Question
In 1985, what would have been a unique Christmas gift that would have been of great interest to those who grew up in the Greater Pittston area?
1949
Listening to the combined voices of the Young Boys’ Choir of St. John the Evangelist Church was a traditional way to celebrate the Christmas season. Included in the choir were Leo McGuire, Donald McGuire, Vincent Bayaka, Daniel Donnelly, Francis Hood, Francis Dunningan, James Wall, Joseph Callaghan, Martin Quinn, Gerald Redding, Francis Roche, David Carey, Joseph McCusker, Vincent Yonavitch, Robert McDonald, John McHale, Alfonse Bruno, Francis Gubitose, John Connors, Lawrence Toole, Noel Thomas, Thomas Granahan, Edmund Reilly, Edward O’Malley, James Galasso, Francis Rader, James Booth, Donald Clark, Thomas O’Brien, Edward McCabe, William Mitchell, Gerald Wall, Francis Cawley, William Blume, John Davies, James Callahan, Patrick Mann, John Oliver. William Galasso, Francis Jackson, Robert Toole, Thomas Perks, Robert Loughney, Peter Flynn, William Clark, Patrick O’Haire, Vincent O’Haire, Joseph Mitchell and Michael Noone.
1957
The City Police Department and Mayor Joseph Saporito gave a Christmas present to Pittston merchants and shoppers. The police informed Pittston merchants that if any patrons of the local stores were given tickets for parking beyond limits at city parking meters, the merchants could take the tickets and turn them in to the police on Main Street and they would be cancelled on the spot. The action was taken after the Sunday Dispatch, in an editorial, suggested leniency on traffic tickets during the Christmas season. The city agreed it would be a nice gesture.
Always a popular choice for a Christmas present to that special woman, a one caret diamond ring was selling at Morris Jewelers for $388. According to the US Inflation Calculator, that ring would cost $3,480 today.
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church held its Christmas dance for area high school students. Disc Jockey Ed Hughes held dance contests and announced the winners as Joseph Neare and Madelyn Timonti, John Lombardo and Sophie Chairge, Jimmy Duffy and Alice Ann Gavich, Joseph Gaughan and Dorothy English, Earl Antal and Joann Dominick and Joseph Chairge and Rosemarie Marro. Judges were Nello Ricetti, Tina Matrone and Samuel Lombardo.
1959
Members of Greater Pittston Local International Ladies Garment Workers Union packed thousands of pounds of candy for a program for youngsters at the American Theatre in Pittston. The union rented the theatre and treated hundreds of children to a show, an appearance by Santa Claus and the candy. Some of the members who assisted in the event were Helen Karpavich, Agnes Secula, Katie Tirone, Mary Consenza, Jean Martin, Mary Kosisky, Helen DePhillip, Anna Silviano, Susan Ziske, Margaret Dobish, Catherine Newhart, Ann Moscatel, Lillian Migal Eleanor Bedisky, Marie Mattey, Sarah Cassiso, Catherine Schooley, Reva Pahlers, Mary Pugh, Claire Hogarth, Rose DeRosa, Ann Grippe, Jennie Bialascz, Carmella Salatino, Millie and Ida Millazzo and ILG business agent Clem Lyons.
1979
The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society hosted the annual Christmas Candlelight Tours at the Swetland Homestead. Members of the program committee were Mrs. Jay Niskey, Donna Morgan, Mrs. Charles Tamblyn, Mrs. John Darling and Mrs. Neil Kocher. The home was originally a settler’s cottage built in 1797 by Luke Swetland. In December 1978, the home was placed on the national Register of Historic Places. The architecture and furnishings of the Homestead reflect the period from 1797 to 1865.
Arthur Bartolai, of Pittston Township, former chairman of the Military and Military Family Committee, was presented a certificate of appreciation from the American National Red Cross. Bartolai served as chairman from July 1972 to May 1979.
1989
Pittston elementary teachers and students were eager to learn which class most creatively promoted their “adopted” book at the completion of Adopt-A-Book week. The original reading program, developed at Pittston Area to celebrate book week, involved teachers and students applying for adoption of a favorite book and then promoting it in various novel ways such as advertisements, original plays, reports, music and characterization. Displays outside of each classroom promoted book titles and authors and generated enthusiasm to read. Winners at Pittston City Elementary were the classes instructed by Miss Morgan, Mrs. Dessoye, Mrs. Collins, Mrs. Cotter, and Miss Hogan. Winners at Lincoln Elementary were the classes of Mrs. Battista, Miss Holleran, Mrs. Przybyla, Mrs. Verdine and Miss McLaughlin. Students in first through fifth grade participated in the program.
Answer
In 1985, St. John’s Lutheran Church Young Adult Group devised a trivia board game that centered on the city of Pittston and asked such questions as, who was Pittston’s first mayor. What was Pittston’s original name: What section of Pittston is named for a state on the West Coast? The Laurel Line ran by what type of power? The group used the sale of the game as a fundraiser. The answers to the above questions are Thomas Maloney, Pittstown, Oregon and electricity.
COST OF LIVING IN 1950
Average cost of new house — $8,450
Average wages per year — $3,210
Cost of a gallon of gas — 18 cents
Average cost of a new car — $1,510
Stromburg black and white television — $249.95
Ball point pen — 25 cents
Samsonite luggage case — $25
Clock radio — $59.95
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
1921 — President Warren G. Harding frees Socialist Eugene Debs and 23 other political prisoners.
1933 — Pope Pius XI condemns the Nazi sterilization program.
1937 — London warns Rome to stop anti-British propaganda in Palestine.
1939 — The first Canadian troops arrive in Britain.
1940 — Chiang Kai-shek dissolves all Communist associations in China.
1941 — Despite throwing back an earlier Japanese amphibious assault, the U.S. Marines and Navy defenders on Wake Island capitulate to a second Japanese invasion.
1944 — General Dwight D. Eisenhower confirms the death sentence of Private Eddie Slovik, the only American shot for desertion since the Civil War.
1947 — President Harry S Truman grants a pardon to 1,523 who had evaded the World War II draft.
1948 — Japan’s Prime Minister, Hideki Tojo and six other collaborators are hanged for war crimes.
1950 — General Walton H. Walker, the commander of the Eighth Army in Korea, is killed in a jeep accident. Lieutenant General Matthew B. Ridgeway is named his successor.
1967 — U.S. Navy SEALs are ambushed during an operation southeast of Saigon.
1974 — The B-1 bomber makes its first successful test flight.
1986 — The Voyager completes the first nonstop flight around the globe on one load of fuel. The experimental aircraft, piloted by Americans Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California after nine days and four minutes in the sky.
1990 — In a referendum on Slovenia’s independence from Yugoslavia, 88.5% vote in favor of independence.
BORN ON THIS DAY
1867 — Madame C. J. Walker, the first female African-American millionaire
1935 — Paul Hornung, pro football player; member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
1938 — Bob Kahn, computer scientist and engineer; co-developed the Transmission Control Protocol that web browsers used to connect to servers on the World Wide Web
1944 — US Army General Wesley Clark; while serving as Supreme Allied Commander Europe in NATO (1997-2000), he commanded Operation Allied Force in the Kosovo War
