Welcome to the commemorative 70th anniversary edition of the Sunday Dispatch. Inside this section, you’ll find stories that first appeared in 1947, giving you a sense of what the Greater Pittston area was like when the Dispatch started, as well as more recent stories that will allow you to see what the Greater Pittston area is like today.
This particular section is special to me as I started my journalism career at the Sunday Dispatch five days after graduating from Wyoming Area High School in June 1973. After a tour around the Valley, my career has come full circle, bringing me right back where I started — and I couldn’t be more happy to serve the people of the Pittston Area and Wyoming Area School Districts, which I consider my hometown.
I had the distinct privilege of working for both Bill Watson Sr., the very first editor of the Sunday Dispatch, and his son Bill “Pidge” Watson Jr., who took a young kid under his wing and gave her the job of a lifetime. I also worked with Pidge’s sons the late John “Chickie” Watson and Bill “Cowboy” Watson, who graciously agreed to write a nostalgic column for this issue, and a whole lot of caring, dedicated people who have carved the Sunday Dispatch into what it is today.
I hope this commemorative anniversary issue allows you to go back in time as well as celebrate the progress made in our area over the last 70 years.
For other 70th Anniversary stories, click here.
