Don Rogers Scholarship Dinner nearing in Windham

By Ed Pierce

Those who knew Don Rogers of Windham admired him greatly and although he’s no longer with us, his spirit of kindness and willingness to help others lives on in a special program that awards college scholarships to deserving students in the Lakes Region every spring.

The late World War II veteran Don Rogers was a member of
American Legion Field-Allen Post 148 for 62 years and
served as Post Commander on four separate occasions. A
college scholarship dinner in his honor will be held at the
Windham Veterans Center on Saturday, July 22.
SUBMITTED PHOTO  

Sponsored by Windham’s American Legion Field-Allen Post 148, this year’s Don Rogers Scholarship Dinner will be held on Saturday, July 22 with all proceeds from the meal to be used to help area students pursue their dreams of higher education. The popular dinner has become a favorite mid-summer tradition for many families in Windham, and organizers are hoping to raise at least $1,000 through this fundraiser for the scholarships.

Donald Farris Rogers was 94 when he passed away in May 2020. He was born Sept. 21, 1925, and lived most of his life in Windham Center, except for the winters that he and his wife, Norma, spent in St. Cloud, Florida and during his military service. He was a graduate of Windham High School in the Class of 1944.

Rogers served in the Army Air Corps and trained to be a fighter pilot before World War II ended in August 1945. He returned to Windham and worked for his father, M. L. Rogers, as a construction equipment operator in town. In 1954, he married Norma Kimball, and they raised two sons, Donald Scott Rogers, and Dale K. Rogers, in Windham.

He loved sports and athletics, and played baseball, basketball, track, swimming, and horseshoes. Through the years, Rogers formed a local basketball team and supplied the uniforms for the players. He also coached Little League baseball.

“Don believed in our youth. As the Post Commander, he presented students each year with the Legion School Leadership Award,” said David Tanguay, American Legion Post 148 adjutant. “I was a recipient in 1965 and continue to cherish that award. The scholarship is now coupled with the Legion award from this fundraiser and dinner, and I think he would be humbled by the honor that it is named after him.”

Tanguay said that Rogers was fun to be around. “He always had such a great smile,” Tanguay said. “Don could light up a room with his stories and one-liners. Don was a prankster and loved a good laugh. I have seen photos of him in costume on 4-foot stilts at the old Hawkes Grocery, now Corsetti’s, regaling a crowd.”

Being active in the community was something Rogers was known for. He belonged to the Presumpscot Lodge #70 of Masons - Scottish Rite, the WHS Alumni Association and the Windham Historical Society. Rogers joined American Legion Field-Allen Post 148 in 1947 and served as Post Commander on four different occasions.

“His father Maurice was one of the original Post 148 founders in 1938, and his brother, Wayne, was also a member,” Tanguay said. “Just doing the math, many, many veterans came to know the Rogers family and Don.”

He delighted in spending time with his family and neighbors and just about everyone that he met became a good friend.

“Commander Don Rogers was a well-loved member of the Windham Community, the Grand Marshal at the annual Memorial Day parade for many years, and a fixture later in life at the local variety, Corsetti’s, stopping for coffee and sharing his experiences to all who would spend some time with him.”

One Windham resident who came to know Rogers is Dana Reed, the chaplain of American Legion Post 148 and former pastor of the North Windham Union Church from 2000 to 2013.

“I grew up like a lot of folks in Windham and knew him as a veteran and a great person,” Reed said. “I'll be supremely surprised if his scholarship doesn't top much, much higher. I can't think of many, if not asked directly, who wouldn't put a $100 down for this man.”

In 2019, Post 148 members chose to honor Rogers by renaming their annual student scholarship program for him, something that made Rogers very proud, Tanguay said. This spring’s Don Rogers scholarship recipients were Al Potter and Delana Perkins, both 2023 graduates of Windham High School. Potter will attend Princeton University to study astrophysical science and Perkins will attend the Rochester Institute of Technology to study civil engineering.

The annual Don Rogers Scholarship Dinner starts at 5 p.m. Saturday, July 22 at the Windham Veterans Center, 35 Veterans Memorial Drive, North Windham. The meal is an old-fashioned bean supper, and the cost is $10 per person with children under 12 admitted free. Additional donations for the scholarships will be welcomed. There will also be a 50/50 raffle at the event with proceeds to go to the scholarships.

For those who wish to donate but will not be able to attend the dinner, contributions can be sent to the Don Rogers Scholarship at: Post 148-Scholarship, PO Box 1776, Windham, Maine 04062. <

Gofundme benefits beloved Manchester School teacher, husband

Beloved Manchester School fourth-grade
teacher Carol Priebe will accompany her
husband, Paul Priebe, as he receives a lung
transplant at the Cleveland Clinic in 
Cleveland, Ohio. Friends and supporters
of the couple raised more than $5,000
for their expenses through a gofundme
effort. SUBMITTED PHOTO

By Daniel Gray

Have you ever had a teacher that made a huge positive impact on you or a loved one? Teachers are an important role in a child's developmental stages in life, not only for the fact that they teach our kids the knowledge they need, but because they can teach beyond that.

 

Teachers can help develop good moral stand points as well and lessons that stick with us for our entire lives. We need teachers and, sometimes, they need us as well.

Carol Priebe has taught fourth grade at Manchester School in Windham since 2001, and is one of many amazing teachers in the RSU 14 District. She treats her students as if they were her own children and puts her best effort forward when it comes to lessons.

Despite this, Carol has been facing some family medical issues since late 2018. Her husband of eight years, Paul Priebe, has been diagnosed with not one, but three different lung diseases, scleroderma, sarcoidosis, and Raynaud’s disease, a rare trio to be happening all at once.

Carol talks further about the rarity of the diseases as well as what she and her husband went through briefly.

"The doctors said there are only 22 people on Earth that have these same onset diseases at the exact same time,” Priebe said. “You'll treat one symptom for one disease, then the next will pop up from another. In October of 2018, it was almost as if his body said, 'I'm done'."

The last couple of years have not been treating them well either. Carol still teaches in person and online all through 2020 and so far through 2021 but was so nervous during a viral pandemic affecting the lungs. The two have gotten the wonderful news that Paul will be receiving a lung transplant later this month but that would require them going all the way to The Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio for it.

"The parents and the students have been so considerate during these times and completely understand what we've been going through. They have been wonderful during this process of frequent phone calls and some days when I suddenly have to drop a hat to go to a doctor’s appointment for Paul."

One parent in particular said that she was especially understanding of their situation.

When Melissa Carver-Emmons received an email that Carol Priebe would be leaving for her husband's lung transplant, she was full of emotions and couldn't stop thinking of all the troubles they had been through.

"It's obvious that she loves her husband, job, and students and I just felt drawn to help in some small way." Emmons explained, "I put myself in her shoes and knew I would do the same without hesitation but couldn't imagine the emotion around- not only his upcoming high-risk transplant, leaving all the things that you love and that are familiar for the upcoming unknown."

What better way to help than through monetary support? Emmons got to work, setting up a donation pool with a small goal of $5,000. The money would go toward Carol and Paul for anything they needed, whether it be gas, treatments, or just a comfort meal. Anything they could need during this new journey of theirs. She shared the gofundme online and within three days, it had reached its goal.

The donations had eventually brought their way around and, soon enough, the Priebes were notified of what was going on. Carol Priebe said she was utterly surprised upon hearing about the donations.

"A close friend of mine called me to tell me about all these donations. I was so shocked that I just started crying,” she said. “It was so incredible, and I couldn't thank everyone enough for helping me and Paul."

One of 80 donators, Stephanie Lombard, notes just how much Carol means to her family and the community, but along with how important it is to stick with family in the tougher times.

"Right away, you could tell how dedicated she is to her students. She always took the time to teach her students in a way that made learning fun and enjoyable. When I heard the news about her husband, I knew right away I needed to help in any way I could. She is truly a loss to the school department and her students while she takes some much needed time away to be with her husband."

On the behalf of Carol and Paul Priebe, they said they would like to take a moment to just appreciate and send their love out to the people who sent them kind wishes, donated to the gofundme, or even had them in their thoughts. <

Windham Chamber Singers to present ‘An American Family Holiday’ concert online

By Elizabeth Richards

The Windham Chamber Singers holiday show, “An American Family Holiday,” is a much-anticipated community event. This year, the show will go on, virtually.

Dr. Rick Nickerson, Director of Choral Music at Windham High School said that his subject matter presents unique challenges this school year.

“Every teacher had to adapt the way we teach. In music, we were the only ones who had to adjust what we teach, which has been an enormous challenge,” he said.

Because of the pandemic, the popular Windham
Chamber Singers holiday show 'An American 
Family Holiday' will be presented virtually this
year and available on You Tube.
FILE PHOTO

The Chamber Singers have been especially challenging, Nickerson said, since it is an afterschool activity rather than a class. In classes, he said, students can do projects around theory, history, and techniques. They can also use a program called SmartMusic, which allows students to sing along with computerized singers and record their work.

Nickerson said that the Chamber Singers, however, are all about singing together, which is prohibited inside the school. Current guidelines allow for singing outdoors only, masked, spaced 14 feet apart. This year the Chamber Singers, who have traditionally met on Wednesdays from 4 to 7 p.m., have had virtual rehearsals and a couple of rehearsals on the baseball field where they can space out appropriately. The program is important to keep going, not only because of what it provides students musically, but also what it provides them socially, Nickerson said.

The baseball field rehearsal was far from ideal, Nickerson said. Even the wind made it difficult for students to hear each other. But the students were excited to be together and wanted to continue rehearsing that way. For some students who were selected for the group after video auditions in the spring, these rehearsals were the first time they’d been with the whole group in person.

Nickerson acknowledged that the ability to meet outside will change as the weather turns colder. Already, the rehearsals are much shorter than usual so students can be home before it gets too cold. They’re taking things one step at a time, Nickerson said.

“I told them the other night if we keep meeting these challenges head on, eventually when this is over we’re going to be a stronger group, and we’ll realize just how much of everyday life we’ve taken for granted,” he said.

Currently, the group is focused on creating a virtual version of their annual An American Family Holiday concert. For this year only, the concert is being renamed A Maine Family Holiday, and will have a Maine theme, in celebration of the state’s bicentennial.

The 90-minute concert will premiere on the Windham Chamber Singers You Tube channel at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 5. The program will include virtual choirs and much more.

“Now that we’re moving exclusively to video, while it limits what we can do musically, it also opens up some other possibilities,” Nickerson said.

His original brainstorm for the An American Family Holiday concert was to model it after old-time variety shows. A virtual show lends itself well to that format. Guest stars can participate much more easily since no travel is involved, Nickerson said.

Nickerson said they aren’t releasing names of guest performers, since they want the premiere to be full of surprises. “Some of the exciting things that are going to happen the students don’t even know about,” he said.

With a virtual concert, many elements must be ready earlier than for a live concert, since the editing process takes time.

“With a traditional concert we were working towards a specific date. With this, because it’s a video project of this magnitude, we’re going to have lots of different dates we’re working towards,” Nickerson said.

They’ll take it one song at a time, and the editing process will begin in just a couple of weeks, he said.

This concert is typically the Chamber Singers biggest fundraiser. Donation pages will be available for those who wish to contribute to the group towards future needs.

“I don’t know what the spring is going to hold, but eventually down the road we will be back to normal, whatever that normal is,” Nickerson said. “For me, normal just means we can have all the choirs in the choir room singing.”

While this format is certainly not his preference, Nickerson said, “We’re trying to make the best out of a terrible situation.”

 He knows how important the concert is to the community, he added, and has already received phone calls asking if they were going to do something. Nickerson said he’s very excited about what they are putting together.

“It’s going to be great. It’s not only going to celebrate our town, we’re looking forward to celebrating this great state of Maine,” he said.<