In-Person

This two-session course will provide a chance to tell your own stories and listen to stories of others, both entertaining and serious. We will provide topics, such as "when I was young and green" and "things I wish I hadn't said." Your suggestions for additional topics will be welcomed as we move forward.

October 29, 2025

November 12, 2025

10:00 am - 11:30 am

Location: The Landing

This class will be co-led by Carla McDonnell and Cathy Wimett. If you remember Laurel and Hardy, you know all you need to know about us. We like hearing stories from Gold LEAFers and are willing to do just about anything for a laugh. Please join us as we share our lifetime of misadventures with each other.

In-Person and Hybrid

The Templars were created as a military religious order in 1119 and were based in Jerusalem to protect Christian pilgrims. During the next two centuries, the Templars became the most powerful network in the world. They became the bankers of Europe, transferring funds between nations and rulers, and amassed great wealth as an organization.

The accumulated wealth attracted envy, and envy begat rumors of licentiousness and accusations of heresy. Phillip IV of France engineered the destruction of the Order of the Templars in 1307. Fables concerning the Templars will be discussed, and the facts of the Templars, a most remarkable order of knights, will be emphasized.

October 30, 2025 

November 6, 13, 20, 2025

10:30 am to 12:00 pm

Location: Ed Ctr, 107

Chuck earned a master's degree in history, focusing on Islamic ideology and Muslim history. He mentored with Dr. Stephen Harmon and completed a thesis discussing Hamas. This provided the background and interest in the Templars.

In Person 

Evangeline: The novel provides the historical information that is missing from Longfellow’s Evangeline. The purpose is to discuss the historical information through the biographical material available on each of the major figures in the event that is known today as The Expulsion of the Acadians.

December 3, 2025

2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

Location: Education Center, room 006, lower level.

Born in New Waterford, Nova Scotia, Richard Mullin is a lifelong educator and writer. A graduate of St. Francis Xavier University, he began his teaching career at a Blackfoot Indigenous high school in Western Canada, later returning to Nova Scotia to teach English at Bridgewater High and serve as Principal at Mahone Bay High. He spent 25 years teaching English at Rumford High School in Maine and also taught English Literature at Husson University.

Now retired and living in Dixfield, Maine, he dedicated eight years of his retirement to researching and writing his first book. He has been happily married to his wife Lorraine for over sixty years, and together they have three college-educated daughters.

Online

Oh NO! Our list of accomplished women is growing rather than shrinking, and our study groups were making such progress! To make matters worse, some very important women, such as Harriet Tubman, are being erased from U.S. history. Continue with us to bring these women to light and learn the stories of their discoveries, scientific work, and trailblazing.

Come blaze a trail with us.

January 22 and 29, 2026

10:00 am

Mary Frank has been an active participant in our prior study group on this subject, which was known as Hidden Figures Revealed.  She will send to all participants a list of possible women from which to choose.  Mary will work with Eileen Kreutz, and the two will co-present this offering.

In-Person

This will be a tour of both the Farmington Public Library and the Mantor Library at UMF. The directors of each library will lead the tours. The Farmington Public Library tour will start at 10:30. After a lunch break, the Mantor tour will start at 1:00. More detailed information will be sent to participants shortly before the tour date.

The Farmington Public Library (Cutler Memorial), established in 1890, provides all Farmington area residents with ready access to a broad collection of materials in a variety of media that record knowledge, ideas, and culture.  

Mantor Library, located at the heart of the University of Maine at Farmington campus, serves students, faculty, staff, and the wider community by offering access to a wide range of academic and recreational materials in both print and digital formats. 

January 27, 2026, with a snow date of February 3

10:30 am at the Farmington Library, 117 Academy St, Farmington, ME

1:00 pm at Mantor Library, 116 South St, Farmington, ME 

Jessica Casey came to Farmington to attend UMF, where she studied English and Psychology. Jess began working at the Farmington Public Library in 2018, took on the role of director in 2020, and received her MLIS shortly after. Her favorite author is Stephen King.

Bryce Cundick has been at UMF since 2007 and has been the director at Mantor since 2017. He has served as the President of the Maine Library Association and is the current Chair of the Maine Library Commission. In his spare time, he writes books under the pen name Bryce Moore and is an avid player of Magic: The Gathering.