100 years ago: 1919

The Junior class of Pennell Institute will give a minstrel show, Friday evening Apr. 25, at Pennell institute hall for the benefit of the school paper, “The Whirlpool.”

50 years ago: 1969

When members of the Parish Guild of the High Street Congregational Church met Tuesday evening, Joseph Perham, an English teacher at Leavitt High School in Turner, presented a program on character interpretations and poetry reading using his topic “First Person, Singular.” Mrs. Ann Fosdick introduced the speaker, and Mrs. Vivian Nolet presided at the business meeting. Supper was served by the second division of the Evening Unit, under the chairmanship of Mrs. Richard Libby.

25 years ago: 1994

Central Maine Technical College in Auburn posthumously bestowed an honor upon Jacques Fortin Friday that no other graduate of the Maine Technical College system has ever received. Fortin’s relatives gathered at a residence hall on the Auburn campus that had previously been referred to as the “High Rise” to watch the renaming and dedication of the new Fortin Hall. Jacques Jean-Denis Fortin was killed last summer in a motorcycle accident just a year after graduating from the college that he considered a second home. “The entire place was crushed at the news of his death,” said CMTC President Bill Hierstein. The idea of dedication came from a petition presented to Hierstein from the dean of students, a couple of Fortin’s former instructors and many of his classmates. Hierstein added his name to the petition and presented the idea to the board of trustees.

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