Maine Memory Network

An enjoyable conference, Portland 2021
by John C. Decker, Danville, Pennsylvania

Some snippets from a 4-day conference by transportation historians in Portland, September 7-11, 2021

The Joys of Kayaking - Pam's Story
by Pam Ferris-Olson

Pam has kayaked in many special places but her fondest memories are being made on Casco Bay

Vegetarians and Zoonosis
by Avery Yale Kamila

Colds, influenza, tuberculosis, measles, smallpox, plague and COVID-19 group under zoonotic diseases

Portland in the 1940s
by Carol Norton Hall

As a young woman in Portland during WWII, the presence of servicemen was life changing.

The only letter to survive World War II
by Cyrene Slegona

Only one of many letters my father sent to his wife remained after he came home from World War II.

"Mama sings 'get your hands up'": Maria's Diary June 2020
by Maria

Maria, 7 years old, records impressions of staying with her grandparents in Somesville in June 2020.

Where are the French?
by Rhea Côté Robbins

Franco-Americans in Maine

A Note from a Maine-American
by William Dow Turner

With 7 generations before statehood, and 5 generations since, Maine DNA carries on.

A Maine Family's story of being Prisoners of War in Manila
by Nicki Griffin

As a child, born after the war, I would hear these stories - glad they were finally written down

The Wall
by Michael Uhl

What it means to have beaten the odds

My father, Earle Ahlquist, served during World War II
by Earlene Chadbourne

Earle Ahlquist used his Maine common sense during his Marine service and to survive Iwo Jima

A first encounter with Bath and its wonderful history
by John Decker

Visiting the Maine Maritime Museum as part of a conference

Pandemic ruminations and the death of Rose Cleveland
by Tilly Laskey

Correlations between the 1918 and 2020 Pandemics

John Coyne from Waterville Enlists as a Railroad Man in WWI
by Mary D. Coyne

Description of conditions railroad men endured and family background on John Coyne.

History of Forest Gardens
by Gary Libby

This is a history of one of Portland's oldest local bars