Remember when…
For homecoming, the University of Maine at Presque Isle held activities for students and community members to come together to celebrate our love for the county. One special three-part event on Wednesday, Sept. 21, captured the heart of Aroostook through the written words of active community supporters who were guest speakers for the evening. All guest speakers spoke of their admiration for the county and the work of guest speaker Ray Gauvin.
Ray is a Vietnam War veteran and author of a new memoir. “As did many of my fellow Vietnam veterans, I fought more than one war. My assignment in Saigon. The aftermath of Agent Orange. And finally, there was ‘Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,’” Ray said. Ray was diagnosed with severe and chronic PTSD. Only PTSD was not the first recognized title. “It wasn’t until Vietnam and its aftermath that the term and its understanding turned into what we know today as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,” he said. In the Civil War, it was called a Soldier’s Heart. In World War I it changed to the name Shell Shock. And then to Combat Detained in World War II. “Out of all those terms, only Soldier’s Heart would remind us of the human beings who fought for their country. That is where I got the name of the memoir, ‘A Soldier’s Heart: The 3 Wars of Vietnam,’” Ray said.
Kathryn Olmstead, the first speaker of the event, is a former journalist and editor for the Aroostook Republican and for “Echoes Magazine.” Although she had grown up elsewhere, Kathryn’s career at the Aroostook Republican and her curiosity as to why many people choose to return to the county led her to Presque Isle to write the recurring column “They Came Back.”
“Each story was different. But several common themes emerged in the interviews. People came back to Aroostook County for the pace of life, the beauty, the nature and most of all the people,” Kathryn said.
“The workforce is shrinking and the future of this place is at risk. It must be nurtured and that is why we are here today. Ray’s fantastic idea for keeping the best of Aroostook young people right here was the Aroostook Aspirations Initiative program, which prepares them for a future and gives them reasons and opportunities to stay here in a place they call home,” Kathryn said.
