the ogunquit breeze
TRANSCRIPT
THE OGUNQUIT BREEZEA MONTHLY EMAIL NEWSLETTER FOR THE COMMUNITY
F R O M T H E O GUNQUIT RESIDENTS ALLIANCE
June 2021, Issue No. #7
Special Town Meeting ResultsRobert Whitelaw and Scott Vogel join the SelectBoardCarole Aaron and Kate Mitsch are elected to BudgetReview CommitteeFred Lynk remains our KKW Water District rep Priscilla Botsford continues on the Sewer DistrictMichelle Tourangeau is elected to School BoardOverall Town Budget passesConservation Fund gets $25,000 (only) Term Limits for Planning Board passesLighting ordinance passes
Welcome Fire Chief Russell Osgood &Harbormaster Erin Gott
CONTENTS:
Town News
Bob Winn Scholarship Winners
Music in the Park
Historic Preservation Commisssion Event
Judson Dunaway & Our Community Center
The Marginal Way
How the Flag Got Its Colors
Barn Gallery Opening
Library Story Hour for Kids
Fuel Initiative Reminder
Music in the ParkJake Roche and Friends
June 27th 5:30-7PM
Dorothea Grant Common
Town News
June is Gay Pride
Monthsee the story of the flag
on page 4
Bob Winn ScholarshipWinners
Jacob Michaud will bestudying ComputerScience and participatingin Track & Field atUniversity of Maine, Orono
Heaven Conley will bestudying ElementaryEducation at Universityof Southerm Maine
Join the Historic PreservationCommission Workshop
Identifying Architectural Styles and Featuresof Ogunquit
June 23rd at 11amZoom link will be on Town website See flyer
December 4, 1974: A letter from S. Judson Dunaway to OgunquitTown Manager Arthur R. Clark begins: “I’d like to take thisopportunity to express my sincerest thanks to you, the TownFathers, the various committees, and the people of Ogunquitfor the wonderful dedication of the Judson DunawayCommunity Center. It was truly impressive and shall live inmy memory as the highlight of my life.”
Sanford Judson Dunaway’s life began on June 11, 1890 inStanardsville, Virginia. He grew up in Leestown, West Virginiawhere he clerked at his father’s country store and worked at alocal farm. One of eight children, he had only 6 years of formaleducation in a one room schoolhouse where he worked as thejanitor.
Judson Dunaway believed in improving the quality ofpeople’s lives by sharing his wealth and, through theDunaway Foundation, supported a variety of entities thatwould benefit from his help. Churches, schools, universitiesas well as towns were all recipients of funds designated forconstruction of libraries, athletic fields, hospital wings and,in Ogunquit’s case, a Community Center.
On July 7, 1949 Dunaway purchased a home on Israel HeadRoad in Ogunquit from Mabel M. Kennedy and Edna Mason.He moved into the house with his second wife, Rena Gowen,whom he had married on April 16, 1949 as his first wife haddied in 1947. His daughters Helen Lucille and Mary Elizabethwere joined by Rena’s daughter, Barbara. First using thehouse in the summers, he eventually moved to Ogunquitpermanently, and, as he had done in Dover, becameinterested and active in the town.
The culmination of his interest in the welfare of the citizensof Ogunquit came when he approached the town fatherswith a plan to donate $250,000 for construction of a buildingwhose use would be as a community center for thetownspeople. After the Board of Overseers of the OgunquitVillage Corporation agreed and the citizens approved theplan at a special town meeting on February 11, 1974,construction soon began in March of 1974. Built by LittlefieldBrothers of North Berwick, it was completed in November.
His 1974 letter concludes: “The donor does not wish tohave nor should he have any say in the operation andmaintenance of the center. I would also like to point outthat it was not the intent of the donor that the townoffices be extended beyond the existing area. Theauditorium and recreation area should be preserved forthe use intended. Again, thanks for your cooperation.
Sincerely, S.Judson Dunaway"
S.Judson Dunaway died on March 3, 1976.
Faces & Places
Judson Dunaway Community Center
Judson Dunaway
Mr. Dunaway’s talent in sales management proved so successfulthat he never practiced law. In 1928 he became one of thefounders of the Expello Corporation, a manufacturer ofhousehold products such as Drano and Vanish. As a result, herelocated to Dover, New Hampshire with his first wife, AnnaWatson whom he had married in 1917 and their 2 daughters,Helen Lucille, born in 1919 and Mary Elizabeth, born in 1925.
Acquiring sole control of the company in 1934, he later changedthe name to the Judson Dunaway Corporation and built thesmall company into one of national proportions. Expanding hiscompany over the years, he decided to retire in 1958 when it waspurchased by the Drackett Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. Hisinterest and dedication to Dover was evident as he served asassistant mayor and was a member of the City Council from 1948to 1950.
After completing acorrespondence course inadvertising, he got a job in aprint shop in Philadelphia in1907, then transferred to NewYork City in 1909.
He completed his high schooleducation at night at theYMCA, then entered The NewYork Law School (eveningclasses) earning an LLBdegree in 1915.
In 1917 Dunaway signed upfor the draft for service inWorld War I, serving in Francebetween 1918 and 1919.
"Portrait of Jud" by Harmon Neill
The picturesque footpath, encompassing 12 acres, iscalled the “margin” as it borders the Atlantic Ocean andfollows along the edge of cliffs, sandy coves and tidalpools – a wild maritime shrubland habitat, dramaticpounding surf and a geological wonderland of exposedrock (the Kittery Formation) that reveals how this landwas created.
While we credit Josiah Chase for gifting the “Way” tothe Town, if it had it not been for the tenacity andforesight of Frederick Raymond Brewster, childhoodfriend of Chase, this path would not be open to thepublic today. Josiah Chase, Jr. (born 1840) was York’sonly commissioned officer in the Civil War, BatesCollege Graduate, lawyer, Deputy Collector of Customs,founder and director of York Shore Water Company,two term Maine legislator, and candidate for U.S.Senate. Beginning in 1887, Chase started buyingOgunquit shoreland and filed subdivision plans, leavingthe “Way” (an old well used path) as common space.
Brewster, an architect, served as Postmaster, overseerof the Ogunquit Village Corporation, and designer andbuilder of the Ogunquit Grammar School. He wasalarmed at the prospect of all the small lots next to theWay being sold by Chase to add cottages. Brewsterhounded Chase for years, finally convincing him in 1925to deed the Marginal Way to the OVC. Chase died justthree years later.
In 2006 the Select Board created the Marginal WayCommittee, realizing that surging tourism demanded amore concerted effort to protect the path than had beenprovided over the previous 80 years. The Board soughtvolunteers from the community to manage and preserveit for future generations. Today over 400,000 peoplewalk past our people counter every year.
Following in the footsteps of Ellen Tucerri and HelenHorn, Joan Griswold, Committee Chair, recently createda Strategic Plan emphasizing Public Safety, EcologicalHorticulture, Stewardship and Outreach. The MarginalWay's expenses are covered by a modest Town budget,small donations collected at the Light House and grantsfrom the Marginal Way Preservation Fund, plusthousands of volunteer hours.
Brewster petitioned the Town in 1942 to erect a bronzetablet to commemorate Josiah’s gift. The plaque wasinstalled five years later. However, the dedication in1947 was overshadowed by a major threat to localtourism – beach and water pollution caused by sewerpipes running directly out to sea untreated. Theensuing “purification system,” designed and built inless than a year at $37,000, is located in the 23’ replicalight house on the Marginal Way and continues as apumping station today. Tourist season saved!!!
Natural ResourcesThe Marginal Way
Continued
"On the Rocks" by Mabel Mae Woodward 1925
F.R. Brewster (right) and Josiah Chase's daughters
Walking on the path toward Oarweed Cove, circa 1930
The flag was made for the Gay Freedom Pride Parade in SanFrancisco at the request of Harvey Milk. Milk, the first openlygay city politician, was assassinated later that year. The symboltook hold immediately. The original flag had eight colors; eachwith its own symbolic meaning – a natural flag from the sky,hot pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow forsunlight, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo forharmony, and violet for spirit.
Barn Gallery Opens Daily June 14th
Ogunquit Art Association Expressions
https://barngallery.org/
We in Ogunquit are part of celebrating LGBT Pride Month. Aswe walk about town, we see an extension of our pride andour people in the flying of the flag…so here’s the story of itsorigin.
Pride Month takes place in the U.S. to commemorate theStonewall Riots that happened in the early morning ofSaturday June 28, 1969. Lesbian, gay, bisexual andtransgender individuals rioted following a police raid andincreased harassment in a mafia-owned gay bar inGreenwich Village, New York City. This riot and furtherprotests over the following nights were the watershedmoment in the modern LGBTQ2+ movement.
Pride as we know it today had its roots in the Civil RightsMovement. The 1950’s and 1960’s were an extremelyrepressive legal and social period for the LGBT community. Beginning in 1965 on July 4th, organizations such as theDaughters of Bilitis and the Mattachine Society carried outpickets called “Annual Reminders” to let Americans knowthat not all people received basic civil rights and protections.
For practical reasons, the flag has become sixcolors; eight colors were too expensive and difficultto reproduce. Baker saw flags as the most powerfulsymbol of pride, “Our job as gay people was to comeout, to be visible, to live in the truth…to get out ofthe lie.” Since then, more flags have been designedto represent particular communities.
So whomever you are, let the symbolism of theflag’s colors and meanings move you. We are allwelcome here.
How The Flag Got ItsColors
June 28, 1970, the firstanniversary of theStonewall riots wasmarked by a Gay PrideMarch from thelocation of the riotscovering 51 blocks toCentral Park.
The LGBT pride flagwas invented in 1978by gay rights activistGilbert Baker (the self-styled “gay BetsyRoss”).
Continued
Stonewall Inn 1969
Children’s Story Hour
On the Lawn at Ogunquit Memorial Library
Every Other Tuesday 9:30-10:30am
Ages 2-6 Next one: June 22nd
Contact 207 646 9024 for weather update
Reminder: Fuel Initiative
Sign-up by July 15th & now includes
residents of Cape Neddick
Application Form on ORA website