100 years ago: 1918

Here’s a little story of patriotism and determination that is pretty hard to equal. Mrs. James Watson of Holland Street, Lewiston, received a telegram this morning that her brother, John E. Irving of Chatham, N. M., now in France with the British expeditionary forces, has been wounded in the left leg. He is only 19, but he has been in the Army for three and one-half years. He enlisted soon after his 16th birthday, for he was bound to see service. He has twice been wounded, but has never complained and is as eager to face gun bullets now as on the day of his enlistment. “But I think that he’s done his bit, don’t you?” said Mrs. Watson, with sisterly affection.

50 years ago: 1968

WAITRESSES WANTED: $1 per hour plus tips, SIMS, Minot Avenue, Auburn.

25 years ago: 1993

In a not totally unexpected move Thursday night, the Durham School Committee voted to establish a study committee to research the feasibility of withdrawing from School Union 30 and going it alone with its own superintendent. Board member Douglas Diffin, who proposed the idea, told fellow members “I’m not recommending it tonight, I just want to see if it’s something we want to do to better ourselves.” This “isn’t a new idea,” he told the board; numerous people have mentioned it, and “now the time has come” for the town to look at the idea. Diffin admitted there are a lot of unanswered questions on how it would work if the town were to go out on its own rather than sharing a superintendent with Lisbon, but he remained adamant that it was time to explore the idea.

The material in Looking Back is reproduced exactly as it originally appeared, although misspellings and spellings may be corrected.