Features

On April 16, 1993, 19-year-old volunteer firefighter Mike Drake had just arrived at a burning building in Bath when someone said a baby was inside. Drake grabbed a ladder and raced to an upstairs window. Once inside, he plucked the 18-month-old girl out of her crib before hustling back down.

"My sister, Mary Patricia, and I grew up on the east side of Lowell's Cove with my grandfather and grandmother, John and Mary Tibbetts. My grandfather was related to everybody over there. When I was old enough, maybe 7 or 8 years old, I started working on the lobster boat, like young boys did at that time and still do."

A new coloring book for all ages features landmarks and wildlife from throughout Harpswell, each page hand-drawn by an illustrator who grew up on the islands.

You know summer is just around the corner when boys and girls begin gathering at the Trufant-Summerton Athletic Field on Great Island for another season of baseball.

The Grammy-winning pianist Paul Sullivan performed to a full house at Islands Community Church on Bailey Island on May 2. The church put on the concert in memory of Jean Johnson, a member and volunteer who died when she was struck by a vehicle in January.

There was steady rain throughout Memorial Day observances in Harpswell this year, but roughly 50 people turned out with raincoats and umbrellas to watch the parade and ceremony in Harpswell Center.

When Elijah Kellogg Church asked the Rev. Joseph Connolly to serve as interim pastor, neither the church nor Connolly expected the temporary post to last four years.

Sarah Milner isn't sure when her journey as a writer began, but when she gained traction on her first novel — a "paranormal romance" set largely in Harpswell — she learned that every writer's journey is different and personal. Like many writers, she learned the hard way.

"My stepfather ran gas stations all his life. He was old style, where you'd go in and someone would pump your gas, check your oil, wash your windshield. When it was slow at the pumps, he'd show me how to work on the cars in the garage. Growing up, my friends and I had cars, and we'd do our own work."

The humanitarian crisis in Cuba may not resonate with Americans who feel whiplashed by conflicts and crises around the globe and at home. But one Harpswell woman who first crossed the 90 miles between Cuba and Florida years ago recently returned to help people whose basic necessities are disappearing under the U.S. oil embargo imposed in January.