Bossie was presented the award by Children’s’ Librarian at the Caribou Public Library Jean Shaw.
“Wendy is a very gracious lady, always willing to help people with their family genealogies and Caribou history,” Shaw described. “She has lived most of her life in the Caribou area and knows the history of the people and the history of Caribou.”
Though Bossie has retired from the Caribou Public Library, she still volunteers her time answering reference questions for library users and has worked with the Caribou Historical Society.
“Wendy Bossie is an asset to the city of Caribou and also Aroostook County,” Shaw added, presenting Bossie with the Spirit of Aroostook Award during Thursday’s annual Recognition Dinner, held at the Caribou Inn and Convention Center.
Bossie offered her thanks for the award, and shared a few stories with the crowd.
As Bossie currently works at the Historical Society during their Saturday hours from noon to 4 p.m., she described one visit with two women; Bossie took them over to the museum’s barn where she highlighted a historic sled that had been restored locally with new wood to keep it from deteriorating.
One of the women touring the facility looked at the restored antique sled and said, “You took the history out of it.”
“That stuck with me,” Bossie said. “I had to explain to her that it would have disintegrated into a pile if we didn’t do something …”
Bossie explained the importance of keeping Caribou’s history alive; she also noted that local folks who’ve left the city for careers start moving back home after living elsewhere for 30 or 40 years, and emphasized that Caribou needs to maintain its history for those folks, too.
“As I was going up by the Nylander this afternoon, I saw the ‘For Sale’ sign on the Universalist Church,” she said. “… That’s Caribou’s first building used as a church, first building used as a meetinghouse. Let’s make sure we don’t take the history away from Caribou.”
