DEAR SUN SPOTS: The Auburn Public Library Children’s Department is looking for a donation of a globe for our summer reading program. We would love to have a globe that is in a floor stand, but a sturdy desktop globe would also work well.
Our summer reading theme is “One World, Many Stories,” and we want to highlight other countries for our young patrons. A globe would be a big help. We were hoping someone in the community might have a globe they no longer use to donate. — Deb Cleveland, dcleveland@auburnpubliclibrary.org
DEAR SUN SPOTS: The Woman’s Literary Union would like the community to know that reservation forms are now available for the annual Mother~Daughter~Doll Tea. The theme this year is “Wonderland” and will feature Alice, the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter and White Rabbit.
There will be a total of five sessions; three on Saturday, April 30, and two on Sunday, May 1. The reservation form can be downloaded from the WLU website, www.womansliteraryunion.org.
The deadline for sending in reservations is April 15.
Again this year, the union will raffle the American Girl doll, Kanani, and the Doll Boutique will feature handmade doll clothes and accessories for sale.
For more information, please e-mail us at womansliteraryunion@gmail.com or call Janet Eustis at 783-3762.
Thanks, Sun Spots, for your help. — Cathy Westleigh, Lewiston, cbwestleigh@hotmail.com
DEAR SUN SPOTS: I’m amazed at the answer to the March 7 query about the Jolly John dealership. Nowhere in the question did the writer ask or imply that the Jolly John dealership was in the L-A area, only as to what happened to the dealership. Your “expert” then goes on to pontificate about all the old-time dealers in L-A completely ignoring the original question.
Jolly John Pulsifer, under increasing pressure from Chrysler to build new and flashy buildings at his dealership, sold the dealership in November 2010 with the intent of opening up a used car dealership. Shortly after selling the dealership, Jolly was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away on Feb. 19.
Jolly was a fixture on Maine television stations for years except for a short hiatus between the time he closed his Ford dealership and opened the Chrysler-Jeep dealership. Along with Marty Angstrom broadcasting the weather from “high on the mountain,” Jolly was one of those memorable TV characters who will be deeply missed, both as a personality and a person. Marty is still with us as far as I know. — Dana Twiss, dtwiss@whitebirchfarm.net
ANSWER: Sun Spots did have reasons for thinking that the writer was asking about an L-A region dealership for Jolly. First, Jolly’s last dealership was in Saco, out of the Sun Journal’s distribution area. Readers who are asking about things outside L-A usually specify that to Sun Spots.
Also, the writer said that when he asked the current employees about Jolly at his old dealership that they had no idea who he was talking about. The dealership in Saco had only been sold in November and the letter was written in February. Surely employees would know about Jolly if he had owned the dealership less than three months earlier!
As for the rest of the column, it was meant to be a fun little trip down memory lane for car fans. Sun Spots is sorry you didn’t see it that way. Others did, though. Read on.
DEAR SUN SPOTS: My dad worked as a mechanic for many dealers in the Lewiston-Auburn area. One, I’m not sure which, came this close to becoming the local Tucker dealership in 1948. We all know how that business deal fell through!
Another, Flock Buick, also sold Studebakers and Opels. They had not one but two dream cars in their showroom when the Riviera and Avanti both came out in 1963.
We all miss Jolly John, but we enjoy all those ads from Ira and his Prime Dealerships in Saco. — Byron Campbell, Litchfield, byronic@prexar.com.
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