1948 – 69 YEARS AGO
Twenty-four gentlemen from the Pittston area traveled to Cape May, NJ to do some deep sea fishing. They boarded a boat captained by a fellow named Mayberry and went 30 miles offshore to cast their lines in an endeavor to catch “the big one.” In the group were Paul Augustine, Martin Quinn, John Golden, Joseph Perrone, Sonny Marino, Louis Marino, Andrew Steranka, Carl Ciali, Louis Bernardi, Billy Dworske, Joseph Smith, Joseph O’Mara, Joseph Cislo, Al Smelster, Anthony Venetz, Angelo Galli, Paul Hartel, Martin Mattei, Aldo Santi, James Lemongelli, Frank Salvatore, Joseph Stella, John Danoski and Bollo Sebastianelli. Along with catching 480 fish, the men also suffered sunburn, windburn and sea sickness. They admitted the big ones got away.
1949 – 68 YEARS AGO
Pittston High School’s varsity football team was gearing up for its most winning season, but lost the season opener to Taylor by a 19-14 score. The team’snext match-up with Wyoming High School was expected to net better results. Members of the team were Bobby Groves, John Toole, Frank Horan, Mike Marranca, Jasper Butera, Don Kozichek, Dick Mirisola, Nick Sanguedolce, Sam Capitano, Eddie Bochniak and Nick Rizzo.
1952 – 65 YEARS AGO
Nazareth Tomasetti, of Pittston, working as a waterline maintenance employee, stood on the topside of a 13-foot deep excavation when the walls began to collapse, covering his co-worker Howard Shannon. The dirt and sand soon buried Shannon and Tomasetti jumped into the ditch, and began digging with his hands trying to keep crumbling earth away from Shannon’s face and shoulders. As Tomasetti continued to dig, he himself began to feel the weight of the rock and dirt against his back, making his efforts to save Shannon even more futile. Police officers Bill Leppert and Jim O’Brien, business owners Gene Rinaldi, Bill Medico and many others helped to shore up the walls while Tomasetti continued digging. Shannon and Tomasetti were eventually pulled to the surface. In 1953, Tomasetti was awarded the Carnegie Medal for heroism in saving Shannon. His image is included as one of the 57 celebrated Pittston residents painted in the Inspiration Mural on the side of the New Rose Building on Main Street.
Stephen McKitish and George Dructor Jr., of Pittston, were called to military duty in 1950, interrupting their senior year in high school. Both men were members of the Heavy Mortar Company, 109th Infantry Regiment and were assigned to duty in Germany. Upon their return, both men were welcomed back to Pittston High School by Principal Francis Earley. Both men were grateful for the opportunity to continue their education and found their two years in the Army “gave them a broader outlook on life and made them especially conscious of the necessity and importance of a high school education. “
1965 – 52 YEARS AGO
Teens Caroline Eckrote, Diane Dessoye, Ann Foster, Roberta Nolan, Sharon Stodlaski, Jeanne Runsky, Noreen Heffron, Linda Grabowski, Mary Jule Dessoye, Ann Reynolds, Sharon Boos, Sheila McLaughlin, Kathryn Sowa, Betty Scarmastro, Martha Heffers and Mary Ellen Reedy were busy knocking on doors throughout Greater Pittston, seeking donations for a drive to combat leukemia. For participating in the drive, the teens were rewarded with free tickets to a Bobby Rydell concert. Rydell had numerous hit records on the Billboard Top 100 record chart. His recording career earned him 34 Top 40 hits, placing him in the Top 5 artists of his era.
1967 – 50 YEARS AGO
The first parochial school merger went into effect in Pittston. Originally, both St. Rocco’s and St. Mary’s Help of Christian Parochial School held classes for grades one through eight. Under the new arrangement, the first of its type in the region, students attended St. Rocco’s in grades one through four and then would go on to attend grades five through eight at St. Mary’s. Each school was staffed by four nuns.
Martin Satkowski, of Dupont, was on a mission to have a new post office built in Dupont. After sending a letter to Congressman Dan Flood, Satkowski felt sure his bid for the new building would be approved for the fact that Dupont’s population was close to 4,000 people, and that new post office buildings were regularly being built across the country. Dupont’s first post office, located on the Laflin Stage Coach Road, was built in the 1800s. Emma Ziegler was the first postmaster and Andrew Montabella the first mail carrier.
Tom Kuckla, SP4 United States Army, was on a brief respite in Formosa after 8 months of serving in Vietnam. While on leave, he ran into fellow Dupont neighbor and friend Ronald Urbanski, who was also serving in Vietnam. Both men reminisced about their days in Dupont and spoke of their hopes to return home. Kuckla enlisted in 1965 and began his service in Vietnam in 1966. A search of the names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall finds a Ronald M Urbanski, SP4, Army, as a casualty of war on Feb. 20, 1968. Home Town: Pittston, PA.
1969 – 48 YEARS AGO
The Greater Pittston Meals on Wheels program was initiated for the housebound in September 1969. Two nutritious meals would be provided five days a week for $5. In case of financial hardship, meals were provided free. Volunteers working with the newly formed service were Mrs. William Carey, Rev. Charles Gommer, George Bainbridge, Miss Martha Jones, Mrs. Truman Stark, Anthony Cardascia, Mrs. Louise Uritz and Gerald Remus. The first Meals on Wheels program began in the 1950s in Philadelphia. It is the oldest and largest organization serving meals to people in need.
1972 – 45 YEARS AGO
Two months after Hurricane Agnes flooded the Wyoming Valley many homeowners and businesses were trying to return to normal. John W. Cohen, a cashier at the West Side Bank, wrote the following letter to West Pittston Borough Council President William J. Miller. “Please express to Borough Council, Employees and volunteers, our sincere gratitude for their tireless efforts on behalf of West Side Bank in the aftermath of the disastrous flood that struck our community on June 23, 1972. Ways in which you helped so many through that difficult period will be remembered by everyone.” Meanwhile, Wyoming waited to hear about the status of House Bill 12, which involved tax abatement for properties affected by the flood. Duryea considered applying for federal grant for a new municipal building. Dupont sent a letter to the federal government, offering tracts of land for trailer sites.
1979 – 38 YEARS AGO
An article appeared in the 1979 issue of the Sunday Dispatch detailing the local history of the gravity railroad. In 1850, when the Pennsylvania Coal Company noticed the success of transporting coal by the gravity railroad, it commenced an operation from Hawley to Port Griffith. The 47-mile route enabled the coal company to transport coal to the Delaware Hudson Canal and on to New York. Eventually, steam engines were introduced and the gravity railroad ended operations in 1884.
This date in history
1642 — Arabs conquered Alexandria and destroyed the great library. Omar, the second caliph, successor of Mohammed, conquered Alexandria, then the capital of world scholarship.
1730 — Friedrich von Steuben, Prussian and US inspector-general of Washington’s army, was born.
1796 — President George Washington delivered his “Farewell Address” to Congress before concluding his second term in office. Washington counseled the republic in his farewell address to avoid “entangling alliances” and involvement in the “ordinary vicissitudes, combinations, and collision of European politics.” Also “we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.”
1928 — hurricane hit Lake Okeechobee, Florida. A levee broke and some 1,800 people drowned. In 2003, the number dead was revised to at least 2,500. In 2003, Eliot Kleinberg authored “Black Cloud: The Great Florida Hurricane of 1928.”
1963 — “The Fugitive,” starring David Janssen, premiered on ABC. Kimble was cleared on the Aug 29, 1967, and narrator William Conrad announced “the day the running stopped.”
1996 — A nonpartisan commission recommended that Ross Perot be denied a spot in presidential debates, saying he had no realistic shot at winning the White House; Perot vowed to sue.
