DEAR SUN SPOTS: On Oct. 19 there was an article about the Lacoste Babies Home, where 17 people died on Jan. 31, 1945. I always thought the fire that killed all the babies and some adults was on River Road in Lewiston. The article mentioned Auburn. Could you please tell us where in Auburn, the street and number, where this horrible tragedy happened?

Thank you for all the research you do for everyone. We enjoy reading Sun Spots every day. — No Name via email

ANSWER: In April reporter Scott Taylor also wrote about this tragedy, and in that story a website on the topic was cited (auburn1945.com). It features a story from the Lewiston Evening Journal that begins with this paragraph:

“Sixteen babies — some of them children of serviceman — and one adult lie dead at Dillingham’s morgue in Auburn today in the terrible toll of life in this community’s worst fire. They were taken from the Lacoste Babies’ Home on South Main Street, Auburn, where an explosion at about 5:30 in the kitchen stove fired the little one and one-half story wooden building in which at least 25 souls were living. Within a few moments the entire structure was a raging furnace, from which — by some miracle — eight escaped with their lives.”

So it clearly was an Auburn event. A little additional archive searching turned up a street number of 195 South Main St. 

DEAR SUN SPOTS: I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all the great information. You have helped me on numerous occasions. We are very lucky to have such an informational column.

Regarding the question on St. Vincent’s thrift shop (Oct. 22), it closed down this past summer. I happened to be there while they were moving out, and the volunteer shared that they had found a few bedbugs, and before it got out of hand they decided to close down. All the merchandise was thrown away. — No Name, No Town

ANSWER: No Name said in her letter that the thrift shop is closed for good, but Sun Spots left that out because it might not be so. Read on.

DEAR SUN SPOTS: In reply to the inquiry concerning the Saint Vincent de Paul Thrift Store in your column (Oct. 22). St. Vincent de Paul Society decided to close its thrift store at 101 Ash St. due to undesirable conditions in the building.

However, we have been and will continue to look for a safe and suitable space, which, according to our mission, must be located in the downtown neighborhood. If such a location is found, we would definitely reopen our store.

Thank you for the inquiry. — Pauline Marsh, president, daddy.no.bucks@roadrunner.com

DEAR SUN SPOTS: I would like to send out a very grateful thank you to everyone who sends their General Mills Box Tops for Education to the Hartford Sumner Elementary School. The proceeds are used by the Nezinscot Valley Music Boosters and the HSES Student Council to provide musical and theatrical programs Pre-K to grade 12 and educational programs (Slim Goodbody, the Mad Scientist, Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ) to Pre-K to grade 6.

If your certificate or coupon has an expiration date, send it to school right away! Please try to separate Campbell’s soup labels from the box tops; they are two separate programs. The school does not use Betty Crocker labels.

If you have time to trim the box tops, that is wonderful. When we mail them in, we pay for weight. I can’t give enough praise and thanks to Arlene and Morril Nason and Cindi Wallace and her children, Jake and Shelby, for the countless hours they spent trimming and bundling into groups of 50 box tops.

Because of those who sent in box tops, the classroom teachers who had their students paste them onto sheets and my very special volunteer clippers, our school will be receiving a check for more than $1,600 in December.

We collect year-round. So please save your box tops and certificates, along with the Campbell’s labels, and send them to Hartford Sumner Elementary School, 145 Main St., Sumner ME 04292.

It would be wonderful to end the school year with more than $2,000 in earnings. If anyone has questions, please call me. — Cynthia Norton, coordinator, Sumner, 388-2667, norton@megalink.net

DEAR SUN SPOTS: The Lewiston Middle School Parent-Teacher Organization is collecting Box Tops this year. If any readers have Box Tops that they would like to donate to our school, please mail them to Lewiston Middle School, 75 Central Ave., Lewiston, ME, 04240 or drop them off at the school office. We would very much appreciate it! — Dawn Hartill, LMS PTO member

This column is for you, our readers. It is for your questions and comments. There are only two rules: You must write to the column and sign your name (we won’t use it if you ask us not to). Please include your phone number. Letters will not be returned or answered by mail, and telephone calls will not be accepted. Your letters will appear as quickly as space allows. Address them to Sun Spots, P.O. Box 4400, Lewiston, ME 04243-4400. Inquiries can also be emailed to sunspots@sunjournal.com.

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