A class reunion

The 1936 Deering High School class had its 71st reunion at July 28 Verrillo’s Restaurant, Riverside Street, Portland, with 27 present. Reunion Committee members are Harold Griffith, Eleanor Berry Beal, Anne Blanchard Foote, Betty Halloran Kennedy, Jane Drew Sampson and Alicia Wilbur Watson.

Hal greeted the guests, and John Jezzi, who attends each year with his wife, gave the invocation. It included a silent prayer for members who passed away this year, Dr. Richard Abbott and Virginia Gribben Winslow. We also included Jane Drew Sampson’s, husband, Stanley, who passed away July 15. He attended our reunions with Jane, and gave the invocation for us in years past.

At the luncheon we ordered from the menu. Among the popular choices were baked scallops and lobster rolls. It was an excellent luncheon held in a section of the main dining room. The service was very good, too.

Present were Phyllis Gordon Verilli, her daughter and a friend; “Jane Sampson; Marjorie Corson and daughter; Robert McDonald; John Jezzi and wife; Madge Frost and husband; Celia Galli Mooney; Winnie Marsters; Gertrude McLeod Harvey; Florence Morris; Betty Wark; Madeline Griffith; Frances Zemla Swasey; Gilbert Marks and daughter Suzanne,; Beatrice Straw and daughter; and all the committee members.

Robert McDonald amazed our table members. He had left his home, near Schenectady, N.Y., driving alone, at 7 a.m. to attend this reunion, and then afterward he was to drive back that same day. What dedication! Some of us just drive short distances these days. Also John Jezzi and wife came down from Rumford. Phyllis Verilli came on from Connecticut, with her daughter and a friend.

I had a call from Shirley Sears Cunningham, who now lives in Keene, N.H., after many years in Hanover. Her son, who lives nearby, was in Cape Cod. Shirl called Amtrak, but would have had to get to Exeter for a train to Portland. Then she thought of riding a bus, but the one that would connect with Portland goes first to Springfield, then into Boston, and they told Shirl that eight hours later it arrives in Portland. Shirl says that it takes only three hours to drive from Keene to Portland. Good try, Shirl, and we missed you.

Now comes another chance. Those present indicated that they would enjoy a meeting next July, too, and we tentatively are thinking of the same place, same time. I hope that we’ll again have a good turnout. It was such fun to socialize. At our table we even recalled our days in elementary schools. It was a very pleasant occasion.

Declining loon population

I read in the July 23 Boston Herald that in New Hampshire’s census, volunteers are finding empty nests and lower numbers of loons. Last year’s final census numbers showed the state was home to about 600 loons. The population has dropped about 44 percent in the past four years. “They’re a threatened bird in New Hampshire ,” said Rachel Williams of the Loon Preservation Committee. The group has not identified a cause for the decline, though development and warmer weather are suspected.

My March-April copy of the Guillemot newsletter, sent to me by Joan Ashley, reported that very few of our “winter” loons remained in March and April. Red-throated were off Scarborough on April 1, at Biddeford Pool on April 18 and Phippsburg on April 19. On March 10 there was a Pacific loon off Parsons Beach in Kennebunk. Common loons appeared on fresh water as soon as the ice went out. Many of them remain along the coast into May.

The Audubon Guide to North American Birds describes the cry of the common loons : “Wild maniacal laugh, also a mournful yodeled oo-AH-ho with the middle note higher, and a loud ringing kee-a-ree, kee-a-ree, with the middle note lower. Often their calls are heard at night. Habitat: Forested lakes and rivers; oceans and bays in winter.”

Years ago when I visited my sister Jane and her husband Merrill Luthe, at their camp at Watchic Lake, Standish, one of the things we listened for was the cry of the loons out on the lake. Jane and I canoed near the swamp and heard more of the cries.

While at my Deering High School class reunion last week I sat near Suzanne Groover of Steep Falls, the daughter of our classmate Gil Marks. She assured me that there are still loons this summer on Watchic Lake.

If any of you have summer places near lakes and ponds, I’d like to hear about loons in your areas.

Oscar’s predictions

Another article in the Boston Herald interested me. In the July 26 issue, an article by the Associated Press had a picture of a handsome cat named Oscar, making his rounds at a Providence, R.I, nursing home.

He has an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, and he curls up with them during their final hours. Many family members are notified, and take some solace from it and appreciate the companionship the cat provides for their dying loved ones.

The 2-year-old was adopted as a kitten and grew up in a third-floor dementia unit at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. After about six months, the staff noticed that Oscar was making his own rounds, just like the doctors and nurses.

He’d sniff and observe patients, then sit beside people who would die in a few hours. A doctor at Brown University said she was convinced of the cat’s talent when he made his 13th correct call. She said that Oscar is better at predicting death than the people who work there.

Oscar is described as a sweet-faced, gray-and-white cat. He is not friendly to people, but takes his work seriously and is generally aloof. The Boston Herald picture of Oscar looks like a cat you’d like to cuddle. But it is Oscar who does that, and cuddles beside those dying patients.

What an unusual story!

Summer refresher

Today’s recipe is from a paperback I own, “Marge Dahnke’s Salad Bowl,” 1954. The picture of the salad is in color, pretty and enticing.

DOUBLE MELON SALAD

1 cantaloupe

Leaf lettuce

2 cups watermelon balls

1-1/2 cups honeydew melon balls

Sprigs of mint

Sherry mayonnaise

Slice the cantaloupe into rings about an inch thick. Peel each ring and place on lettuce on a salad plate. Fill each ring with watermelon and honeydew balls. Garnish with sprigs of mint. Serve with mayonnaise. (I don’t have any sherry mayonnaise, but will use the mayonnaise I usually use for salads and stuffed eggs, etc.)

Ramblings

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