Jan. 26, 1994

A report from S. D. Warren mill sources is that Scott Paper Co. directors will be meeting in Philadelphia today and making a decision about the Westbrook pulp mill that will be announced in Westbrook on Friday. The pulp mill employs about 200 people directly, and other jobs depend on it. Scott has already announced the end of Warren’s sheeting operations, which cuts rolls of paper for sheet-fed presses.

Pay more and/or get less, School Superintendent Edward Connolly is telling Westbrook. He will ask the School Committee tonight what direction it wants him to take as he prepares the 1994-95 budget. “It’s a tough choice,” he said, blaming falling enrollments and rising costs. State aid will go up, but not as much as he hoped, and Raymond will pay less in tuition for the students it sends. Meanwhile, he says in a memo to the board, “our committed expenditures outstrip present and projected revenues.”

An improperly installed chimney was the cause of a fire that destroyed the home of Dennis and Debbie Racine on Weeks Road in Gorham early Friday morning, according to Fire Chief Robert Lefebvre. Fire detectors woke up the family, which included four children. Because the temperature was 10 to 20 degrees below zero, Lefebvre said, “we had to keep rotating teams in and out of a school bus we had on the scene. We had to keep them warm.” The house is 11 or 12 years old. The family is staying with relatives.

Members of Gorham’s business community have formed a new group to provide a link between business and municipal government. The Gorham Business and Civic Exchange, founded by members of the Gorham branch of the Chamber of Commerce of the Greater Portland Region, held an organizational meeting Jan. 13 with more than 30 business and municipal representatives attending. “There is a need for a business voice in local government,” said Dr. Joseph Kerwin, Gorham chamber president and first president of the new group. “Transportation issues like the flow of traffic through Gorham Village are very important to the business community.”

Westbrook twins Wilton F. Chick, 615 Saco St., and Willard F. Chick, 28 Sargent St., were honored at a surprise 85th birthday party held Nov. 14 at Willard’s residence. Wilton and his wife Eleanor have two sons, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Willard and his wife Helene have two daughters, a stepdaughter, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Jan. 28, 2004

For three years, Donna Conley and her husband, Norm, have been compiling a list of Westbrook’s dead. And finally, they have all the names compiled in a book that will be used as a resource for years to come. “Call me crazy, but it’s like they’re being remembered, and I think that’s the whole point,” said Donna. The Conleys’ book lists the names of every person buried in one of Westbrook’s 23 cemeteries. The volume contains some 20,000 names and 2,500 surnames. They plan to give a copy to the Walker Memorial Library, Warren Memorial Library and Westbrook Historical Society.

Enduring a cold January night strapped to a steeple, two men from the First Parish Church in Gorham clung to the hope that their vigil would draw attention to a drop-off in donations for the community’s food pantry. It worked. While the Rev. Rick Small, 58, of Windham, associate minister at the church, and Erick Smith, 27, director of Christian education, braved the elements for 24 hours on the ledge, people piled 8,200 pounds of food in the church vestibule. With feet on the ground Saturday at noon, the two rejoiced hearing the results, and a big public turnout greeted them as they descended.

The Congin School is the first to receive money from a state program designed to encourage more energy efficiency in schools. The Congin renovation project, under construction now in Westbrook, received an $84,000 grant. The new school will have high efficiency motors in all the fans in the heating system, a premium efficiency burner system, and skylights and windows with light shelves in every classroom that will reflect sunlight into the room. “This is going to be a special school,” said Assistant Superintendent Michael Kane, who oversees the construction and maintenance of all the city’s schools.

Tickets are now on sale for the Westbrook Inaugural Gala, Saturday, Jan. 31, at the Centurion banquet facility on Larrabee Road. The event will celebrate the inauguration of Mayor Bruce Chuluda. There will be a buffet dinner, cash bar and dancing to the music of the Bob Charest Band.

This photo shows the original St. Hyacinth Church that was built on Brown Street in 1879. The building to the right is St. Hyacinth School, which was built on Walker Street in 1893. A small cemetery once occupied the site where the school is located. The bodies were moved in 1883 to the present-day St. Hyacinth Cemetery on Stroudwater Street. The old church was closed on Oct. 18, 1942, and the new St. Hyacinth Church celebrated its first Mass on Oct. 25, 1942.  The old church was later razed.