100 Years Ago: 1924

Wilfred and Eugene Mailette, aged 7 and 5 years, were last seen at about 2 o’clock Monday afternoon. They are sons of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Mailette who came here some four week ago from Lewiston Mr. Mailette being employed on the fire station construction job here.

The children asked their mother Monday if they could go sailing on the river in a pasteboard box which they had found. She told them that the box was just made of paper and would not hold them and warned them not to attempt such a hazardous play. The children seemed to understand and went off to amuse themselves as she supposed in other ways.

When the boys failed to return for supper, the mother went in search and could find no trace of the children.

When night came and no trace of me boys had been found, the family became genuinely alarmed and summoned help.

A posse was organized this morning consisting of Company B of the militia, the local troop of boy scouts, the fire department, local officers and many volunteers among citizens.

50 Years Ago: 1974

Was it a UFO?

Sunday morning, Mrs. Ruth McLeod of 46 Fourth St., notified Auburn police that while she and three others were driving home late Saturday night they spotted what she termed an unidentified flying object on Route 197 at the Litchfield – Richmond intersection.

Mrs. McLeod said the flying object displayed a long row of red lights and hovered over the area for a considerable amount of time. It then left the area but returned shortly thereafter, she said.
The New Auburn resident said this was the second time within a month this type of flying object has been seen. The latest sighting occurred between 11:30 p.m. and midnight Saturday.

With Mrs. McLeod were her daughter Mrs. Mary Fisher and her daughter, Patty, and Mrs. McLeod’s daughter-in-law, Margaret McLeod of Portland.

25 Years Ago: 1999

At age 19, Troy Mills already has three directing credits under his belt and there’s more theater on his horizon. Sometimes juggling school work or three jobs with 50 hours of play preparation, he says he does it for the purest of reasons: It’s fun.

“I’m not one to stay home and veg; I’d rather be keeping busy,” he said. “I do it because I like it and the kids have fun.”

Mills held auditions for his newly formed River Valley Creative Youth Theater Group in Rumford this summer, drawing 30 local teens and pre-teens. Twenty-four made the cut, reciting monologues, interviewing with Mills and putting up some money to get the first play, “Laffin’ School,” off the ground.

The material used in Looking Back is produced exactly as it originally appeared although misspellings and errors may be corrected.