked for UNUM, in Portland, and then returned to college at the University of Maine, Presque Isle, where she received a lab technician degree. From Presque Isle she went to Greenville and worked at the Goodwill Veterinary Clinic, until she became ill and had to quit working.

She then moved back to Jackman to be near her parents and in August 1991 she received a liver transplant at New England Medical Center, in Boston. She was in the hospital for six weeks following the surgery and stayed in the area for a while for check ups, etc.

She returned to Jackman until 1995, when she moved to Solon, and Dale has been with Dana Hall ever since. Dale loves to cook and, in the past, has done lots of catering. She She now works at Williams General Store, in Bingham. She is very active in the Solon Congregational Church and serves as treasurer. She is a past Hospice worker and is still very interested in that work.
Dale enjoys oil painting, gardening, and has a passion for reading.

She shared her recipe for Dump Cake. Ingredients: Grease a 13 – x 9 inch pan, dump one can of sweetened applesauce into it. Dump one can of crushed pineapple on top of that. Spread one package of dry yellow cake mix over that. Melt one cup of butter or margarine and pour over the top of the cake mix. Sprinke 1-1/2 cups chopped nuts over all. Do not stir. Bake at 350° F for one hour. Top with whipped cream to serve.

Will now finish with these words from Percy who had done a column in January 2008. while I was in Florida. I am thrilled beyond belief that she is letting me write this column again, since so many of you have told her that you prefer my writing instead of hers. Since I don’t have any real news to share, I have been reflecting on what subject to write about. I think perhaps Happiness might be a good topic to delve into. Our bi-line each week being “Don’t Worry be Happy,” and she’s been using it for years, before I started here. Does that make you stop and think just how happy you really are ? Some quotes I can think of are, “Cheerfulness greases the axles of the world, “Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.” “True happiness consists in making others happy.” But the one I like the best is, “There are two essentials to happiness: something to do, and someone to love.” It gives me great pleasure to behold the sappy look on my human’s face when I lavish her with love, (I curl up in her lap and put my paw as far around her neck as I can and sing at the top of my lungs!) That is pure ecstasy, and makes me happy also.

And now for a few quotes from some famous people , Benjamin Franklin once said, “The U.S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.”

And now for Percy’s memoir, Old gardeners never die, they just lose their bloomers!

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

The following is from an old 1995 column that I wrote in the Somerset Gazette: It starts, Good morning my friends, don’t worry, be happy!

Shouldn’t do this after those words but I’m frustrated. So have to admit that monster (computer ) got the best of me this morning, well it really started last week when I pushed that print button and this column kept coming out and I couldn’t get it to stop until I pulled the plug. On a good day I cringe at the paper the thing wastes, it amazes me how people talk about saving the trees and then in the next breath say how wonderful computers are. Anyway, this morning the “Thing” wouldn’t let me in so I’m typing it! – Peter, I need your HELP! I still get frustrated with this computer, but Peter is still helping me, and I thank him very much.

This week I’m going to put in a letter that was in that 1995 paper, and its title was Four Candles Burned Constantly, by Ethel Bowen. When I look back on World War II, I think of the day when we were all let out of school so we could see our National Guard off to what we thought would be a training session. Little did we know that a few short months later the United States would be in the middle of a war, and they would be participating in it. The Skowhegan High School band escorted the “Guard” to the train station, with us lining Water Street, cheering them on.

This journey for most would end up being a horrible experience, costing some of them their lives, bringing sorrow to their families and the whole town. I can remember Aunt Bernice and Uncle Bill sending their four sons and two sons-in-law off to foreign lands to fight for their country. I lived next door to them. Aunt Beatrice burned four candles continuously, one for each one of her boys. She also had a flag in the window with four stars surrounding it. One son who was wounded three times in Germany, was sent back after recuperating from his injuries twice. The third time he was to have been sent back in a few days, but the war was declared over in the European Theatre, so he was sent home instead.

Another son contracted malaria while in the Pacific and was a long time recovering. One son-in-law lost a finger during a raid in Germany, and the other was injured in the Pacific. Of the two remaining sons, one was in the Signal Corp in the Pacific. I can still picture Aunt Bernice watching for the mail and rushing out to the mailbox hoping that she would get a letter from one of them. When she did she shared them with the rest of the family.

I can tell you, there was delight and celebration in that family when the war was declared over and they returned home. This family was very fortunate. Other families were not. The first time I saw my mother cry was when my brother left home for basic training. He came home on leave, then was sent to Germany He was fortunate as six months after he got there he stayed in the Army of Occupation until he was discharged.

And now for some good advice called The Way to Be a Friend. The way to be a friend is just To strive each day to be A firm believer in the strength Of human dignity.To teach each fellowman the way That you would like to be, With deep respect for each man’s worth And his integrity. The way to be a friend is just To keep a smiling face, To realize that laughter adds A special note of grace. The way to be a friend is just To give and give and give Of help and care and kindly words Each day that you shall live, To shun away each petty doubt And open up the heart, To let in the thoughts of love and trust, Which is how friendships start.

Sorry that this is a rather short one but we have to go to Skowhegan in the morning so Lief can get his LAST SHOT……… and we will probably celebrate big time!

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

Seems as though all I do lately is apologize about something . Have received some recent news and didn’t get it in in time because of my computer acting up again ­ – and thanks to Peter, he has solved the problem once again, and I thank him from the bottom of my heart.

The following one was sent to me by Susan Lahti; Here is the information for the East Madison Historical Association Yard and Bake Sale, at 1108 East Madison Rd., Madison, from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., each day. We love seeing folks from the area checking us out! It sounds like a great sale and this is some of the items that will be for sale: Furniture, books, pies, bread, baked goods, jams, jellies, tools, glassware, clothes, small appliances, toys, games, HP printer and cartridge – like new, and much more.

Received the following bit of news from Mary Ann Frear. Just wanted to let you know the Community United Church, in North Anson, will not be holding their usual community suppers this summer. However, we are planning a chicken barbecue later.

Always enjoy your articles in The Town Line! Keep up the good work. Sincerely, Mary Frear. ( My heart felt thanks go out to you Mary, for all that information, and your remarks about enjoying this column; That means a lot. )

The following letter was sent to me by Linda Rogers French:

Dear Alumni And friends,

We have decided to wait one more year before having the reunion. With only half of the people vaccinated it seems the safe thing to do. Also the school is not open to the public yet and we don’t know when it will be. We will still be giving out the scholarships because of the generous donations of the alumni. If anyone wants addresses to get in contact with their classmates and meet in smaller groups I can provide those. You would have to provide your own meeting place and agenda.

Deaths reported were Berl Grover, class of 1960 – 1/20/20, Ronald “Bunny” Giguere, class of 1962 – 7/10/20, Lewis Cahill, class of 1961 – 8//27/20, Albert Starbird, class of 1941 – 1/2/21, Alice Davis Heald, class of 1940 – 1/6/21, Terry Cahill, class of 1966 – 2/25/21/, DouglasHayden, class of 1958 – 3/28/21, Betty Lou Tolman Smith, class of 1956 – 4/13/21. Also Kevin Marcel Morin – 7/13/20, Michael Giguere – 1/25/21, and Viola Tolman Hayden – 3/17/22.

Donations to the Scholarship Fund would be greatly appreciated and can be sent to our treasurer: Jo Rancourt Holden, 66 Parkman Hill Road, Skowhegan, Maine 04976. We received over $1,000 in donation last year. Thank you all. Please make checks payable to Solon Alumni Assn. Thank you all and we will see you next year. God bless.

Sincerely, Linda Rogers French, Sec.

There is some Solon School news that I didn’t have space for last week….New Garden At Solon Elementary School: We hope you have noticed the new raised beds garden on the front lawn of the school. These beds were built by Mrs. Campbell’s husband so we could install a garden dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Pat Miller, who passed away in February. Mrs. Miller taught at Solon Elementary School for 38 years until 2008, and continued to substitute and volunteer at our school until this fall when she took ill.

Besides Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, we also want to thank Don Mayo for helping to build the beds and Kathy Tingley for donating flowers for the garden. And we couldn’t have a garden that is growing well and looking beautiful without the green thumb and tender care of our custodian Dan Haes.

On June 2, Solon Elementary School held its annual Field Day for the Pre-K – fifth grade students. The weather was perfect, and we had a great time! Each class of students rotated between stations to play games and do activities such as tie-dying, sack races, beach ball spoon race, chalk drawing, corn hole, wheelbarrow races, water musical chairs, and red light/green light. Our cook Cindy Lawrence prepared a barbecue lunch for us with help from Mrs. Hines and Chad Hebert. Students were able to sit outside on the grass to enjoy lunch. We thank Ms. Rich and Mrs McFadyen for their work planning and organizing Field Day for us.

And now for Percy’s memoir about Friendships : Great minds think alike; There’s no doctor like a true friend. Perfect friends who were once perfect strangers. Friendship – the older it grows, the stronger it is. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Friend: those who’ve heard the worst about us, yet refuse to believe it. I’d give you the shirt off my back! Even the best of friends must part. Forever a friend without an end.

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

Here it is, Monday already and I’m just starting to write this column! We spent the weekend visiting with Lief’s relatives and friends up in Aroostook County! It was lots of fun and so very beautiful!

This week I call this column; Gram’s: Very cute, and grandma’s to boot. It is taken from an article that was written in the Somerset Reporter way back in June 30, 1983. It brings back happy memories to me and I hope you will enjoy it also.

It’s hard to figure when you get to Gram’s, a gift shop on Route 201, Solon, what will be cuter: the many handmade items lining the walls of the shop, or the three proprietors, all real, honest-to-goodness grandmothers. Marilyn Rogers, Merle Rancourt, and Ellen Hills have a total of 12 children and 17 grandchildren amongst them.

They decided to open their own shop after renting space in a building for two years. This year they purchased an old camp and had it hauled to their site on Rte. 201. After painting, and redecorating it they christened it Grams. (It doesn’t say who wrote the first part of the story for the column but I’m going to change what was printed next so credit can be given to my wonderful sons who did a lot of work to make it the wonderful place that it was!)

It is a clean, pleasant place to browse through their many items. Just about everything in the store is handmade. They carry some Solon Manufacturing Company items for variety.

Merle makes mostly clothes and sewn items. She makes lots of baby clothes and quilts. Ellen creates sock dolls and Maine mementoes while Marilyn makes toys and other baby items.

In addition the shop is stocked with balsam pillows, lap robes, pot holders, and puppets and dolls of all sizes and description. There are even some teddy bears.

“Every time you come in here, there’s something new. ” Ellen said. And Marilyn added. “Most of the items are one of a kind.”

Grams will be open through the summer, and after that it depends on the weather. Besides come December, they all have something to look forward to. That’s when each of them expects to become grandmothers again.

At that rate Grams will never run out of customers or summer help.

Hope to find more information as to how long I kept the Grams store in business with lots of help from my friends! It was truly an inspiration for me to keep doing the things I loved to do. Hope as I continue to go through the many stacks of old papers I may come across more information to share.

As I sit here this morning hoping to write what many of you have told me that you enjoy reading about, one of them was the river drive! Was surprised when a woman called and said she truly enjoyed reading about it when I wrote some before…..But I think this is a different story that I am taking from a Somerset Reporter dated 1835-1976. The headline states: A SALUTE ….. There is a picture of some of the men and it says: Three generations—This crew of log-drivers posed for a photograph outside a camp roughly 65 years ago. They are standing Dell Stewart, Will McLaughlin, Albert Reynold, Milt Reynolds, Granville Beane, (first name unknown) Collins and Chris Rollins. Sitting, Tom Bigelow and Miles Cates. McLaughlin and Bigelow were the grandfathers of men bringing up the rear on the last log drive. The Somerset Reporter was the largest weekly newspaper at that time and it goes on to say Bert Morris remembers: Long logs and good men. It looks interesting to me; but way too long to put it in this week!

Do hope I haven’t been putting in too much of this old news and putting you to sleep, but at my age I find it really interesting and good to remember the good ol’ days.

And now for Percy’s memoir: Trying to hang on to youth, trying to hang on to what was really great 20 years ago, throws you totally off. You’ve got to go with it and seek the abundance that’s in the new thing. If you hang on to the old thing, you will not experience the new. – words by Scholar Joseph Campbell.

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

When I opened my computer this morning I was very pleased to find this bit of news about the Embden Thrift Shop: The Embden Thrift Shop is planning to be open Saturdays from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Clean donations are accepted, however no electronics. Items can ONLY be left on Saturdays while the Thrift Shop is open.

Now for some news that I wrote about 0n March 25, 2005, in the small paper I started. It started with the words Solon and Beyond! Good Morning My Friends, Don’t Worry be Happy! From Percy and me. I had become upset with the paper I was writing for at the time, and decided to start my own paper.

Would like to say once again how much I appreciate the many, many kind and encouraging words I have received from so many of you in response to this little paper. Tears of joy have formed in my eyes more than once at your appreciation for my efforts to bring you love and laughter via the written word. To a certain extent this is the way I have always written, some editors have let me get away with it, some have not! (Being the editor of this paper, I got away with it.) Could write a book about editors, have written under many in the more than 40 years that I’ve been writing. This is a neat example of some of the support I have received from loyal readers when I was having a problem with an editor. This was many years ago when I was writing for the Somerset Reporter. This lady in her middle 80s who didn’t have a license to drive, hired someone to take her to the Somerset Reporter office in Skowhegan. She had whoever had taken her to Skowhegan go in the office and bring the editor out so she could give him a piece of her mind. She was a lady who only needed a few words to get her message across, She helped my case immensely! As I said, I could write a book, but only once did I ever quit writing( for a short time) because of an editor!

I had taken a picture of four of my friends and put it on the front page of this particular paper. And this is what was written beside the picture, “And since this issue is dedicated to friendship, I am going to print a picture of some of the UCCEBDMSS members. For those of you who have never heard what those letters stand for, we are Solon Chapter Chowder Eating Beer Drinking Marching and Singing Society members. And to set the record straight, we are not a boozing bunch! They don’t know I’m putting this picture on the front page, it was taken 16 years ago, the picture is of Gloria Barnes, Dorothy Brown, Marge Adams and Alice Heald.

There is more local news in this issue, one tells about the Solon Congregational Church, the Embden Historical Society and other events and it ends with these words: Some people who have been picking up these little papers since the first issue on January 15 will know that I couldn’t afford to give them to you forever. This is the seventh and last issue of probably the smallest and shortest lived newspaper ever. I do believe that the newspaper business is in my blood, and when I couldn’t get the news printed in the paper I was writing for at the time, I decided to start my own paper. Knew I couldn’t keep giving them away forever and prayed for a miracle. As stubborn as I am , don’t know how deep a financial hole I would have dug myself into if the miracle hadn’t materialized! Next week you will be seeing Percy and me once again in The Town Line. Those of you who pick up that paper will have started to see how much it has improved since Roland Hallee has taken over as editor.

Just a few facts about this little paper I started, the first week I printed 62 copies with two pages in it on my printer. I distributed them to three stores here in Solon and to Pinkam’s Elm St. Market, in North Anson. The next three issues I also printed on my protesting old printer and they were now up to three pages. By that time I had started checking out the cost of having them printed professionally because I was having to buy a print cartridge for each issue. The fifth issue had a picture of my faithful helper Percy on the front page as well as a couple of ads and was printed by Deck Copy, in Skowhegan, and I expanded to two stores in Bingham. The last two issues were also printed by Deck Copy and the distribution is up to 170 papers a week, and again I can’t tell you, my friends, how much I have loved your support. Didn’t realize it was going to be a full time job, I had become an editor/publisher, writer, ad salesman, business manager and paper deliverer. I am going to print my financial statement so that you will understand that it takes money to run a paper and I hope businesses in this area will take out ads in The Town Line to keep it in Somerset County. My printing costs for the seven issues published: $231; received $20 for ads, making a total spent of $211, this doesn’t include money for gas, all the time I spent writing, postage for all the papers I mailed out. I’m not trying to make you feel sorry for me, just hope you know how much I want a small weekly paper in this area.

And now for Percy’s memoir: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow. Words by Garry Gogetter.