Members of the Gorham Lions Club posted flags throughout town Sunday. Pictured, from left, are Jim Burnham, Ryan Irish, Ken Aldrich, Tom Bahun, Carl Phillips, Bill Thomas and Wayne Franklin. Contributed / Gorham Lions
Lions post flags
As has been its mission for a number of years, the Gorham Lions raised 100 Stars and Stripes on utility poles in partnership with the town of Gorham on May 23.
Gorham Recreation Department purchased enough new flags to enable the Lions to complete their task and Carl Phillips of Phillips Towing provided the truck and lift.
Memorial Day parade
The annual Memorial Day parade returns this year on Monday, May 31, after falling victim to the pandemic last year.
The parade will form on Lincoln Street at 10 a.m. and step off at 11 a.m. It will proceed along South and Main streets, concluding at Eastern Cemetery at the corner of Main Street and Johnson Road for a ceremony.
Col. Stuart A. Pettis, who is the chief of Space Operations Integration, Headquarters Space Force, will be the special speaker. Pettis oversees integration between U.S. Space Force, Office of the Secretary of Defense, joint staff and other agencies, according to information posted by Gorham Parks & Recreation.
Pettis also oversees professional development for more than 1,500 Space Force space operations officers.
Prior to this assignment, Pettis served on the Secretary of the Air Force’s Space Force Planning Team, where he helped oversee the establishment of the new service and well as the Headquarters Space Force’s operations functions.
A career space operator, he has served in a variety of space operations and policy assignments at the Headquarters Space Force and Air Force.
Pettis has commanded Thule Air Base, the Air Force’s largest overseas installation, as well as the 1st Air Support Operations Squadron, where he also served as the Air Liaison Officer for the U.S. Army’s 1st Armored Division.
Between October 2007 and May 2008, he led the 1st Expeditionary Air Support Operations Squadron during the surge in Iraq.
Ridlon honored
Gorham High School alumnus Walt Ridlon was recently selected as the American Legion Department of Maine’s educator of the year for 2020. He was nominated by the Legion’s Naples-Casco-Raymond Memorial Post 155.
He’ll be presented with the award at the 102nd annual state convention on June 12 in Brewer. He’s the student services coordinator at the Lake Region Vocational Center in Naples.
Ridlon graduated from Gorham High School in 1963 and was a standout player on the basketball team that won the state’s L Division championship that year.
Taste Walk
Taste Walk will take on a bit of a different format this year, but organizers say it still will be the fun, community-building event it always has been.
Pick up a map from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, June 6, at a cost of $5 a walker, at Robie Gym on South Street. Walk around Gorham, visit each of the businesses on the map and collect giveaways or take photos.
At the end, maps can be entered to win raffle prizes from Gorham Sand & Gravel, MK Kitchen, the Blue Pig, Carter’s Green Market and others.
Taste Walk benefits Young Life Sebago, an outreach program for high and middle school students. Proceeds help send students to Young Life summer camp for “adventure, friendship and meaningful conversations about life,” its website says.
For more information, visit sebago.younglife.org.
50 years ago
Mrs. Guy Messenger was recuperating in her home on South Street following surgery at Maine Medical Center, The American Journal reported on May 26, 1971.
U.S. taxpayer debt
The Bureau of the Fiscal Service reported on May 20 that the U.S. public debt was $28,023,368,939,277.47.
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