100 Years Ago: 1924

Two Wiscasset hunters reported several days ago the finding of a carcass of a cow moose near the end of Chewanki Neck. This report was half true. The carcass was that of a cow all right but of the common barn yard variety, we understand it was a Jersey. How about it Bunny?

50 Years Ago: 1974

Five watercolors of Maine winter scenes hang in the city building office of Lewiston Mayor John C. Orestis, the works of art loaned by the William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum, in Rockland. The mayor’s office has been an art gallery of sorts since this summer. So far, the paintings have been loaned from private collections in the area and by Treat Gallery at Bates College.

25 Years Ago: 1999

Edwin Jordan of Turner knew that by consenting to experimental brain surgery, he was literally putting his life in someone else’s hands. Jordan believed he had no real choice, though. His hands shook so uncontrollably he was losing the ability to care for himself. The 63-year-old former truck driver couldn’t drink from a cup or open his heart medicine containers, and no amount of medication could calm the spasmodic shaking from a condition called essential tremors.

“I couldn’t even eat. I’d put more food on the floor than in my mouth, and the dog would get it,” Jordan said. “Now, the dog don’t have it so good.”

That’s because in an operation done last Tuesday by Dr. Joel Franck at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, a pacemaker was connected to the thalamus, a section of the brain whose malfunctions cause shaking. When Jordan feels the tremors building inside, such as when he gets excited or nervous, he can turn on the pacemaker and turn off the shakes.

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