100 Years Ago: 1920

“What has happened to the band concerts that we used to have at the park during the summer months?” is getting to be a common question nowadays. The usual amount of money was appropriated this year, but as yet there have been no concerts.

50 Years Ago: 1970

The Auburn Fire Department now has a third resuscitator, for emergency use. Fire Chief Vincent Giberti recalled that in the past all calls of the type involving use of resuscitators were answered by the Rescue Squad, located at Central Station. Under the new setup. one rescue device will be located at the East Auburn station and another at the New Auburn Station. The third resuscitator will be kept in the reserve truck. The chief noted this permits a much wider section of the city to have one of the life-saving devices nearby. Giberti said that should any need arise for the use of a resuseilator,  such as the instance of someone with breathing problems or cardiac arrest the call be made directly to the fire department. and the nearest available resuscitator will be dispatched to the scene.

25 Years Ago: 1995

When Clarence Allen’s wife, Dot. pointed out that someone driving by had left old newspapers and linoleum in the drive he wasn’t pleased. All he could think of was the time and  energy he’d have to devote to cleaning up the lawn in front of his Coldwater Brook Road home in Oxford. Then he started to read what was  written on the yellowed pages of  those old Lewiston Daily Sun papers “I went out to pick them up and I noticed June 4, 1938, and I started to read it.” he said. “I noticed an article saying a thousand children attended Play Day in South Paris. I read the winners of the sports program, and saw my name there, he recalled. His name and so many of his classmates were written on the fragile sheets in tiny print. Allen was a student in the South Paris district in the late 1930s in the 7th and 8th grades. “Seeing those newspapers brought up lots of memories,” he said. Allen came in first in the baseball throw of so many years ago and second in the 60-yard dash. “The first-place winner in that 60 yard dash was won by Albert Emery and that boy could really run.”

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