Mount Desert Islander
FOA honors its founders, supporters
By Anne Kozak
July 21, 2006
BAR HARBOR — As part of its 20th annual meeting, Friends of Acadia honored those who not only played a role in its founding but also those who have ensured that FOA thrives on both Mount Desert Island and the Schoodic Peninsula.
In awarding Lois Winter the Marianne Edwards award – the late Marianne Edwards is considered the official founder of Friends of Acadia – FOA recognizes that Ms. Edwards “could not do it alone.” Rather she presented the idea to Ms. Winters, an interpretive ranger and park professional who responded with enthusiasm and agreed to research the strengths and weaknesses of other friends group.
According to the citation, Ms. Winter worked with Ms. Edwards in ensuring that “all subsequent steps led to the legal formation and public launching of Friends of Acadia.”
In his introductory remarks on July 14, FOA president John Courtin told the story that the suggestion for forming a friends group came from an attorney, Stephen Koster, who along with Ms. Edwards was participating in a ranger led-walk on Day Mountain in 1985.
And as chance would have it, Mr. Koster was in the audience on Friday. He and his partner, Laurie Feldman, said that by 1985, they had been coming to the park for almost five years and felt there was a growing group of people who enjoyed the park and supported its efforts, so they promoted the idea of establishing a friends group.
The citation for Ms. Winters calls her “the second founder,” and applauds and celebrates the role she played in founding FOA.
The conservation colleague award went to commercial supporters of FOA throughout its 20-year history. These include Acadia Corporation, Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, The First, Hannaford Supermarkets, Michael L. Ross and The Swan Agency.
The community presentation award went to David Rockefeller as “the senior statesman of one of America’s most respected families.” The citation acknowledges that establishing a national park on Mount Desert Island was not preordained. Rather “a great American family joined in the effort to make this happen – a family that was here before there was an Acadia, a family with a clear vision and generous spirit.”
The excellence in volunteerism award went to two women from Friends of Schoodic – Pauline Angione and Ruth Sargent – in recognition of their tireless work in organizing, cataloguing and archiving original documents relating to Schoodic. According to the citation, “they sorted and catalogued 4,230 architectural and technical drawings for the Rockefeller building [on the former Navy base] and maps showing land ownership and park boundaries dating back to the turn of the last century. As a result of their work, they entered 1,327 archival records into the computer, thereby documenting for posterity the as-built conditions of this unique naval facility.” And as Mr. Courtin announced, despite the work already completed, they are still archiving documents. Mr. Courtin said FOA would revise the tribute to reflect the total number of hours these two women are contributing.
While the majority of the awards given at the annual meeting remain constant each year, one award is optional, and chairman Dianna Emory decided this year to use her prerogative and give the chairman’s award to Dianna Brochendorff. Ms. Brochendorff chaired the standard-setting gala auction from 1991-2000 and agreed to chair it again this year and next.
“Dianna nurtured the benefit gala over many years, helped it to grow, mature and thrive,” said Dr. Emory in her tribute. “In so doing, she built a grand tradition for FOA. In later years, she wisely counseled successive leadership committees of the gala. Simply put, the benefit gala has become a fundraising juggernaut. We roundly applaud her achievement.”
