Oldest Business
Institution In
The Back Mountain
VOL. 65, No. 42, FRIDAY,
OCTOBER 21, 1955
Eighth Annual Community Con-
cert tonight promises to provide an
evening of top entertainment and
bring out the best talent residing
in Back Mountain communities. In
addition to fine music, those who
attend will lend their encourage-
ment to a number of youthful
artists who will make their first
appearance in public.
Tonight's program in Westmore-
land High School Auditorium will
have many features for the enjoy-
ment of the music lovers and com-
munity-minded citizens who at-
tend. Each year the popularity of
this cultural festival of music in-
creases.
While the first half of the pro-
gram will be devoted chiefly to
youthful artists, the second half
who have already made a name in
the musical world.
Among those who will participate
are Lehman - Jackson - Ross Joint
School Band, Regina Klein, Mrs.
Marjory Weiss, Donald A. Ander-
Oldest Church In
New Addition On
The oldest church and the oldest
established organization ‘ in the
Back Mountain marked its 112th
anniversary on Sunday, when
Huntsville (Christian Church dedicat-
ed its new educational rooms at the
morning service. Rev. Edward J.
Bruce of Pittsburgh, State director
of religious education, spoke, and
remained for the fellowship supper
Monday night and a meeting of the
Christian Friendly Class on Tuesday.
Rev. C. H. Frick, in conducting
visitors through the five new class-
rooms, choirroom, nursery and the
sound proof auditorium for mothers
of young children, explained that
much work remains to be done be-
fore most of the huge space can be
put into actual use. The mother’s
auditorium, separated from the
sanctuary by broad expanses of
plate glass and equipped with a pub-
lic address system, is already in
use, * .
Rev. and Mrs. Frick held open
house for congregation and friends
Sunday afternoon in the parsonage.
Elder William D. Lane, pastor of
Plymouth Christian Church, found-
ed Huntsville Christian Church Oc-
tober 15, 1843, specifying that there
should be a congregational meeting
once a year to discuss matters of
business and policy. Truman Ather-
grant, gave land and timbers for
the original quaint structure, now
obscured by remodelling, resurfac-
ing, and additions. Mr. Atherton’s
name appears first on the list of
members.
A niche in the church office, con-
structed of some of the original
heavy timber material rescued
when walls were torn out, will con-
tain mementoes, with Elder Lane’s
picture in the center. Rev. Frick
son, Jr., Sandra Chere, Peggie Perk-
ins, Vernalee Pritchard, Larry J.
Carpenter, Brenda Clause, William
Roberts, Keith Yeisley, William
Winter, Dallas Women’s Club Chor-
ale, Mary Jo Williams, William H.
Burnaford, Ruth Turn Reynolds,
Charles S. Nicol, Jr., Atty. William
A. Valentine.
Accompanists will be Sarah Reese
Ferguson, Prof. Alfred Milliner
Camp, Roberta Williams, Ruth Turn
Reynolds, Mrs. William Baker, Sr.
Mrs. William H. Burnaford, Regina
Klein, and Louie Weigand Ayre.
The Lehman - Jackson - Ross Joint
Band will be under the direction
of Prof. Bernard J. Gerrity, and the
Dallas Woman's Club Chorale will
be directed by Mrs. Norman F.
Patton.
The auditorium will be open at
7:30 and the, program will start
promptly at 8. Many talented art-
ists had to be eliminated this year
in order to keep the program with-
|in the two-hour limit. Tickets will
Ibe on sale at the door.
Area Dedicates
112th Birthday
ELDER WILLIAM LANE
A
plans to include mortise and tenon
features, and some of the original
wooden pegs used in framing the
building. The early communion set,
a modest pitcher with a pair of
goblets, will be on display as a link
with the past. Its use once a year
to maintain tradition has been sug-
gested.
Gra-Y Club Forming
The Back Mountain YMCA’s
[Shavertown Gra-Y Club is organiz-
ing and meeting weekly on Tues-
day afternoon at 4 at the ‘Y’ build-
ing in Shavertown. Jim Eckerd is
the Club Counselor.
FROM.
Usd parking spots are under a
tangled mass of branches, and the
rocky road occasionally used by
picnic parties is completély blocked.
And just as well, as the mortality
on springs and dented gasoline
tanks of lower-slung models has
been terrific.
It was the giants of the forest
that crashed, indicating that the
gusts swirled along over the tops
of the lower growth. The creek it-
self, fed by mountain streams, was
still in heavy freshet Sunday morn-
ing, with swollen water dashing
across the top of the rocky ledge
where divers congrogats on sunny
summer days.
Checking with AL Shook,
one-time principal of Dallas Bor-
ough School and owner for the past
twenty-eight years of a general
store in Noxen, brought out some
interesting past history on the ram-
pages of Bowman’s Creek.
Friday and Saturday's freshet, he
said, was not much of a flood after
all, reaching to a point eighteen
inches beneath the bridge in the
heart of Noxen. That bridge was
swept away by flood waters during
a former flood.
The Buckwheat Flood is a matter
of history. Farmers had planted
their buckwheat somewhat late,
but it was making good headway
when the creek rose and covered
|
the flats, sweeping all the buck-
wheat before it in a surprise flood
that followed a cloudburst up in
the mountains.
Bowmans Creek, said Mr. Shook
with pride, is completely incalcul-
able. Other areas flood, and Bow-
mans Creek goes placidly along in
its own stream bed. The big Valley
flood of 1936 left Bowmans Creek
untouched, while snows on lower
levels melted and added their dev-
astating freight of angry water to
the raging Susquehanna.
And on the other hand, Bowmans
Creek came within a foot of the
bottons- 6f the bridge near Noxen
Methodist Church in August at the
time of the Stroudsburg area dis-
aster, while the Susquehanna flow-
ed smoothly and far below flood
stage.
Asked if the cyclone damaged
Noxen-proper at all, Mr. Shook said
a few trees had been blown down,
among them a maple which fell
against the house on the Charles
Womer property on Island Road, a
willow in John Byrne's yard, and a
tree which fell on the roof of the
Lewis Blizard home on Main Street.
No other area was damaged to
the extent of the small strip along
Bowmans Creek. Cyclones dip down
briefly and roar off again into the
upper air, and apparently there is
no predicting their course.
St. Paul's Will
Break Ground For
Addition Sunday
Construction Is
Expected To Get
Underway At Once
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, of
Shavertown, will break ground for
an extensive addition Sunday morn-
ing, as a feature of the morning
worship service. Rev. Frederick
Eidam, pastor, will turn the first
sod.
Plans drawn up by Robert Eyer-
man call for a seventeen-foot ad-
dition to the length of the present
structure, with a one story twenty-
six foot addition beyond to house
primary Sunday School classes and
an assembly room. Off to the side
there will be a two-story ell, thirty-
two by thirty feet. Construction will
match the present building, stucco
over concrete. The additions will
add space enough for eleven class-
rooms, several multi-purpose rooms,
and a church office.
The congregation voted a build-
ing budget not to exceed $48,000.
Already on hand is $13,000 building
fund. A church mortgage for the
remainder will be paid off within
eight years.
A. O. Yocum has the general con-
tract for approximately $33,000;
Harold Ash for plumbing and heat-
ing, $7,000.
Ground-breaking occurs practical-
ly on the anniversary of the grant-
ing of the first charter thirty years
ago, October 25, 1925, when twenty-
nine charter members pledged their
homes to finance their church.
Lake-Noxen Has
Dutch Display
Students Decorate
For State Week
All rooms in Lake-Noxen schools
participated in’ the celebration of.
Pennsylrania Week, October 9 to
14, using a Pennsylvania Dutch
theme for their exhibits, and de-
veloping Pennsylvania Dutch deli-
cacies in the Home-Making Depart-
ment. Harveys Lake Womans Serv-
ice Club contributed toward the
prizes.
Prize winners from Lake are:
Teddy Higgins and Kay Whitesell,
second grade; Anne Mae Sites and
Marguerite Shaver, third grade;
James Worth and Sharon Strzel-
czyk, fourth; Ruth Martin, Eunice
Oney, Ruth Zorzi, Eileen Crane and
Irene Wolfe, fifth; Larry Carpenter
and Diane Gregg, sixth; Michael
Zorzi, Grover Anderson and George
Nichols, seventh; Judy Evans and
Sara Patton, Alan Hobbs, Don
Kocher, Allen Swanson, ninth; Har-
old Blizzard, Robert Turner and
Frank Jones, tenth grade.
From Noxen Grade School: James
Gillis, Christine Sevenski, Stanley
Scott and Tommy Xeiper, first
grade; Billy Price, Mildred Case,
Lee Bennett, Roland Teetsel, sec-
ond grade; Karlene Jones, Joseph
Halowich, Marlene Patton, and
George Patton, third; Larry Peder-
son, fourth; Edward Hollus and
Mark Dendler, fifth; Beverly Lord
Kovolick and Jacqueline Ruff, sev-
enth; Charles Kovolick and Verna
Smith, eighth.
Prizes for Pennsylvania Dutch
dishes went to Margaret Gensel,
Sandra Loomis, Joan Titus, Annette
Shalata, Ruth Galka, Helen Pilosi,
from Lake; Wilma Lyons, Carol Ben-
nett and Patricia Newell, from
Noxen.
Township Band
To Lead Parade
Herman Kern To
Conduct Singing
Dallas-Franklin-Monroe Township
will lead the annual Back Mountain
Hallowe’en Parade Monday, Octo-
ber 31. The parade will form at the
Commonwealth Telephone Building
on Lake Street at 7 p.m. and pro-
ceed past Dallas Borough building,
up Main to Mill Street, to the left
on Mill to the State Highway, again
left on the highway to traffic inter-
section, and complete the circuit by
once more passing the Borough
Building and judges stand.
Judges will select those marchers
eligible for prize competition, and
decide first, second, third and
classifications, among them funni-
est, most original, prettiest, best
dressed, best groups, and special-
Herman Kern will again lead
Frank Pavlick,
Bobeck,
EIGHT CENTS
junior vice - commander; Louis
Joseph Hudak, senior
—Photo by Kozemchak
Charter Members
Charter members of the recently
formed Eighty-Plus Club at the Dal-
las Post are: Mrs. Amanda Yaple,
Dallas, 89-year-old; Mrs. William
Cairl, Woodlawn Drive, 86; William
Amos, formerly of Upper Demunds
Road, now of Sutton Home, 89; Mrs.
James Ide, Lehman, 89; Fred Elston,
Lehman, 87; Albert Holcomb, Sweet
Valley, 86; Mrs. Elizabeth Smith,
Sweet Valley, 92; Mrs. Ella Jumper,
East Dallas, 86; Edmund T. Line,
Dallas, 89; Mrs. Ida Wilcox, Trucks-
ville R. D., 82; Mrs. Raymond Car-
lin, Sr., East Dallas, 82; Mr. and
Mrs. George Higgins, Idetown, both
82.
Admitting to past eighty, but not
saying how much, are: Minnie Ben-
scoter, Trucksville; Nancy Searfoss;
East Dallas! Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Gal-
lup, Hunlecks Creek.
"This is a club with a unique ‘con-
stitution: No dues, no meetings, no
obligations. The only requirement
is that the applicant be over eighty,
live in the Back Mountain, and en-
joy having a personal copy of The
Dallas Post instead of having to wait
until the family finishes reading it.
To the one or two thrifty souls
who have suggested that Granny's
copy might well take the place of
the family copy, the answer is
thumbs down. But oldsters who
have never had a subscription may
get aboard the band-wagon, and the
family may enjoy it after Granny
gets through with it.
There are some vital statistics
which will be helpful. Dates and
places of birth should go on the
special Eighty-Plus Club record
applicant has lived in the area, and
anything else that might be of in-
terest.
Cards of those over 85 carry a
star. Those over 90, carry two stars.
Up to date, there is only one card
with two’ stars on it, Mrs. Eliza-
beth Smith’s, of Sweet Valley. Mr.
Amos will get two stars, come Jan-
uary 12.
A sprinkling of names of oldsters
keeps coming into the office, and
more names are expected as folks
catch up with page 6 of the October
Sign Up For
Charter Member
MRS. AMANDA YAPLE
7 issue of The Dallas Post. There
are a number of people over ninety
in the community, some of them in
exceptionally good health. There is
one out in Noxen who ought to send
in her name, and one in Huntsville
who must be about ready for two
stars.
Let's have those names. Our bet
is that there are a hundred people
in the Back Mountain over eighty
years of age. Maybe more.
John Johnson Plays In
Backfield At Florida
John Johnson, a former football
player at Westmoreland, is playing
right halfback for the University
of Florida. John, who left West-
moreland High School in his junior
year, when his parents, Mr. and
Mrs. John Johnson, left Shavertown
for Schuylkill Haven, played also
on the undefeated 1954 Schuylkill
Squier,
board; kneeling:
Franklin-Noxen.
Ambulance Runs
To Philadelphia
First Long Trip
To Pick Up Ferry
Dallas Community Ambulance
made its first run to Philadelphia
on Wednesday, when Norti Berti
and Leslie Barstow transferred
Frank Ferry, surgical patient for
the past two months at Temple
University Hospital, to his home on
Machell Avenue.
It was a true neighborhood pro-
ject. By-laws of the Ambulance
Association requiring presence of a
doctor or a nurse on such long-
distance runs, Mrs. Lester Shark-
oski, practical nurse, volunteered to
accompany the drivers. Mrs. Mich-
ael Campbell, Center ' Hill Road,
cared for Mrs. Sharkoski’s three-
month old baby, adding its schedule
to her own busy day and household
of five children. Mrs. Sharkoski had
to get two other children started
for Gate of Heaven School before
she could leave at 9 a.m.
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ferry were
so moved at seeing three familiar
faces from Dallas that the transfer
from hospital bed to ambulance
stretcher was accomplished damp-
eyed. Mr. Ferry stood. the trip well,
though four hours on the road
tired him. Mr. Berti reports that
the ambulance ran like a watch,
and needed gas only once, at Wind-
gap on the way home. It was re-
turned to the Fire House at 5 p.m.
Country Couples
Harry Lefko was installed as the
president of Dallas Methodist Coun-
try Couples (Club by Rev. William
Heapps at Sunday night's dinner
dent, Stella Bulford secretary, and
Evelyn Hopkins treasurer.
Lehman Man Breaks Arm
Robert Ikeler, Lehman, is suf-
fering from a badly splintered arm,
broken when a tractor leapt for-
ward and knocked him off a stone
boat last Thursday at Hayfield
Farm,
Robert Bellas, principal Lake-
Halt Million To
Be Represented
At PTA Sessions
Back Mountain Council
Will Have Delegates
At Buck Hill Falls
Mrs. Louise Caldwell, principal of
Dallas Borough Grade School and
president of the Back Mountain
PTA Council, announced this week
that nearly a half million Pennsyl-
vanians, vitally interested in the
welfare of their children and their"
schools, will be represented at the
forty - seventh convention of the
Pennsylvania Congress of Parents
and Teachers at Buck Hill Falls
Inn October 31 and November 1, 2.
There will be a number of repre-
sentatives attending from Back
Mountain Parent-Teacher Associa-
tions.
The theme of the three-day ses-
sions will be “The Child and His
Future.” Keynote speaker on this
theme will be Mrs. Ralph Hobbs,
of Cataula, Ga., for three years
chairman of the Committee on Pub-
lications of the National Congress
of Parents and Teachers. Mrs.
Hobbs will address the convention
on Monday night.
At the Tuesday night session, the
speaker will be Major Gen. Charles
T. Carpenter, Chief of Air Force
Chaplains, a graduate of Bucknell
University at Lewisburg, Pa., where
last June he was given the honor-
ary degree of Doctor of Divinity.
His topic at the second night meet-
ing of the convention will be “Meet-
ing Youths’ Moral and Spiritual
Needs.”
At another general session of the
convention on Monday afternoon,
Dr. Harvey E. Gayman, executive
secretary of the Pennsylvania State
Education Association, will speak
on “Working Together for the Child
and His Future.”
The greater part of the three-day
session will be devoted to confer-
ences, committee panels and sec-
tion meetings. At these meetings
delegates will. enter into the dis-
cussion of opportunities for com-
munity service which Parent-Teach-
er Associations provide.
President of the Pennsylvania
Congress is Mrs. Cecil S. Garey, of
Scranton. Vice presidents are to be
chosen from three of the States
seven districts at this session,
College Girls
Speak To Club
Members Hear Of
Foreign Lands
Four foreign students from the
junior class at College Misericordia
spoke to members of the Book Club
Wednesday afternoon at 2 in the
Back Mountain Memorial Library
Annex. Maude Wadestrandt came
from Haiti, Adelisa R. Almaris from
the Philippines, Camille Vieira from
British Guiana, and Dolores Nagai
from Hawaii,
Miss Almaris, of a family of ten
children, became interested in the
United States and College Miseri-
cordia through a priest who had
at one time wisited the college. Miss
Nagai has not been in Hawaii since
registering here three years ago.
Both Miss Nagai and Miss Vieira
speak excellent English.
Mrs. Robert Bachman introduced
the speakers. Mrs. Warren Unger
presided, Mrs. Z. E. Garinger and
Mrs. James Langdon read secre-
tary’s and treasurer’s reports. Mrs.
Raymon Hedden and Mrs. Arthur
Ross poured.
Others present were: Mesdames
Roscoe Smith, George Montgomery,
Robert Maturi, Herman Thomas,
Otto Weyand, Paul Gross, Harold
Titman, Herbert Smith, Jr., Russell
Frantz, Edwin Norcross, Edith A.
Corime, J. Stanley Rinehimer, John
Vernon, Albert Shafer, Jr. Dana
Crump, Gerald Stout, Preston Stur-
devant, Felix Weber, J. H. Godt-
fring, H. W. Smith, and Miss Mar-
garet Wood.
Township Microphone
Hot Off The Press
The Hallowe'en issue of the ‘“Mic-
rophone,” Dallas-Franklin High
School - paper, was published on
Wednesday.
The editor is Wilma Weidner; as-
sistant editor, Verna Lee ‘Wagner;
art editor, Janet Newberry; feature
editor, Carol Altemus; exchange
editors; Marilyn Conden and Kay
Rowley; news editor, John [Senchak;
sports editor, Dale Wagner; oircula-
tion manager, Peggy Bunney; pro-
duction, Secretary Practice Class;
faculty adviser, Miss Ethel Shultz;
reporters, Mollie Carey, Richard
Clemow, Marion Noon, Barbara Nor-
Melicent Traver, Joan Payne and
Anna Mae Weiss.