We Remember…
GALEN COLE
1925-2020
Founder of the Galen Cole Family Land Transportation Museum, Cole was a longtime supporter of 19th Century Curran Village.
CARROLL ADAMS
1930-2017
We are accepting donations in memory of the late Carroll Adams, a beloved board member and volunteer contributor for many years to the Curran Homestead. With permission of Carroll’s family, Curran Homestead Village is accepting contributions to its’ endowment fund :In Memory of Carroll Adams” for the purpose of our current development of a museum village, a plan that Carroll was thoroughly enthused about in recent weeks. Like all donations to our endowment, donors contributions may be in the form of cash, check, credit card or Pay Pal via our website: curranhomestead.org, Contact: Irv Marsters, Treasurer, if you have questions or need help.
THOMAS J. HENNESSEY, JR.
1937-2018
The Curran Homestead Village and all who knew him (or knew of him) lost a great friend this week with the passing of Tom Hennessey of Hampden. Tom and his wife Nancy have been long-time members and supporters of our “living history” mission in Orrington in Orrington.
Tom donated some of his artworks to Curran for occasional fund-raising activities. Some of his paintings were purchased, framed and donated awaiting the completion of the “Fields House” Education Center restoration. Depicting especially 19th Century ice harvesting, logging with horses and sporting scenes, these illustrations will be there on display to greet school children during the initiation of our school field trips in spring 2020.
In addition to his artwork, Tom was an accomplished writer. He authored three books and is perhaps most widely known for his writing and illustrations of Bangor Daily News columns and features focused on nature, wildlife, hunting, fishing, trapping, etc.; activities and traditions important to Maine sportsmen.
Tom was a very talented man; very generous and caring. Our sincere condolences go to Nancy and Tom’s family. You are in our thoughts as WE REMEMBER: TOM HENNESSEY! “At Tom’s request, there will be no services. Donations in his memory may be made to the Bangor Humane Society, 693-B Mount Hope Avenue, Bangor, ME 04401. Condolences to the family may be expressed at BrooklingsSmith.com .
Walter Musson
1950-2019
We remember Walter Musson with affection at his passing on January 4, 2019. He was known to many as a master slate roofer, brick and stone mason, as well as steward and contributor to Maine’s architectural past. Sometimes known as “the slate man” he was especially devoted to the preservation of Maine’s many slate roofs as a proud tradesman with examples of his skill exemplified in roofs in Bangor and its environs as well as more distant places like Vinalhaven and others. Growing up in Great Pond, ME, a little town “’over east of Bangor’” Walter distinguished himself early at Brewer High School as a top sportsman and scholar who was eventually offered admission to the US Naval Academy, MIT and Yale. The latter he attended briefly and before he discovered while working in the Netherlands in 1972 a passion for recycling building materials while working there for a salvage company, especially architectural salvage, which he maintained the rest of his life; in fact, this author recalls in many conversations with Walter, while working on the slate roofs and brick chimneys of his own house, invitations to join him on trips to look at salvage ventures, including removal of an entire wood structure that had once served as a Masonic temple in a little Maine town and included a treasure trove of bead board.
Walter’s adult life focused in part on seeing our architectural history being demolished and cast off. Taking his experiences in The Netherlands to another level he began salvaging used slate, brick, doors, and other building materials from the area stockpiling it for reuse. He taught himself to both repair and create anew roofs, stonework, and chimneys, especially details like corbels, which are exemplified on many Victorian houses like those found in Little City, Bangor. The slate he used often originated from Maine locations like Monson and Brownville. Walter’s craftsmanship was not only exemplified in structures from the past, but the new as he felt his work on the turreted People’s United Bank on Main Street in Bangor “his masterpiece”. Some twenty years ago, current board members remember Walter’s volunteer work on the highest parts of the Curran barn when it was re-sheathed and re-shingled.
Last year, Walter conducted Curran Homestead Village’s first class in slate roofing which focused on the process of recycling once again antique roofing slate and cutting it with traditional tools in typical Victorian designs like fish scales, scallops, points and the like. Walter planned a follow-up to this class teaching the art of utilizing these prepared materials in a completed slate roof either at the Curran Homestead or a private residence in the future with a group of students. Certainly, we will remember Walter’s love of the trades which are exemplified in the architectural beauty of Bangor and other Maine locations as well as his own contemporary efforts as a steward and contributor to this artistry rooted in the past.
Walter Musson is survived by his wife Ellen Pariser, siblings, and extended family as well as many, many friends . “The family invites relatives and friends to share in a memorial reception, 12 pm-2pm, Saturday, January 12, 2019 at the Family Reception Center of Brookings-Smith, 163 Center St., Bangor. Those who wish to remember Walter in a special way may make gifts in his memory to the Bangor Humane Society, 639 Mount Hope Avenue, Bangor, or the Maine Forest and Logging Museum [Leonard’s Mills] , P.O. Box 104, Bradley, ME 04411, where he served on the board of directors, which was yet another way he served the preservation of Maine’s past. “Condolences to the family may be expressed at Brookings-Smith.com”. Some of the information found here was sourced and quoted from Walter Musson’s obituary, which appeared in the Bangor Daily News, January 5, 2019.
In Memoria, Bill Bullock
We are saddened by the loss of William Clapp Bullock, Jr. who passed just before Christmas (2022). “Bill”, with wife Edith “Dede” Bullock have been among our greatest and most generous donors during 19th Century Curran Village’s (The Curran Homestead’s) thirty-year history. Born in Bronxville, NY, Bill grew up in Darien, CT before moving to Bangor in 1969. A graduate of Phillips Andover Academy and Yale University with further graduate study at NYU’s business school, he married Dede in 1958 while beginning his banking career at Morgan Guaranty Trust Company where he soon rose to Vice President and Senior Loan Officer. His later relocation to Maine came with the new responsibility of the commercial loan department of Merrill Trust Company in Bangor. By the 1980s, Bill rose to president, chief executive, and Chairman of the board of Fleet Financial Group. He served on the Boards of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and President of Maine Bankers Association as well as several committees of the American Bankers Association.
Back at Yale, Bill had been on the Anglers Team and in high school he had served as a Maine Guide leading canoeing and fly-fishing trips for kids on the Allagash. In his leisure he continued to be an avid fisherman relishing his membership in The Anglers Club of New York as well as serving as past President of the Megantic Fish and Game Corporation in Maine and the Gatineau Fish & Game Club in Quebec. One of his passions was the cause of returning Atlantic salmon to Maine rivers through support of conservation and restoration initiatives such as the Downeast Salmon Federation. Active in civic and community affairs, he became a governor appointed trustee of Maine Maritime Academy and the Maine State Retirement System. He served on the board of Eastern Maine Medical Center. He was the founding director of the Maine Chamber of Commerce and Industry while also serving on special committees including the President’s Advisory Council. He was Chairman of Governor Longley’s Advisory Council on the Indian Land Claims Settlement.
In 1992, he organized a new bank, Merrill Merchants, purchasing seven Fleet banking offices, and was particularly proud of the resulting circumstance of not only bringing the names of Merrill and Merchants Bank back to prominence in his adopted City of Bangor but allowing this bank to determine its own course locally once again. Memorial contributions in his memory may be made to the Maine Maritime Academy, The Commander William C. Bullock Sr. Scholarship Fund, 1 Pleasant St., Castine, ME 04420. Condolences to the family may be expressed at BrookingsSmith.com.
In Memoria, Stan White
We are saddened by the loss of long-tome contributor, volunteer, board member, and former 19th Century Curran Village board president Stanley H. White of Brewer, Maine on December 19, 2022. Stan was a longtime and dedicated volunteer at the museum and was particularly helpful in our recent growth into a museum village with more than two dozen structures in total. He was integral to several recent constructions, including our Letterpress Office, and the relocation of collections. He was a fixture at our seasonal events and a consistent set of helping hands at all the behind the scenes work necessitated with making our events and programs happen and insuring the preservation of the museum’s grounds, buildings and collections. Visitors may have seen him at one of our events this past year serving as grill master, as he always rose to the needs of the moment being up for just about anything that needed to be done.
With wife Jerri, Stan owned and operated Enchanted Gardens & Greenhouse in Brewer for many years. He was active in his community serving on the Brewer City Council, Brewer Kiwanis, and as a member and Past Master of the Rising Virtue Masonic Lodge of Bangor. More recently, Stan was a dedicated volunteer of the Furry Friends Food Bank when not contributing to Curran Village.
For those who wish, memorial contributions may be made to Furry Friends Food Bank, c/o Eastern Area Agency on Aging, 240 State St., Brewer, ME 04412 or at eaaa.org. Messages and memories may be shared with his family on the tribute wall of kileyandfoley.com.