BELFAST – Spectrum Generations received a $70,000 bequest May 20, from the Poor Family Estate to honor the memory of Frederic Jordan Poor, a distinguished Vietnam veteran and former Belfast resident who died March 7, at Ocala Regional Medical Center in Ocala, Florida. The donation is earmarked for Meals on Wheels programming in Waldo County and Spectrum Generations’ Community Center located in Belfast.

Maryellen Sullivan, trustee of the family trust, presented Spectrum Generations’ President and CEO Gerard Queally, the donation at Grove Cemetery in Belfast on Friday, following a service for Poor.

“Spectrum Generations appreciates the generosity of the Poor family and the trust they are placing in our agency to deliver quality programming to older and disabled adults in Waldo County,” said Queally, in a news release.

“The Poor Family has a deep and rich connection to Belfast,” Sullivan said. “They are gratified to use some of the remains of Frederic Poor’s trust to support the Meals on Wheels program, as it continues to provide support to so many in need.”

Born in Dayton, Ohio, Jan. 19, 1948, and raised in Hempstead, Long Island, Poor graduated from Kings Park High School in New York and left for Vietnam in August of 1967. As an army serviceman, he spent three years as a control room technician earning a national defense service medal, three Bronze stars, and the distinguished Sharpshooter Marksmanship badge. 

Upon his return from Vietnam in August of 1970, Poor struggled with post-traumatic stress syndrome. He spent many of the 30 years that followed in New Jersey and then Maine, until he moved to Florida at the end of 2001, to be near his family. 

Poor requested long ago to be laid to rest back in Belfast, in the family plot, with his parents, sister Nancy, and generations of Poors from Belfast.

Spectrum Generations is a community partner serving older and disabled adults and their care partners, providing a network of services and supports that address social needs. The Waldo Community Center, located at 18 Merriam Road in Belfast, provides Meals on Wheels nutrition, Aging and Disability resource counseling, and Adult Day Care programming.

For more information, visit www.spectrumgenerations.org or www.facebook.com/SpectrumGenerations/.