100 Years Ago: 1921

Grace Merrill, a Lewiston girl, is one of the members of the musical comedy company at Lake Grove this week.

50 Years Ago: 1971

A watercolor painting entered in the third annual art festival, sponsored by the Androscoggin Valley Art Association, by a Lewiston man won first prize by the judging event today. Winning first place among the 11 entries in the competition was a painting done by David W. Clark of Tall Pines, Lewiston. The first prize award consisted of $300. Another local artist, Micheal F. Towle of  Turner Street, Auburn, won fifth place and a prize of $50. The announcement of the winners was made early this afternoon, halfway through the annual art festival, held this year on the sidewalks of downtown Lewiston.

25 Years Ago: 1996

In the end, Elizabeth Gravalos and her husband, Arthur Harvey kept their Hartford home and their principles, but for a price. In order to save the couple’s home from being sold to a stranger by the Internal Revenue Service, Elizabeth’s mother, Mary Gravalos, bought the property at a sealed bid auction for $15,633. Surrounded by friends and other supporters, a tearful Elizabeth Gravalos  spoke to a crowd of reporters inside the Main Street IRS office in Lewiston just after officials announced the outcome of the auction. “I’m relieved,” Gravalos said. “I’m a little sad, but I’m more relieved because it’s over.” Gravaloe and Harvey have refused to pay federal income taxes in protest of military spending. As conscientious objectors to paying for weapons and war, Harvey has not filed income tax returns since 1959, and Elizabeth Gravalos since 1989. They have lived simply with their two children, Emily, 20, and Max, 16, in a house they paid $8,000 for in 1965. They use kerosene lanterns instead of electricity, and make their living raising and selling “organic blueberries. They also sell flowers and have a small side business selling books by and about India’s leader Mohandas K. Gandhi.

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


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