Dear Sun Spots: I am in search of a book to purchase titled “I Fell Among Farmers,” by Lola Waterman Sigel. It was published in 1950. I have searched online to no avail. Any assistance would be appreciated. I may be e-mailed at [email protected] or please leave a phone message at (207) 375-8638. Thank you. – No Name, No Town.

Answer: Unfortunately Sun Spots was unable to locate a copy. You might want to try www.bookfinder.com, which lists most dealers on the Web and may be able to locate a copy for you.

In addition, try contacting: Pepperell Books at (207) 344-6900; The Page Turner and Pages Already Turned, 247 Lisbon St., Lewiston, (207) 753-1112, and Artios Books at 180 Turner St., Auburn, (207) 786-4007.

In the meantime you might be interested in knowing that Sigel attended Bates College in Lewiston, Class of 1922. According to a May 19, 2004, death notice, Sigel earned room and board as a mother’s helper for the Peck family. In 1924, she married Erland Waterman, a prominent farmer in Sabattus. She used her experiences on the farm (which also ran an International Harvester dealership and other small enterprises) as well as the experiences of her husband’s ancestors in her 1949 book, “I Fell Among Farmers.” After her husband died in 1939, she struggled to keep the farm and its related businesses going, but she was forced to liquidate everything but the dairy farm itself during World War II. In 1942, she married Franz Sigel, a career Army officer (whose grandfather fought in the Civil War), but remained on the farm while he was assigned elsewhere, until her two sons completed their schooling and she could sell the farm to them. To make ends meet during the war, she taught English and Latin in Wales, Litchfield, Lisbon Falls and Sabattus, where she was also the assistant principal. She resigned in 1956 to join her husband for a three-year tour of Germany. While there, she took a three-day bus trip to Paris that cost her $24. She wrote an article for the Lewiston Evening Journal from Germany, where she said, “We are told that we are here not as conquerors but as a member of NATO and that we are the foreigners on their soil. It behooves us to represent our country the best we can.” On her 100th birthday, she recited Longfellow’s “The Wreck of the Hesperus” from memory. Her granddaughter is Donna Waterman Douglass ’89, and her sister-in-law is Vesta Brown Mitchell ’32, the widow of Elmer L. Mitchell ’32. She is survived by sons Robert D. Waterman Sr. and Donald M. Waterman; nine grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; and a half-brother, F. Emerson Mitchell.

Dear Sun Spots: Thank you for all you do. Could you please find out what happened to “Complete Savages” which was on Channel 8 Friday evenings at 8:30 p.m.

Also, if anyone has tapes of “Northern Exposure,” that they are willing to sell, I would be very interested. You may call me at (207) 527-2021. – J. Kintz, Greenwood.

Answer: Sun Spots contacted ABC 8 WMTW and has been informed that the program is an ABC Networks Program. ABC gets to decide which ones to run or not. It appears they are in the middle of sweeps and ABC typically chooses what they believe are stronger programs. “Complete Savages” has not been officially canceled although it has been taken off the air for what appears to be the short term. The sweeps end mid-March and hopefully ABC will decide to keep the program on the air. You might want to consider contacting ABC to let them know how you feel about this. Their audience relations can be reached via post at ABC TV Networks, 77 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023, or via e-mail at [email protected].

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