Retired educators to hold meeting

Bill Green (source: MaineNewsCenter.com)

Hundreds of retired educators and guests are expected to attend MEA-Retired’s 66th annual meeting and convention at the Augusta Civic Center on Thursday, May 3, where Bill Green, of Portland, will be keynote speaker.

Widely known for “Bill Green’s Maine” on WCSH Channel 6, Portland, Bill grew up in Bangor and has lived his whole life in Maine. He attended Bangor schools where Phil Gonyar was his high school social studies teacher. He attended the University of Maine at Orono.

His renowned show, “Bill Green’s Maine,” has been acclaimed the “Most Popular TV Program in Maine” by the readers of Down East Magazine.

In 2015, he won the Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for feature reporting. In 2016, “Bill Green’s Maine” won the Regional Emmy as the Outstanding Magazine Program in New England.

Bill Green is an inductee into the Maine Broadcasters’ Hall of Fame, the Maine Sports Hall of Fame, and the Silver Circle of the New England Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Bill is a registered Maine guide, senior warden at Trinity Episcopal Church, in Portland, and assistant JV baseball coach at Greely High School.

Bill and his wife Pam reside in Cumberland and they have two grown children.

Retirees representing thousands of years of service to teaching Maine’s youth may choose from four breakout sessions as follows:

Dr. David Richards, Director of the Margaret Chase Smith Library, in Skowhegan, will give a presentation on what he considers are the positive outcomes of hitting a moose on Maine’s roadways.

Dr. Richards majored in history at Bates College, in Lewiston, holds a M. A. in New England Studies from the University of Southern Maine and a Ph. D. in History from the University of New Hampshire. He has facilitated more than 400 Maine Humanities Council book discussions since 1996.

Jane Conroy, Extension Educator Emeritus, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, will present a “Keep, Take or Toss” session.

Designed to help us purge and downsize our possessions, this session will help us organize important papers, control clutter and save money.

Each workshop participants is asked to bring along a clutter issue, item or question to share with the group.

A lifetime Mainer, Jane graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington as a home economics major and earned her master’s degree in education from the University of Southern Maine.

Jane is very active in her community and is a member of the Piscataquis County Retired Teachers. She serves as chairperson of MEA-Retired Communications Committee.

She and her husband live in Dover-Foxcroft and have three adult children, one granddaughter and five grand dogs.

Paul Johnson, of Oakland, will highlight some of the features of the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument— especially along the East Branch.

Since 2008, Paul Johnson has spent a few days each summer working on a campsite and portage trail stewardship project on the section of the Penobscot River’s East Branch below Matagamon Lake.

This has provided him the opportunity to see and appreciate the natural resources of an area that is now part of Maine’s new national monument and to learn about the area’s rich history.

From 1969 to 2005, Paul worked as a fishery biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in the Moosehead Lake Region. In retirement he remains committed to efforts to conserve Maine’s natural resources and to maintain their traditional uses.

Currently, he serves on the board of directors of Maine Woods Forever and the Allagash Wilderness Waterway Foundation.

Phil Gonyar and Carl Daiker will present a session entitled “Around the Horn in 22 Days,” about their cruise in February 2018 from Santiago, Chile, to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Four days of the cruise will be in the waters of Antarctica.

Gonyar is a former social studies chairman and long-time activist in the MEA and MEA-Retired. Daiker retired from 30 years with the Orange County (NY) Department of Planning where he coordinatred federal, state, and local funding of the county’s transit system. Both Gonyar and Daiker have traveled extensively throughout six of the world’s seven continents and are awaiting the sights and sounds of the seventh continent.

The event is open to more retirees and guests: Registration includes lunch and is $20. Checks may be made payable to MEA-Retired and send to June Nickerson-Hovey, 145 Waterville Road, Skowhegan, ME 04976. Questions? Call 207-474-9472.