John Marshall Sawyer was born in a Greene farmhouse in 1874. One of six children, he quit school at 16 to start working in Portland. Soon after, he moved west and landed in Montana, where he was a sheep rancher and started an empire of 28 dry goods stores.
With his fortune, Sawyer moved back to Greene and started The Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Foundation in honor of his mother, Araxine Wilkins Sawyer, in 1935.
Araxine Wilkins Sawyer was a local teacher and, according to the by-laws of the foundation, “was of a cheerful, happy disposition, sympathetic and charitable.” It was with these qualities in mind that Sawyer started the foundation.
The Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial Building was dedicated on Sept. 10, 1937, and in the ensuing 76 years, has hosted a wide variety of social and community events.
“They used to have things like bean suppers and whatnot,” said Don Rose, current executive secretary of the foundation who has held the position since December 1998. “The foundation also hosted the grammar school graduation until the 1960s and GED graduations until about 10 years ago.”
Now, the foundation hosts twice-monthly programs April through November on Fridays at 2 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. that are always free and open to the public. The final program of the season will be held on Nov. 1, and will be a talk by Bill Behrenbruch about his travels via single-engine airplane across Mexico.
“The Steinway (piano) on the stage is John Sawyer’s wife Annie’s,” said Rose. “One of his daughters is still alive and just turned 100. That would be June.”
Much of the building at 371 Sawyer Road in Greene, which sits across the street from Sawyer’s mansion, is original. Few things have been updated and the 501c3 nonprofit runs on the interest from the funds Sawyer set aside all those years ago.
“His mother was a great influence in his life and as a tribute to her for whom he had the deepest regard and admiration he built the Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial Building,” reads the by-laws of the foundation. “His ambition always was to make the town of Greene a better place in which to live.”
For more information and to see a list of programs, visit www.sawyer-foundation.com.
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- The Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Foundation was established in 1935 and the building at 371 Sawyer Road in Greene was dedicated Sept. 10, 1937. The granite building was built solely for the purpose of housing community events and has been in constant use ever since.
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- The stage at The Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial Building in Greene has presented performances by magicians and musicians, hosted graduations and offered films over the 76 years it has been used for community enjoyment.
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- One of the “newer” updates to the Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial Building was the addition of a stair chair so those with mobility issues could access the restrooms in the basement. Now, a handicapped-accessible restroom is located on the main floor of the building, so the stair chair has become obsolete.
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- “You don’t see too many International Harvester refrigerators anymore,” said Don Rose while giving a tour through the Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial Building in Greene. The old fridge is in the basement kitchen of the building.
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- An ornate piano sits in the corner of the basement of The Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial Building in Greene. “I have no idea where that came from,” said Don Rose, who has been executive secretary of the foundation for 14 years.
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- Don Rose, the Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Foundation’s executive secretary, looks through a collection of old books in the basement meeting hall of the Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial Building on Wednesday. Some of the books belonged to the foundation’s founder, John Sawyer.
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- The dressing rooms in the basement of the Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial Building are accessed by stairs on either side of the stage, and are used by performers to get ready for their shows.
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- The upholstered metal chairs in the auditorium of The Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial Building in Greene, as seen from the stage, were installed in the 1980s, according to foundation Executive Secretary Don Rose. Prior to the 1980s, they were wooden folding chairs.
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- The projector room on the third floor of the Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial Building is set up for the old-style reels and projectors, but now uses more modern, DVD projection devices.
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- Don Rose, executive secretary of The Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Foundation, uses a Paymaster check writer to protect his check from unauthorized alteration.
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- The library of the Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial Building in Greene is original, with the exception of a few pieces of furniture. The library is used for trustee meetings, with five trustees hailing from Greene, one from Auburn and a Sawyer relative that splits her time between Maryland and Maine. The larger portrait above the mantel is Araxine Wilkins Sawyer, the smaller is her son John Sawyer.
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- The office of Don Rose, executive secretary of The Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Foundation, shows a mixture of old and new, including a Paymaster check writer, an IBM typewriter and a DVD.
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- A pianist’s amplifier waits stage left for a Friday show at The Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial Building in Greene. The venue features some type of community entertainment twice a month from April through November, free and open to the public, although donations are welcome.
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