Seventy-five years ago this week, on August 14, 1937, to be exact, the Appalachian Trail was completed and a plaque marking the end of the 16-year journey installed on the south side of Sugarloaf Mountain.

Captain Myron Avery, a member of the Class of 1920 and a career Navy man, championed the building of that pathway across Maine and was the first president of the Appalachian Trail Conference. In an op-ed piece in the Bangor Daily News, Maine Appalachian Trail Club president Lester Kenway recalls Avery’s passion and effort.