1950 – 69 YEARS AGO
Eileen Smith, a former resident of West Pittston, left for Lackland Air Force Base, TX for basic training in the Women’s Air Force. A 1948 graduate of West Pittston High School, she was employed as a secretary at the Pittston YMCA. It was thought she would probably continue in that line of work in the Air Force.
The body of Pvt. Francis Guitson, of Duryea, was set to arrive at the D.L. & W. station in Scranton for burial in the St. Joseph’s Lithuanian Church Cemetery. Pvt Guitson was a member of the 52nd Armored Infantry Battalion and participated in the D-day action in France and the Battle of the Bulge. Guitson was killed in action on April 5, 1945 while a prisoner of the Germans in Nuremberg, Germany. Only a matter of weeks later, the United States 7th Army was victorious in capturing the city in the Battle of Nuremberg. American forces entered the center of the city on April 20, 1945.
1956 – 63 YEARS AGO
Some Exeter “old timers” remembered hardware merchant Elisha Atherton Coray, Sr. A man of considerable wealth and stature, Coray was a presence in the community in the early 1900s. In an article in the Aug. 19, 1956 edition of the Sunday Dispatch, it was reported he helped to save the Union after the disastrous Battle of Bull Run during the Civil War. Coray owned 140 acres of land known as Corey’s Glen near Harding in Exeter Township. In 1859, he became a member of the New York Stock Exchange and began an association with Daniel Drew the “Bear of Wall Street.” He and Drew purchased government bonds to ward off a collapsing economy after the legendary Battle in 1861. Coray passed away at his home in Exeter in August 1909.
1969 – 50 YEARS AGO
Mrs. James Murphy, Mrs. Joseph Hoover, Mrs. Frank Forlenza, Mrs. George Waikanis, Mrs. Joseph Latorre, Mrs. Mary Lonser, Mrs. John Conroy, Mrs. Joseph Wilkanin, Mrs. James Hart, Mrs. Josephine Knowles and Mrs. Michael Bonchonsky, of Old Forge, gathered to work on a quilt for a party to be held at St. Michael’s Hall in Old Forge. The light-colored quilt consisted of a delicately interwoven floral pattern. Reverend Edward Gerrity was the Honorary Chairman of the group.
1972 – 47 YEARS AGO
A request was sent out to all women in the area to support the Ponytail Sluggers, a group of girls in training to challenge their brothers in the West Pittston Little League, to a baseball game. Team members, coached by Anna Mae Ayers, were listed as M. Williams, D. Evans, C. Evans, J. Chonka, L. Mundy, P. Brannon, M. Williams, S. Tippett, C McDonnell, M. Devers, S. Selenski, D. Kovaleski, K. Mikita, C. Pope and S. LaNunziata.
August 1972 presented a whole new set of challenges in preparation for the beginning of the school year. The Valley was recovering from the devastating flood produced by Hurricane Agnes. Due to temporary relocation of families, it was estimated that 2,200 new students would be attending the Pittston Area School District. The numbers showed the district would need 42 additional classrooms and 46 mobile units to accommodate those students. Realizing that five other states were seeking government-supplied mobile classrooms, district architect Ettore Lippi advised school board members to move fast as units were to be supplied on a first-come, first-served basis. Mobile home sites accommodating displaced families were located at the Barnum, Lakewood Gardens, Rutledge and Lombardo sites.
1979 – 40 YEARS AGO
Coach Bob Barbieri’s newly formed Pittston Area football team had only one player in the starting lineup tipping the scales at over 200 pounds. With a tough opener scheduled at Wyoming Valley West, Barbieri’s plan was to use speed and intelligent play to make up for the lighter stature of his players. Returning players were Randy Jones, Jeff Singer, Angelo Serpe, Al Michalec, Mike Sobeski, Gary Vogue, Tony Burns, Steve Shamnoski, Nick Dardes, Sam Bellanco, Jerry Musto, Marty Bellanco, Pete Rizzo, Frank Burton, Jim Zarra and Tom Nowakowski.
George Tokash and Susan McAndrew, of Avoca, were not spending their summer swimming and going to amusement parks like most children their age; they were dancing. George and Susan were championship polka dancers performing and winning contests at Hunter Mountain in New York and venues throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They appeared as guests on the Bobby Z’s Polka Joy land television show, studied for two years with Theresa Matuszewski and were members of the Polka Gems of Avoca. Although the polka originated in Bohemia or the Czech lands, it is also the dance of Poland, Slovenia, Lithuania, Hungary and Germany.
1982 – 37 YEARS AGO
Joe Rostock, Joe Casper, Joe Shambi, Dan Kulich, Henry Halat, Ed Bellas Jr., Stanley Chikansky, Anthony Dylo, Frank Bednarski, Leslie Webb, Andy Salansky, Charles Antal and Pete Carroll, members of the Dupont VFW Post 4909, gathered at the post home to raise a new flag. Provisions were made to enable the flag to fly 24 hours a day. On June 22, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Federal Flag Code which led to Congressional enactment on Dec. 22, 1942.
With 50 percent of its $7,500 goal collected, the Knox Mine Disaster Committee held a meeting to discuss efforts to obtain the rest of the funds necessary to erect a memorial to honor survivors and victims of the disaster. Committee members hoped to attain their goal well before the Jan. 22 anniversary date. On Jan. 22, 1983, the Knox Disaster Monument was dedicated in front of St. Joseph’s Church, Port Griffith, near the site of the 1959 disaster. The church was closed in May 2008 and is now the site of the Baloga Funeral Home. Owner John Baloga is the grandson of miner John Baloga, who was killed in the disaster.
1986 – 33 YEARS AGO
Residents of Pittston were getting ready to celebrate the third annual Pittston Tomato Festival. Biagio Dente, proprietor of Dente’s Catering, had the slogan “world’s quality tomato capital” painted adjacent to the Pittston PA address on his business vehicles. Drawings and free items were being offered by businesses such as Falcone City Carpet, LaFratte’s Restaurant, Fino’s, Majestic Lunch and Star Beauty Academy. The city of Pittston announced free parking at city meters and Manny Gordon was named Grand Marshall.
1995 – 24 YEARS AGO
Dr. Joseph Costello, of Avoca, and Stanley Budzilek, of Dupont, were chosen through a regional drawing to fly around the world on the Coors Light Concorde Jet. Flying at 1,350 miles per hour, the company’s aim was to shatter the Guinness Book of World Records around-the-world flight record of 32 hours, 49 minutes and 3 seconds. A nationwide contest was sponsored to allow 50 sweepstakes winners to participate in the achievement. Costello, who always dreamed of flying on the Concorde, was the 51st name drawn for the contest. At a stop at Plaza Beverage on the Pittston By-Pass, Budzilek took several contest entry forms home for he and his wife. The Concorde’s only planned stops were in Lisbon, Dubai, Bangkok, Guam, Honolulu and Acapulco. In August 1995, the Coors Light Concorde traveled Eastbound around the world, setting an air speed record of 31 hours, 27 minutes and 49 seconds.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
1587 — In the Roanoke Island colony, Ellinor and Ananias Dare become parents of a baby girl whom they name Virginia, the first English child born in what would become the United States.
1590 — John White, the leader of 117 colonists sent in 1587 to Roanoke Island (North Carolina) to establish a colony, returns from a trip to England to find the settlement deserted. No trace of the settlers is ever found.
1920 — Tennessee becomes the 36th state to ratify the nineteenth amendment granting women’s suffrage, completing the three-quarters necessary to put the amendment into effect.
1969 — Two concert-goers die at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in Bethel, New York, one from an overdose of heroin, the other from a burst appendix.
2011 — Gold hits a record price of $1,826 per ounce.
BORN ON THIS DAY
1922 — Shelly Winters, actress who won an Academy Award for “The Diary of Anne Frank”
1934 — Roberto Clemente, outfielder for Pittsburgh Pirates, first Latin American enshrined in National Baseball Hall of Fame; died in a plane crash while delivering aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua Dec. 31, 1972
1936 — Robert Redford, actor (“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “The Sting,” “The Great Gatsby”)
1940 — Frankie Avalon, singer (“Venus,” five weeks at No. 1), actor (“Beach Blanket Bingo”); teen heartthrob of late 1950s–early 1960s
1952 — Patrick Swayze, actor/dancer (“Dirty Dancing,” “Ghost”)
