President's Message
Greetings Members and Friends,
This fall president’s message is dedicated to our dear recently passed friend, immediate past BHHS Vice President from Hollis and Print Media Director, Marguerite Clark Gardner of Clark’s Mills. As I sit down to write this message, my heart is full of the many special qualities I loved and miss about “Meg”. Meg was a member of a family with a long history in York County. My first memories of her were when, as a retired teacher, she expressed interest in the N. C. Watson School and then later when she used her considerable and varied talents tirelessly to help preserve the S. D. Hanson School, the old Hollis High School, and our present BHHS history center building from demolition. She strove always to preserve meaningful historic spaces and architecture of our area, bringing her considerable education (English major at Bates), work and travel experience, wonderful creative writing skills, and research abilities to the tasks at hand.
She was always willing to assist others in genealogical research and loved introducing Boy & Girl Scouts to the basics of genealogy during their tours of the historical society. She was a well respected grant writer, and frequently offered to assist in completing applications to the National Register of Historic Places.
Meg spent her working life and retirement benefiting the unfortunate, connecting them with needed services, or many times opening her home to those in need. No matter the state of her own limited finances, she was generous with her resources and seemed to me to be a guiding example of how to treat our neighbors and fellow human beings.
Chronically late to meetings and loving to talk, Meg was a jovial, well informed and engaged historian who loved historical research, always finding additional “fascinating” off topic information over which to marvel and chuckle. An avid politician, she gained open minded perspective on life and current events through her travels living all over the world. She was also an early and well trained pianist and musician. She loved to feed animals: feral cats, special black birds, and a one very special small black poodle.
Suffice it to say Meg loved and enjoyed life. She was an idea person and more than once, wrote long emails outlining her thoughts on the direction our historical society needed to move. However, she was never simply content to sit quietly on the sidelines, but instead was always striving to make a positive difference in the world, in our Towns, and at BHHS. If attendance at her funeral was any indication of the positive difference she made in the lives of those she touched, she most certainly achieved that goal. We deeply mourn her passing and celebrate her life of service...
In gratitude and peace,
Jan Hill, BHHS President
This fall president’s message is dedicated to our dear recently passed friend, immediate past BHHS Vice President from Hollis and Print Media Director, Marguerite Clark Gardner of Clark’s Mills. As I sit down to write this message, my heart is full of the many special qualities I loved and miss about “Meg”. Meg was a member of a family with a long history in York County. My first memories of her were when, as a retired teacher, she expressed interest in the N. C. Watson School and then later when she used her considerable and varied talents tirelessly to help preserve the S. D. Hanson School, the old Hollis High School, and our present BHHS history center building from demolition. She strove always to preserve meaningful historic spaces and architecture of our area, bringing her considerable education (English major at Bates), work and travel experience, wonderful creative writing skills, and research abilities to the tasks at hand.
She was always willing to assist others in genealogical research and loved introducing Boy & Girl Scouts to the basics of genealogy during their tours of the historical society. She was a well respected grant writer, and frequently offered to assist in completing applications to the National Register of Historic Places.
Meg spent her working life and retirement benefiting the unfortunate, connecting them with needed services, or many times opening her home to those in need. No matter the state of her own limited finances, she was generous with her resources and seemed to me to be a guiding example of how to treat our neighbors and fellow human beings.
Chronically late to meetings and loving to talk, Meg was a jovial, well informed and engaged historian who loved historical research, always finding additional “fascinating” off topic information over which to marvel and chuckle. An avid politician, she gained open minded perspective on life and current events through her travels living all over the world. She was also an early and well trained pianist and musician. She loved to feed animals: feral cats, special black birds, and a one very special small black poodle.
Suffice it to say Meg loved and enjoyed life. She was an idea person and more than once, wrote long emails outlining her thoughts on the direction our historical society needed to move. However, she was never simply content to sit quietly on the sidelines, but instead was always striving to make a positive difference in the world, in our Towns, and at BHHS. If attendance at her funeral was any indication of the positive difference she made in the lives of those she touched, she most certainly achieved that goal. We deeply mourn her passing and celebrate her life of service...
In gratitude and peace,
Jan Hill, BHHS President