My Portland Connections

Even though I grew up in Yarmouth and lived there until I married, I also have as strong a connection to Portland, Maine. I was born in Portland and had my tonsils out in a hospital there when I was eight yrs. old. I finished the last two years of college at the University of Maine at Portland-Gorham (POGO) or USM as it is now called. I met my husband in Portland and started my first career in Portland at the Portland Public Library's Jane L. Burbank Branch on Pleasant Ave. I remained at PPL for ten years, leaving after the first birthday of my daughter, who was also born in Portland.

My family has connections to Portland. My Great Grandfather owned a house on Valley St. across from the stairway which descended from the top of the Western Promenade to the Valley St. sidewalk. My mother grew up in Westbrook, but after she graduated from Westbrook High School, she moved into her grandfather's house which now belonged to her father.

At different times during my school years, I traveled to Portland to visit my grandparents, to shop, go to the movies and to visit Hays Drugstore to enjoy an ice cream soda, just as Noah and Annie did. At one time my father's brother-in-law owned the Puritan Diner in Portland on Congress St. where my father helped out when he was younger. The summer after I finished my first year of high school, I volunteered at a medical laboratory on Pleasant Ave. just up the street from the Burbank Branch Library. At that time in my life, I thought I wanted to have a career in medical research.

Portland, Maine is probably my all-time favorite city. It is varied in its people, varied in its food, varied in its educational and religious institutions and has managed to respect its history. I love that city.