WESTBROOK – Twenty-five years ago, in November 1988, Westbrook Mayor Phillip Spiller led the first Maine citizen diplomats to Archangel, Russia, where a sister-city relationship was formed, and officially backed the following April by 11 greater Portland communities.

This week, a group of delegates from Archangel traveled to greater Portland to celebrate the silver anniversary, which included official ceremonies at the Westbrook Performing Arts Center, as well as the dedication of a tree in Riverbank Park.

On Tuesday, Nov. 18, the official day marking the anniversary, Westbrook Mayor Colleen Hilton introduced Maine Gov. Paul LePage as he welcomed the Russian visitors.

“Maine has a longstanding friendship with Russia, and today we celebrate our longstanding friendship with Archangel,” LePage said to the group gathered at the Westbrook auditiorium.

LePage added that the relationship between the two regions is significant because of the friendships formed between the people of each country, and not necessarily the politics of each government.

“Often all you hear about is the differences between governments, but when you step foot in Russia, you become Russian,” he said to the Russian delegation. “I hope that when you step foot in America, you feel American.”

Archangel Vice Mayor Vladimir Garmashov said that he and his fellow Russian visitors feel at home here. He also relayed some important history behind the two regions, and a strong reason for why the friendship was formed. During World War II, when Russia was under attack from Nazi Germany, convoys of merchant ships from America delivered much-needed food, medicine, fuel and other supplies to the port of Archangel. Most of these American convoys formed up and sailed from Casco Bay.

“The history is important, and I’m glad that our younger generations are keen to know more about their sister city,” Garmashov said through an interpreter.

The Westbrook wind ensemble and chamber singers performed during the ceremony, and young people from the Archangel delegation, as well as a group of students from the civil rights team at South Portland’s Mahoney Middle School, spoke during the event.

Phillip Spiller Jr., son of the former Westbrook mayor, who died in 2005, spoke to the importance and lasting legacy of his father’s diplomatic efforts. Spiller Sr. signed the original agreement to support the relationship.

Spiller Jr., who is now a U.S. Navy reserve commander, told the audience about a dinner that his father hosted when the first Archangel delegation came to Maine in 1989. Spiller, who now lives at that same home in Westbrook, shared an excerpt from his father’s diary about the evening.

“My father was deeply honored to host that dinner,” he said. “If my father was here today, I’m sure he’d be proud of the anniversary of this historic partnership. It’s one of the most active U.S-Russian partnerships today.”

According to a Nov. 23, 1988, story in the American Journal, Mayor Spiller and Daniel Glover, president of the Greater Portland Archangel Committee, “returned from a week of honors in the northern Russian port of Archangel and committed Westbrook to sharing in a sister city partnership with Archangel. The resolution adopted by the municipal officers parallels one adopted by the Archangel City Council, and extends an invitation to Archangel to become a Sister City “

According to the article, the sister city program is “a formalized program inaugurated by President Eisenhower in 1956 to establish greater friendship and understanding between the United States and other nations through direct personal contact.”

Programs between the cities include a bankruptcy/commercial law delegation, led by Greater Portland Archangel committee member Ray Pelletier, in 2004; and, in 2007, “America Week” was hosted by the Archangel city administration. The centerpiece of “America Week” was a large exhibition of photographs and paintings carried to Archangel by the Maine delegation.

A high school exchange program, which was previously postponed due to inadequate funding, was revived in 2011.

On Tuesday morning, the Russian delegation, including Garmashov, visited the site in Westbrook’s Riverbank Park where a ceremonial tree was planted in honor of the anniversary. A plaque commemorating the event rests where the tree was planted.

“This white birch tree celebrates and is dedicated to the 25 years of trust, friendship and peace between the people of Archangel, Russia and Greater Portland, Maine, USA,” the plaque reads.

Dennis Marrotte, who is a vice chairman of the Greater Portland Archangel Committee, a volunteer committee that has established exchange and other programs between the sister cities, said that in 1988, there were a number of birch trees planted in Archangel in honor of each American delegate, which are still there.

“This one is for the next 25 years,” he said.

The interpretor for Archangel Vice Mayor Vladimir Garmashov, left, and Phillip Spiller Jr., a Navy Reserve commander, share the podium Monday at the sister city celebration. Spiller’s father, a former Westbrook mayor, helped found the relationship with Archangel.On Tuesday, Westbrook Mayor Colleen Hilton and Garmashov read a commemorative plaque at the base of a birch tree planted in Westbrook’s Riverbank Park.

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