RUMFORD – The charming benches commemorating Stephens High School classes or families, the neat brick path and the bright green grass surrounding the monument of the now-extinct school were joined by two 20-foot aluminum flagpoles at a special ceremony Wednesday afternoon.

Thanks to a Stephens High class of 1948 member, Wilfred Vallee, the shiny poles, complete with ropes inserted inside rather than outside, became the latest addition to the tiny park on Penobscot Street memorializing the school and its students.

A group of five Boy Scouts from Troop 580 raised three flags on them – an American flag, one for the state of Maine and, for the first time, an SHS flag with the school’s colors and its logo, a panther.

Eagle Scout Gordon Bell, with the help of Scouts Dan Barrett, Robert Buotte, Lucas Zale and Matt Welch, carefully unfolded each flag, then gently hoisted them up the two flagpoles – the U.S. flag to the left and the Maine, then the SHS flag to the right.

The SHS Alumni Association has been working on the park, located on a corner of the lot that was once the site of the old high school, for several years.

Bob Saisi, president of the alumni association, said that when Vallee attended a reunion this summer and visited the park, he noticed that it didn’t include flagpoles. He offered to donate two, manufactured at his California business, Southern California Flagpole.

Each pole has a brass placard, one etched with the name of Vallee’s twin brother, Eugene G. Vallee, who is now deceased, and the other with Wilfred’s name.

Saisi donated the flags, including the one memorializing SHS made by another SHS alumnus whose business manufactures flags. That donor did not want his name used, said Saisi.

A cluster of SHS alumni watched as the Scouts hoisted the flags, then listened closely as Saisi spoke of four association members who were active in the development of the park and who have died since the committee began making its plans six years ago. He also said that wherever he speaks, he talks about growing up in Rumford and attending SHS.

The monument is made from the concrete blocks that showed the Penobscot and York streets’ entrances to the school. One has raised numbers for the year 1912, when the school was built. The other has 1931, when the school was greatly expanded.

Saisi said he still hopes that the entire lot where SHS once stood will eventually become a family park.

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