Julie Orton named Valley Grange Citizen of the Year
By Mike Lange
Staff Writer
GUILFORD — If people think it’s hard to keep a secret within the family, try keeping one in a school with more than 350 students.
But somehow, Piscataquis Community Elementary School pulled it off.
Retiring Principal Julie Orton was asked to attend the Valley Grange Community Citizen of the Year banquet on May 16 because she thought the organization was going to honor another employee of School Administrative District 4.
Observer photo/Mike Lange
CITIZEN OF THE YEAR — Julie Orton, the retiring principal of Piscataquis Community Elementary School, was honored as Community Citizen of the Year by Valley Grange. Pictured, from left, are Walter Boomsma, Grange Lecturer and program chair; Bill Orton; Julie Orton; and Grange Master Jim Annis.
Only after Orton and her husband, Bill, entered the dining room at the Grange did she realize that she was the honoree.
Walter Boomsma, the Grange’s program and public relations chair, is also a substitute teacher at PCES. “So many people help me put this together,” Boomsma said. “But the funny part was that Julie kept wondering why I never asked her for help.”
Many in the audience of Grangers, family friends, teachers and administrators praised Orton for her dedication, ability to motivate staff and relate to the students.
Former Superintendent Paul Stearns joked that Orton, nicknamed Teddy, also had a few quirks. “The rest of us would use iPhones, iPads or paper to take notes during staff meetings,” Stearns said. “But she would simply put dots on her hand. Sometimes she left our administrative meetings looking like the tattooed lady.”
Stearns said that he hopes that any other dots she puts on her hand “will be for things like taking a walk, planting things in the garden or buy Bill some fishing equipment.”
Fourth-grade teacher Beth Smith said that she could “not have asked for anyone better to work with … She is a professional, but she also has a compassionate side for everyone.”
Observer photo/Mike Lange
HONORED — Valley Grange Treasurer Mary Annis was presented with a 25-year Longevity Award during the Grange’s community celebration on May 16. Pictured, from left, are Mrs. Annis, Lady Assistant Steward Linda Erwin and Maine State Grange Master Vicki Huff of South Portland.
Peggy Cleaves, a fifth-grade teacher, attended a conference with Orton and two other staff members a few years ago, and said she was worried at first “if I’d make a dumb move in front of her.” But she soon found out that the principal “had a very humorous side to her … we had an absolutely wonderful time.”
Cleaves added that Orton “has made an increasingly more demanding job much more meaningful — and we appreciate what she has done.”
Accolades were also given by Superintendent Ann Kirkpatrick, former Grange Citizen of the Year Brian Woodworth and several other teachers.
Orton said she was “surprised and very thankful. The fact that so many of you came out here on a Friday night after working all week means a lot to me.”
The retiring educator said that during her nine years at PCES “the staff has been wonderful, the kids have been great and the families supportive and Bill (her husband) has been great.”
She isn’t closing the door on her educational career, however. “I’d like to do a little substitute teaching. It would be nice to come in at 7:30 and leave at 3 instead of 6 o’clock,” she quipped.
Orton became principal of PCES in 2010 when McKusick and Guilford primary schools were closed and grades K-3 were consolidated with grades 4-6 in the former Piscataquis Community Middle School building.
Observer photo/Mike Lange
TRIBUTE — As part of the Valley Grange Citizen of the Year ceremony, Walter Boomsma read the Dr. Seuss classic “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” to honoree Julie Orton.
Before joining SAD 4, she served as a literacy specialist in School Union 87 (Orono and Veazie) for four years, and as a kindergarten and Reading Recovery teacher in SAD 68 for 14 years.
Education is actually a second career for Mrs. Orton. A native of Woburn, Mass., she started college in elementary education but switched to nursing and received her nursing certification from New England Baptist Hospital in Boston. She spent 15 years as a nurse at Mayo Regional Hospital.
But after she had children, she started taking courses at the University of Maine to get her teaching certificate.
Julie and Bill Orton have three sons — Rich, Rob, and Ben — and they enjoy visiting Nicaragua where Ben operates an eco-resort.
The Valley Grange also presented a 25-year Grange longevity award to treasurer Mary Annis and certificates of appreciation to the Mountain View Helping Hands Project. Youth from the correctional center recently spent two days painting the 1,200 square-foot Grange hall dining room.