York Town News
Ocean National Bank shows its support for the Nubble
By Larry Favinger
Ocean National Bank's holiday greeting card is an illustration of the Nubble Light by Lin Albertson-Thorpe, left. Gathering with her at Sohier Park for a short ceremony that included the presentation of a $500 check from the bank to the Sohier Park Committee were Sally and Ed MacGorman, chairman of the committee, and Kevin Raymond of Ocean National Bank.
Photo by Larry Favinger
YORK - Ocean National Bank's 2006 holiday greeting card, featuring an illustration of the familiar Nubble Lighthouse by Lin Albertson-Thorpe, was unveiled at Sohier Park on Monday, Dec. 4.
As part of the short ceremony marking the occasion, Ocean National York Manager Kevin Raymond, Ocean National's York market manager, presented a check for $500 to Ed MacGorman, chairman of the Sohier Park Committee, which oversees the Friends of Nubble Light.
MacGorman said the money will be used to help implement the recently-approved master plan for the area, describing the donation as "a wonderful start" on fundraising to complete the master plan for the park and the Nubble. He said there would be considerable activity there in the next few yeas as funds are raised.
MacGorman also said the park exists on volunteerism.
"We need volunteers of all ages," he said, not only to work in the gift shop but to give three hours a week as ambassadors.
He said these ambassadors will "walk around the grounds" at the park, answering questions from visitors, taking photos and providing a spirit of goodwill.
The Ocean National Bank card, the second in a series planned by the bank to be illustrated by Albertson-Thorpe, shows a snow-covered Nubble with large snowflakes in the foreground.
"There are so many pictures of the Nubble Lighthouse," Albertson-Thorpe said prior to the unveiling. "I wanted to put my stamp on it."
Albertson-Thorpe is a graduate of Syracuse University and has worked as a freelance illustrator for over 30 years. She has lived in Rye and Portsmouth, N.H., for over 20 years and is currently working on illustrating a children's book she wrote.
Raymond said Albertson-Thorpe was selected because "we want to support local artists and local culture." Everything to do with the card was done locally, he said.
"I'm very proud to be doing it," Albertson-Thorpe said of the series of greeting cards for the bank.
Last year's card featured an illustration of The Old Man on the Mountain in Franconia, N.H., so the bank, with local offices in Maine and New Hampshire, opted for a Maine theme this year. The Nubble, said to be one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world, was the logical choice.
"We are especially proud to join the York community in the safekeeping of Nubble Light," Raymond said. "There is no more fitting emblem of our region's spirit and heritage then the Nubble."
Albertson-Thorpe said she was looking for something different to do of the Nubble, and was struck by words on one of the benches placed around the park: "repose, reflect, rejoice."
Those words are included on the inside of the greeting card.
Looking to the future of Sohier Park, MacGorman said the funds donated by the bank are "the foundation on which we will build."
