100 Years Ago: 1918

Republicans expect that Saturday night’s rally in Lewiston will be the biggest event of this kind in years, if not in the political history of the state. Started out as a local proposition, it is now known there will be big attendance from all around. It was not surprising that interest has developed from outside the second district. Oxford County Bears are coming down 150 strong to show their enthusiasm for Congressman White. Portland sent word to Chairman Hodgson Friday morning that 300 men and a band are coming from that city. Androscoggin County will send special cars that will run from Turner leaving at 6:30. Augusta has also sent word that Augusta will be represented in the gathering which will hear the governor, the congressman and “Pat” Kelley of Michigan.

50 Years Ago: 1968

The first annual Edward Little Alumni Homecoming, sponsored by the EL Alumni Association, will be held Oct. 5 in conjunction with the ELHS-Portland game at Walton Field. Gerald Rousseau of 97 Western Ave., Auburn, will be the general chairman for the affair and Janet Gibson, secretary of the Alumni Association, will assist him. From 4 to 6 p.m. there will be a social hour at the EL Gym, with coffee and light refreshments and from 8 p.m to midnight, a dance will be held at the gym. The Class of 1943 will make its donation to the Alumni Association, having reached the goal of $1,943. Each class starts on its 20th anniversary, should reach its goal on the 25th anniversary — an amount equal to their year of graduation All monies, class donations, the sale of tickets to the homecoming and membership in the Alumni Association will be utilized for scholarship funds.

25 Years Ago: 1993

Officials at Stephens Memorial Hospital say new equipment used to purify patients’ blood during surgery — a device that may of particular interest to Jehovah’s Witnesses — will enable surgeons to provide safer and less expensive transfusions. The surgical cell saver, now in use in the operating room, automatically transfers and purifies a patient’s blood during surgery. Using a centrifuge, it cleans impurities like bone chips out of the blood suctioned during the operation. The device packs the red blood cells together, then transfers the blood back to the patient. The cell saver is manufactured by Haemonetics Corp., which sent clinical specialist Lucia Herndon to the local hospital to show employees in the operating and recovery room as well as the anesthesia staff how to use it.

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