
Maine’s First Ship announced new officers and confirmed the addition of five new board members at the conclusion of its second summer of building a reconstruction of Virginia, the 51-foot pinnace built in 1607-08 by the Popham colonists.
Orman Hines, the former treasurer of Maine’s First Ship, is now president of the board, replacing Merry Chapin, who will take over the education committee.
Allison Hepler was reappointed as secretary. Hepler is a Woolwich selectwoman and a professor of history at the University of Maine at Farmington.
Gayla Pecci Teague, also of Woolwich, was named treasurer. Teague is a retired senior financial analyst.
A Bath architect, Steven Theodore, stepped down as vice president but will remain on the board acting as the Maine’s First Ship liaison to the Bath Freight Shed Alliance.
The organization also added five new members to its board of directors:
— Jeremy Blaiklock, of Arrowsic, owner and operator of Seaflower Garden and Design who has been volunteering on the ship project for more than a year;
— Ed Rogers, of Bath, a leading Bath businessman and principal organizer of Bath’s Heritage Days;
— Paul Johnson, of Bath, a retired educator and a member of the board that established
Regional School Unit 1;
— Bridget Healy, of Freeport, who has served on several boards including Mid Coast Heath Services; and — Richard Stevenson Jr., of Bath, co-president of Modern Pest Services and president Gulf of Maine Racing Association.
Maine’s First Ship employed a shipwright, a science teacher and eight Morse High School students this summer in fashioning the main yard spar for the Virginia. The project is located on the waterfront next to the historic Bath Freight Shed.
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