Seeing double: Raymond twins savor trip to Ohio for ‘Twins Day Festival’

By Ed Pierce

Twins may be God’s way of saying “buy one, get one free” but for Brian and Brandon Mank of Raymond, being a twin has always been a special unique experience.

Identical twins, from left, Brian and Brandon Mank of
Raymond, 20, traveled to attend the 'Twins Day Festival'
in Twinsville, Ohio earlier his month. COURTESY PHOTO 

To that end, the Mank brothers, 20, who are roommates at the University of Maine Orono studying engineering, flew to Ohio earlier this month to participate in the annual Twins Day Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio. Since its creation in 1976, the festival has had more than 91,021 sets of twins and multiples attend and it’s been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the “Largest Annual Gathering of Twins in the World.”

Organizers of the festival say it provides a way for celebrating the uniqueness of twins and others of multiple birth and is a centralized location for the multitude of twin-related information including but not limited to researchers, studies, photos of twins and associated details.

Brian Mank said when he learned about the “Twins Day Festival” he knew that he had to go.

“I first heard about the festival three years ago from a Facebook pop-up and have been wanting to see what it was like ever since,” he said.

The festival itself is crammed with events such as a “Double Take Parade” with twins marching in themed costumes and multiple-birth military veterans. There’s also a mass portrait session for an Official Group Photo, a Saturday Night Fireworks display, and a “Twins Days 5K & Fun Run.”

“My personal favorite part of the festival was the Twin sync game show” Brian Mank said. “This game show is split into three parts with three teams of twins. The first and second are practically the same; they split the twins up from their counterparts and ask them questions about one another. If the other twin answers correctly then they get points. The third part of the show involves putting a barrier between the twins and asking them to make poses; if the two twins do the same exact pose, then they get points. The twin team with the most points at the end wins, and each gets a $25 gift card to the Twins Day Festival gift shop.”

Just like his identical twin brother, Brandon Mank said he also enjoyed the Twins Day Festival game show.“It was fun and showed how in sync other twins were with each other,” he said.

Brandon Mank said over the years he’s learned to live with being constantly mixed up with his twin brother.

“When people mix us up now, it's less annoying and more like a funny joke that we get to tell them,” he said. “That doesn't mean that there wasn't a time in the beginning when it was annoying. We used to get so annoyed when someone mixed us up.”

The downside to being a twin, according to Brian Mank, is that no matter what, there is no privacy or secrets between you and a twin.

He said something he personally learned about other twins that he didn't know before this trip is a commonly held belief that connections between twins allow them to sense things they experience individually.

“A larger number than I thought of twins don't actually have a connection between each other that allows them to sense each other,” he said.

The Mank twins were among 20,085 twins attending this year’s Twins Day Festival, and they returned to Maine having confirmed that their lifelong bond as twins and dealing with deep emotional closeness, shared milestones, and constant comparison is shared by thousands of other twins.

They came away from the experience being more appreciative of what they share.

Brian Mank says he admires his twin’s ability to look at something and perfectly create it in his engineering studies, whether that be in a CAD program or a drawing on a piece of paper.

Brandon Mank says he believes he is more creative and his twin more analytical.

He suggests simple advice to younger twins.

“Make sure you get along with your twin because you're never sure when you're going to need their help,” Brandon Mank said. <

Murray prepares to lead Windham Chamber Singers as director

By Ed Pierce

He’s stepping into huge shoes to fill, but Ryan Murray is ready to take on one of the most prominent and influential positions in the RSU 14 School district.

Ryan Murray is the new director of choral
activities at Windham High School andc will
lead the Windham Chamber Singers.
COURTESY PHOTO  

Murray has been named by the RSU 14 Board of Directors to succeed Dr. Richard Nickerson as director of choral activities at Windham High School. That position includes serving as the director of the Windham Chamber Singers, a role that Nickerson held for 39 years before his retirement in June after an illustrious career with RSU 14.

During his time at Windham High School, Nickerson led the Windham Chamber Singers as the choral performed at the White House and at Carnegie Hall and won the Prize of Vienna at the 25th International Youth and Music Festival in Vienna, Austria in 1996.

Murray is from Scarborough and after graduating from high school at Thornton Academy, he attended the University of Maine where he earned a bachelor’s degree in music education. He was a recipient of a Tri-City Community Chorus Music Scholarship for college music education studies.

His experiences at UMaine helped prepare him for his new challenge teaching music at Windham High School and touring with the Windham Chamber Singers.

During college, Murray successfully auditioned as a freshman to become a member of the University Singers, a choir in which both of his parents had sung. As a college senior, Murray served as one of two assistant conductors for the University Singers. In March 2025, he was able to conduct the fourth movement of Johannes Brahms’ “Ein Deutsches Requiem” for the University Singers’ spring concerts and annual spring tour, which was part of a group tour across Maine and into Quebec.

As a college junior and senior, Murray also served as music director for The Maine Steiners, an all-male a capella music group that is part of UMaine University Singers. During that experience, he chose what music the group would perform, handled scheduling and rehearsals and teaching proper vocal technique.

Beside his involvement with the University Singers and The Maine Steiners while attending college, Murray also was a participant in Camerata Dirigo, a chamber octet based in Orono. In 2024 he conducted Gabriel Fauré’s “Requiem,” one of the best-known pieces of all choral music, during a full-length concert.

As a UMaine student, Murray also found time to work with choral students in a classroom setting at Orono Middle School. There he put into practice education skills that he learned and was able to inspire his students and give them confidence to meet greater challenges in music.

In his new position working with Windham High School students, Murray will direct the school choirs and teach elective courses in music. He will also be responsible for conducting the Windham Chamber Singers, scheduling group performances and coordinating logistics for music festivals and other events. Murray also will serve as the Music Director for the school musical.

During a Windham Chamber Singers reunion concert in June, Murray said he admires Nickerson and intends to continue the existing music program at the high school while also starting some new ones. Both of his parents are music teachers and at one point, his mother taught alongside Nickerson after she graduated from college.

The future is wide open for Murray and although he is replacing a legendary music educator in his new job, he is confident and excited to make the job his own.

Murray says that he also plans to work on obtaining a master’s degree in music so he can further his skills and enhance his musical knowledge so that he can offer an outstanding educational experience for his students at Windham High School. <

UMaine’s Fogler Legacy Award honors four generations of Windham family

By Lorraine Glowczak

Greg Morrison, a 2012 Windham High School graduate, had always dreamed of attending the University of Maine in Orono and he was waiting for a response after submitting his application. Despite being accepted by two other colleges, Greg’s heart was heavy since an acceptance letter had not yet arrived from UMaine.

Generations of the Morrison Family of Windham gather to
celebrate being honored as this year's recipient of the
Fogler Legacy Award presented by the University of
Maine Orono to families who have attended and
supported the school over the years. COURTESY PHOTO

“All I ever really wanted is to be a Black Bear,” Greg said at the dinner table one evening to his mother Candace and his father Mark, UMaine Class of 1986. A few days later, Greg was relieved to receive his acceptance letter from UMaine, fulfilling his lifelong dream and following in his family's footsteps. He graduated with a business degree in 2017. His sister, Kristen, a 2008 WHS graduate, also earned a business degree in 2012, marking the fourth generation of Black Bears.

This long-standing Morrison family tradition led the group to be recognized with a special award this past April at the UMaine campus in Orono where they received the Fogler Legacy Award.

Each year, this unique and special award is presented to a family with a strong tradition of attending UMaine, usually spanning at least three generations, where multiple members have demonstrated outstanding service to the university, alumni association, community, and/or their profession.

“I’m proud of my family. I am proud of my heritage.” said Alola Morrison of Windham, a 1959 UMaine graduate who is Greg and Kristen’s grandmother, as well as Mark’s mother. "Growing up in a military family meant we moved frequently for my father's job as a mechanical engineer in the Coast Guard, so I was constantly moving to different towns and attending different schools. I never felt like I had a home base."

But UMaine was the one constant for Alola.

“My father and mother were college sweethearts,” Alola said of her father Alvin Giffin and mother Viola Purinton, both 1931 UMaine graduates. “My parents were highly involved in campus activities during their college years, and they set that example. Mom was a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority and Dad was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. They remained active in the alumni association for 50 years. We would often return to Maine to visit, and while here, we always stopped by the UMaine campus. I knew I would eventually go to college there, and with some luck and hard work, I did. UMaine was, and still is, my home.”

Much like her parents, Alola met her own sweetheart at UMaine. In 1961, she married Joseph Morrison, UMaine Class of 1959. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2017.

Although Mark Morrison and his siblings grew up close to the UMaine campus in nearby Orrington, they had the same experiences as their mother and father.

“Growing up, my parents and grandparents frequently took us to UMaine to watch many sporting events and attend homecoming weekend, which was always special,” Mark Morrison said. “Just like my mom, I knew UMaine was the school for me.”

He said that as a close-knit family, the bonds and relationships they developed with each other created heartfelt memories and stories and he reflected on two stories that mean the most to the extended Morrison family and those close to them.

“What really amazes me the most is the level of commitment to education my great grandparents had during turbulent times,” he said, speaking of his great grandfather, Dr. Watson Purinton and his wife Nellie Jenness Purinton, who were supporting their children’s education after the Stock Market Crash in October 1929.

“It was during the time of the “Roaring Twenties” which came to a collapse with the Stock Market crash of 1929, creating the Great Depression,” Mark Morrison said. “Watson and Nellie had two children still pursuing their education after the crash. My grandmother Viola was studying Home Economics at UMaine, while her brother William (Class of 1927) was in Medical School at Tufts. It was Watson and Nellie's unwavering commitment to educate their children through college, highly unusual at the time that created the legacy. This led to the culmination of having four generations of UMaine graduates.”

The Morrison/Giffin/Purington family’s dedication to college education continued when the Morrison family faced their own tough times.

“In the summer of 2009, my brother Ken tragically died in a swimming accident while on vacation in Prince Edward Island, leaving three children behind, ages 11, 9, and 5,” Mark said. “The whole family pulled together to support Ken’s three kids as they grew up close by in Biddeford with their mother. We all resolved to see that Ken's kids go on to college. In spite of this huge loss, all three children thrived in school and went on to earn college degrees. His two sons followed the Black Bear tradition, Connor (Class 2017) and Joe (Class 2023), earned engineering degrees while Olivia earned a business degree from St. Joseph's College.”

Although college education was and is important to the Morrison family, Alola recognizes the importance of different paths in life.

“I’m very proud of my family and education, but education isn’t just college,” she said. “Education is in the trades, too. This is just as important. We need each other for a successful society.”

Mark Morrison agreed with his mother saying that having a close relationship with family is one of the biggest factors for their success.

“It is true that we all have individual accomplishments, as we strive to do our best, and also try to do the right thing,” he said. “But we would be far less successful as individuals if it weren't for the love, support, and close relationships we have as a family.” <