BETHEL – The final lecture of the 2007 series, “Maine Character and Characters,” will conclude with a presentation on Thursday, Nov. 8, by Society Executive Director Stanley R. Howe on the life and times of a Bethel “character,” Elizabeth Mason Carter, who lived nearly a century until 2006.

Born at Willow Grove Farm (today known as Sunset Farm on Intervale Road) in 1907, she attended local schools and was the valedictorian of the Gould Academy Class of 1926.

Always claiming to have been the first woman from Bethel to attend the University of Maine, she entered the land-grant college in 1926 and graduated from a pre-med program in 1930.

As a result of the Great Depression, she was unable to continue her medical education and became a social worker in a number of cities, including Portland and Bangor, as well as Manchester, N.H.

During World War II, she served in USO Travelers Aid units in several states on the east and west coasts. Following the war she became community relations manager for the Maine Publicity Bureau, thus beginning her familiarity with her native state.

After a brief career in the insurance business, she returned to social work and continued in that field until her retirement. During her retirement years, she was active in assisting with the founding the Bethel Historical Society and the Kimball Family Association. She was particularly fond of animals all her life, especially horses, dogs and cats.

The lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Dr. Moses Mason House meeting room. The lecture is free and everyone is welcome.

A valuation day will be offered by the Bethel Historical Society from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, at the O’Neil Robinson House. For a $5 donation to the society, Jay Boschetti of Steam Mill Antiques will provide appraise one or two items a person.

Boschetti has been involved in this field for much of his life and operates a business just west of Bethel Hill on Route 2.

For more information about the society and its activities, call 824-2908 or 800-824-2910, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.bethelhistorical.org.