The “Y Girls” got together for a reunion a few days ago.

The occasion marked a special friendship that began in the years of World War II at the YWCA building at 73 Park St. in Lewiston. That three-story brick building is now apartments, but the memories of those days and nights more than 60 years ago are still fresh.

I was privileged to listen in, at their invitation, as seven ladies who are now mostly in their 80s renewed acquaintances and caught up on news. It had been 61 years since their shared experiences in a rapidly changing world.

The war was far from the Twin Cities, but life for everyone underwent extraordinary adjustments in those years. Gasoline was scarce and the young people of the area who worked or went to school in L-A had to find housing near their jobs.

That’s how the “Y Girls,” as they called themselves, came together. Some of the 16- and 17-year-olds were students at Bliss College. Others worked at the Armour & Co. meat packing plant, at the Bates Mill or at the city’s other textile mills.

Doris Carr Poole of Monmouth has coordinated their gatherings. The get-together several days ago included a visit by Louise Melanson Child, originally from Strong, who came from Brigham City, Utah. Others at the reunion were Marion and Elizabeth Toncer of Lewiston, who are twins and came from the Livermore Falls area; Barbara Phillips Burbank of Auburn, originally from Strong; Catherine Woods Saunders, now of Hebron; and Bea Forbes Lowell, who lives in Newry and came to the YWCA from western Maine.

In the 1940s, several of the “Y Girls” had boyfriends and family members in the service. Waiting for the young men at war was nerve-wracking and filled with disappointments. One of the servicemen who had been sent to France was reassigned to Manila, but his quick trip back across the United States didn’t allow for a visit to Lewiston.

For the most part, the family members and boyfriends of the “Y Girls” returned from the war.

At their recent reunion, they didn’t dwell on the dark times. The ladies laughed as they reminisced about doughnuts and graham cracker pie at the nearby Hayes Diner. They talked about going to the Priscilla Theater on Pine Street until a few years ago, and they recalled special occasions like birthdays that called for dining out at the classy DeWitt Hotel. They also enjoyed Sunday night concerts in the park, which was across the street from the YWCA at Pine and Bates streets.

“We were allowed to use the kitchen at the Y for a few cents a month, because we couldn’t afford to eat out all the time,” Doris Poole remembered. The group paid $1 a week for cooking privileges, and they purchased the least expensive foods they could find.

Trolley cars were still running in the Twin Cities at that time, and the “Y Girls” sometimes went to Crowley’s Junction for Saturday night dances.

Curfew was 11 p.m., and the residence director (her name was Bertha Ham, and they fondly called her “Mother Hen”) would enforce the rule with some occasional leniency.

Summing up for all, Doris Poole said, “What a wonderful experience it was.”

David A. Sargent is a freelance writer and an Auburn native. You can e-mail him at [email protected].