150th Anniversary Meeting, March 16, 2024. The meeting starts at 11 am with a ham dinner at noon. Please RSVP for the meal by calling 207-998-2301 or email Steve Verrill. The program will start at 1 pm and will consist of a history of the Grange, a presentation of membership certificates, and music by Kathy Hammond, a local entertainer. Pictures and other memorabilia will be on display.
Excelsior Grange #5 is located at 446 Harris Hill Road, Poland ME
Basil Clements receives his eighty-year certificate
“That’s a lot of years,” Basil said when he received his certificate from Maine State Grange Communications Director Walter Boomsma in a “sort of” Grange Meeting held at Emilio Estates in Corinth. While distance has prevented active involvement, Basil speaks of his Grange membership every day, and his room is decorated with certificates and Grange memorabilia.
Front Row: RN Breanna, Basil Clements Back Row: Walter Boomsma, with Valley Grange Members Janice Boomsma, Mary Annis, and Jim Annis
The “sort of” meeting was attended by a support team from Valley Grange, several of Basil’s nurses and Emilio staff, a niece and her husband, and at least one resident of Emilio Estates. Boomsma explained that since circumstances have put some distance between Basil and his home Grange in Castine, Valley Grange has adopted him. “But we aren’t charging you dues.” Basil noted proudly that, as a Golden Sheaf (fifty-year) member, he hasn’t paid dues for some years but recalled when he did pay them, they charge was $1.25 per year. He also wasn’t sure when he last attended a meeting.
“So we brought a meeting to you,” Boomsma explained, conducting some of the opening and closing ritual, including the familiar Grange Salutation. During the meeting, Basil’s nurse, Breanna Bowman, was also presented with a special Certificate of Appreciation for her assistance with the meeting preparations and support. “You demonstrate Grange Values, and we are now considering you an ‘almost’ Granger.”
In good Grange fashion, the event included some socializing. When the event ended, Boomsma noted, “We’re Grangers. This is what we do. We take care of our communities, and we take care of each other.”
Those who would like to send Basil a card of congratulations may do so by addressing it to Basil Clements, Emilio Estates, 65 W Corinth Road, Corinth, ME 04427. He first joined the Grange on March 20, 1943 and will begin his 81st year soon!
The artwork is by Larry Bailey, Master of the St George Grange. The Grange invites all to celebrate our Veterans by joining the St George Odd Fellows on Saturday, November 11, 2023, from 5 pm until sold out. This will be a sit-down Bean Supper at the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Saint George Lodge #132, 7 Elementary School Road, Tenants Harbor, Maine 04860. Takeout will be available. Veterans eat free! Others by donation.
The Fourth of July – also known as Independence Day or July 4th – has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941; but the tradition of Independence Day celebrations goes back to the 18th century and the American Revolutionary War.
On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted in favor of independence. Two days later, delegates from the 13 colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, a historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson.
The Declaration of Independence allowed Congress to seek alliances with foreign countries, and the fledgling U.S. formed its most important alliance early in 1778 with France. Without France’s support, America might well have lost the Revolutionary War.
The war waged by the American colonies against Britain, which began more than a year earlier in April 1775 at Lexington and Concord near Boston, would eventually end when British forces surrendered in Yorktown, Virginia. Yet the Declaration and America’s victory had far-reaching effects around the globe as other nations saw a small novel nation win its freedom from the greatest military force of its time.
From 1776 to today, July 4th has been celebrated as the birth of American independence with festivities ranging from fireworks, parades and concerts to more casual family gatherings and barbecues. This year’s Independence Day will be on Tuesday, July 4, 2023.
Reprinted with permission from a newsletter published by Senator Stacey Guerin, District 4.
