April 10, 1991

The Westbrook Maine Hardware store, an institution in downtown Westbrook for decades, will closed its doors for good 60 days from Friday. “It was a situation where we were not profitable in that location,” said Peter Zimmerman of Cape Elizabeth, president of Maine Hardware. The company will continue its Portland, Biddeford and Brunswick stores. A slowdown in the pace of building construction in this area has been a factor, said Zimmerman.

You can’t mention God in a graduation ceremony, but you can hold a graduation-week church service, Westbrook ministers told the School Committee Monday. Based on their protest, the committee agreed to review May 13 its recent decision to overturn long tradition and ban a church convocation during Westbrook High School’s graduation period this year. Banning the convocation was recommended by Superintendent Edward Connolly and Principal William Michaud. Connolly said yesterday they are both rethinking that advice. Terry Grover, a Westbrook lawyer representing the Westbrook Baptist Church, told the School Committee that their advice goes beyond the meaning of the court case on which it’s based. The case came out of Rhode Island.

The town of Gorham has asked an engineering firm to assess the condition of its leaky Municipal Center building. Options for repairing the roof will be considered, as well. That the roof is “leaking like a sieve” in a storm is obvious, said Town Manager Paul Weston. He recalled Election Day 1990: the morning of Nov. 3, when Town Clerk Brenda Caldwell and Assistant Town Clerk Connie Loughran arrived at work and discovered a steady drip of rainwater directly above Loughran’s typewriter. Weston reported that one engineer has also questioned the structural integrity of the second floor of the building.

Westbrook’s ongoing 100th anniversary celebration continues April 10 with a show, “Centennial Capers,” in the Westbrook High School auditorium. Different nationalities have joined together to illustrate how, from separate cultures, we have become one. A lobby display, “Olde Westbrook,” will have roughly 100 pictures of families, churches, clubs recreations and will be an inviting entry to the performance.

A new new-car dealership opened in Westbrook last week – Norman-David Lincoln-Mercury-Isuzu. It occupies the building at 140 Larrabee Road erected 10 years ago by Norman Greenberg when he moved his Norman Lincoln-Mercury dealership there from Portland. In 1988 he sold the dealership back to the factory, which assigned a dealer-development-program manager to run it. That arrangement did not work out so Greenberg, now retired and living in Old Orchard Beach, is a partner in the new dealership with David R. Kennerson of Raymond, who formerly was general manager at Norman Lincoln-Mercury. Kennerson is managing dealer of the new business.

Stephanie May, 13, of South Street in Gorham, has a mare, Trooper, who is the same age as her. The retired racehorse when 10 when Stephanie got her. She and her mother, Audrey, worked with Trooper so Stephanie could ride her. Now, Stephanie does gymkhana classes, which is racing around barrels, and sometimes grabbing flags in buckets or barrels until the finish line is reached. She has won second place for ages 13 and under. She is in the Standardbred Pleasure Horse Organization and shows Trooper in the pleasure class for walking and trotting.

April 11, 2001

Westbrook’s Public Works Department now plans to have its annual large-item pickup the week of April 30, a week later than originally planned, because snow was so late melting that most people’s spring cleanup has not yet begun.

Marianne Guerin is back in the oil spill (and other) cleanup business. As owner-president of the newly formed firm, Guerin Associates, she has opened in the former Gorham Sheet Metal Shop building. From 1991-1996, she was the owner of the Gorham-based Pollution Control Services. She sold it to North American Industrial Services, which moved it to Westbrook. Both Marianne and her husband, Marc, stayed working for the new owner. Tragedy struck Nov. 15, when Marc was killed in an industrial accident in Old Orchard Beach. North American subsequently closed its environmental division and Marianne declined their job offer to work in New York. Now, her business has six employees and they’re “looking to grow,” she said.

Westbrook’s Ashley Pooler, 15, is keeping at it. She ran a benefit supper. Now comes a benefit walk. They are steps toward her goal of raising $10,000 in memory of someone she never met but grew to admire – Michael Cuccione, who died at age 16 but became an MTV star during his seven-year fight against Hodgkin’s disease. He played a role in “2gether,” an MTV series about a fictional boy band.

Al and Lucille Waite, 117 Pride St., Westbrook, were surprised recently with a 50th wedding anniversary party in the Prides Corner Congregational Church. Alwyn Waite and Lucille Naylor were married June 10, 1950, in the Westbrook United Methodist Church. The party was given by their sons and daughters-in-law, Daniel and Donna Waite, Westbrook, and Peter and Diane Waite, Casco, and their seven grandchildren.

Changes at Wescott Junior High School ($28 million) and its next-door neighbor Congin Elementary School ($3.5 million) are asked in a state application going before the Westbrook School Committee for its approval April 11. All other Westbrook schools have been updated in a cycle that began with Prides Corner School in 1989. Michael Kane, assistant superintendent, who has been managing building improvements in recent years, said he thinks they will meet the needs of the next 30 years.

Baxter Memorial Library in Gorham has a full slate of children’s activities on tap to celebrate National Library Week. Liz McDorr, children’s librarian, said they will have four days of art-related activities for children kindergarten through Grade 6 during the April school vacation.

This is how the old S.D. Warren stockhouse building looked before it was sold and renovated into a commercial building with a restaurant and shops, at 506 Main St. To see more historical photos and artifacts, visit the Westbrook Historical Society at the Fred C. Wescott Building, 426 Bridge St. It is open Tuesdays and Saturdays, 9 a.m.-noon, and the first Wednesday of each month at 1:30 p.m., September-June. Inquiries can be emailed to [email protected]. The website is www.westbrookhistoricalsociety.org. Photo and research courtesy of Mike Sanphy