SOLON & BEYOND: With nothing going on, happy to hear from brother

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

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

Here I sit again this morning with no good news to share, everything seems to have been canceled. Received this e-mail from Jeremy Lehan from RSU #54; Dear Enrichment Instructors, As you have undoubtedly heard by now, RSU #54 has extended the school closure through April 26. Because enrichment classes were only scheduled to run a couple of weeks beyond that, I have regrettably decided to cancel them outright for this semester. I shall miss my painting friends, but I know this is the best way to go.

Another one is from Carol Dolan; “This is to inform you that the April 13, 2020, Embden Historical Society meeting has been canceled due to the coronavirus. Jack Gibbson is willing to speak April 2021 on the Somerset Woods. Stay healthy and safe.”

Also from Carol Dolan: Wanted to pass on: The Embden Town Office is closed to the public until further notice. The Stewart Public Library is still closed. But PLEASE look at the webpage www.stewartpub.lib.me.us. There are many things posted there for activities. Also how to get a Maine State Library ebook card, so you can download or read ebooks during this time. If you have ILL books/tapes, call Emily at 635-2231 when you’re done with them – no hurry. Stay put, be safe, and we’ll get through this. Thanks again Carol for keeping us informed.

Thought that was all I had and had been trying to think what else I could write about, when, low and behold, another e-mail popped up on my favorite subject! This one from my brother, Larry: “Good morning, day 16 of isolation for me. Steph is still working from her office for now.

“We’ve never been through anything like this before, so it really feels weird.

“I mentioned that I was going to be nosey about what life was like in Flagstaff when you were growing up. If you feel like jotting down some memories, I would love to read them. I put togethyer some random questions, but these were only ideas, I’d rather read what you put together. Random thoughts, or not.

“Hang in there. Love, Larry.”

Can’t remember just when Roland and I did a series in The Town Line called The Burial of Flagstaff, but I think my brother Larry will appreciate some of my thoughts on the question that he asked. (Editor’s note: A four-part series was published in August 2005.) (Perhaps some of you are tired of hearing about Flagstaff, just let me know?)

Roland started the article with these words: “In 1944, five years before its demise, Flagstaff’s population was listed at 97.

Solon resident, Marilyn Rogers, was born and grew up in Flagstaff, and in the next three parts in this series, with the help of a well documented scrapbook, she will take us through the years leading to the flooding of the town in the name of progress.”

I started out with the following words, “Thoughts of my hometown, Flagstaff, are often on my mind, along with family and friends who I grew up with.

“Twenty-two years ago, I asked John Alden, editor of the Somerset Reporter; if he would print a story about Flagstaff. He had never heard of the place, but he did print the article which included parts of newspaper clippings of the building of the dam that flooded the area – 1949 was the year many of us headed out to a new adventure after living in Flagstaff and Dead River our entire lives.”

Excerpts from Marilyn Rogers’ article in the Somerset Reporter in 1983: “I wonder what my life would have been like if 35 years ago we hadn’t been ordered from our homes in Flagstaff and Dead River by Central Maine Power Co.? Did you ever stop to think what it would be like not to be able to go back to your home-town? I finally went back to where Flagstaff used to be…. and the peace and tranquility were still there; and the strength of Mt. Bigelow towering in the distance was as comforting as it had always been in my childhood years.”

In one of my clippings it states, “Eventually CMP also clear-cut 18,000 acres of woodland. Wildfires took care of many of the stumps and other debris that remained.”

And now for Percy’s memoir: “Even if it burns a little low at times the secret of Life is to always keep the Flame of Hope Alive.” (words from the little book, Positive Thinking….Laughter for the soul.)