PAGE FOUR
(ED. NOTE: The following article
was submitted by Eleanor Hicks
Murray, daughter-in-law of the late
T.M.B. Hicks, or ‘Hix’ as she was
affectionately known to area
residents. Hix, for years editor at
The Dallas Post, died Oct. 3, 1980.
The article was written by
request of the family, but Mrs.
Murray thought it might be shared
with The Dallas Post readers.
Eleanor Murray adds that “Though
none of us will probably ever win
the awards that HIX did, several of
doing freelance writing. Hix’s
oldest daughter, Barbara Hicks
Harding, writes a weekly column in
Herndon, Va. Her oldest son,
Thomas M.B. Hicks III, has
published a book on the Hicks
family. One granddaughter, Mary
Eleanor Sharp, has been published
in the Maryland English Teacher’s
Journal and is currently writing
children’s stories.” Mrs. Murray,
who lives in North Carolina, is
currently publishing a book of
poetry on Western North Carolina -
Cherokee County Summer.
BY ELEANOR HICKS MURRAY
I've delayed writing my
memories of Nonny, since her
death, because I didn’t want to
admit to myself that she had left us.
It seems that she left so many
things here for others to do, that she
could have done better. Inventing a
better way to do things was one of
her main joys in life. If there was a
better way to write a news story,
Nonny found it. But also, if there
was a better way for a woman to
change a tire, bake an apple pie,
make sailor suits for children and
grandchildren, or burp a new baby,
Nonny found that too. She kept on
trying till she found the best way.
She never went into any project
half-heartedly so it was no surprise
to me, her daughter-in-law, that in
1951 she was named ‘Outstanding
Newspaper Woman of the Year”,
that ‘in 1969 she received the
Keystone Editors award, and that
she also won the ‘‘Golden Quill”
award from the International
for her editorial on the 1963
assassination of President ‘John
Kennedy. Nonny had simply added
excellence in writing to the other
excellent awards she should have
received, during here lifetime, for
work well done,
Nonny was born in 1892, at a time
when careers for women outside the
home were just a dream in some
womens’ minds. But Nonny was
born with an excellent mind. and. she
wanted to be a doctor. Nonny would
have been a good one, too. Her
father, Dr. Martillus Todd, and one
brother, also a doctor, were people
she envied.
I can imagine there was more
than one stormy session when
young Mildred Todd confronted her
father and asked why she couldn’t
go to medical school. Remembering
her father, who firmly believed that
woman's place was in the home, I
can hear him telling her that this
was a ridiculous idea--that ‘she
should prepare herself for marriage
and if she was that interested in
medicine, good nurses were sorely
needed. Nonny took his advice and
had nurse’s training at ‘John
Hopkins in Baltimore, Marylans.
She became an excellent nurse anc
the country lost an excellent woman
doctor.
Nonny married ‘Thomas M.B.
Hicks, Jr. in 1916 and she had four
children. The Hicks family lived all
over the United States--Tom was a
department ‘store executive and
was transferred frequently. Nonny
had no roots in any city those days,
but wherever she lived, she put up
curtains and transformed the house
into a home for Tom and her brood
of four. She became an excellent
cook and Tom, who the family later
called “Gramps” used to say that
when she died, Best Cook In The
County should be on her tombstone--
this tribute annoyedsis wife no end.
Wherever she lived, people,
recognizing that she had leadership
ability, sought her out and asked
her to accept offices in community
organizations. She worked with
many groups, including the Red
Cross, the Friends Service, and the
Girl Scouts, but her greatest contri-
butions to her community took
place after her children were
grown.
Motherhood in those days, was
Nonny’s greatest challenge and she
wished to maintain a good home for
her four children, nourishing food,
and maintain activities in her home
which would help her children
develop interests and skills. She
turned her attention almost entirely
to’ community activities which in-
volved children.
She loved good literature and
read aloud very well. She read
Dickens to her children and other
classics. She read to her husband,
when he was tired after a week of
business activities.
take dancing lessons herself, she
was determined that ‘her two
daughters should have the best
dance instruction that the family
could afford. She also provided
piano lessons for her children, and
play well. Her two daughters, when
they were grown, became
N
professional dancing teachers.
Later, her oldest daughter, Bar-
bara, founded a nursery school and
also became an elementary school
teacher. Her daughter, Persis, is a
choir director and in recent years,
has become a nurse.
Nonny’s oldest son, Thomas M.B.
Hicks III, became a Lt. Colonel in
the US Army and at the height of his
army career, was Chief of Public
Information for the Army in the
Panama Canal Zone. Like Nonny,
he was literary and an excellent
news writer.
Her youngest son, Warren, had a
Weekends in Packanack, New
Jersey, he took an active interest in
Little Theater and appeared in
many stage productions in that
area. All Nonny’s children have
talent and special skills, and Nonny
is responsible for encouraging them
to develop those skills.
Nonny did grow old at the end of
her life but when I visualize her, she
is the young, strong active woman
that I knew most of my life. I see
her climbing rocky hillsides with
her grandchildren in Ricket’s Glen.
I see her racing her car ahead of son
Tom’s and beating him home and
when he arrived, laughing like
crazy. I watch her, home from a
day’s work at the Dallas Post,
standing on the flagstone floor of
her kitchen all evening, caning
chairs. I see her in her huge home in
Kingston, manning a shovel and
throwing coal to the back of that
giant furnace--a feat 1 tried but
never mastered.
Pictures of Nonny doing things
flash through my mind and I wipe
some tears away--for I loved her
very much. I thought of myself as
her daughter, not her daughter-in-
law. I see her pumping her treadle
sewing machine with her feet--she
scorned electric machines--and
turning out slacks and shirts by the
dozen for grandsons and grand-
daughters.
In my next picture, it’s winter and
Nonny, wearing a shirtwaist dress,
is holding a mince pie in her hands
lovingly and crimping it just so. Her
hair is white’ and .short ‘and
naturally curly. Her dark eyes
twinkle as after a serious dis-
cussion, she says something
terribly funny.
Is there a woman alive today who,
knowing Nonny, hasn’t adopted a
19 when I first met Nonny--and what
a child I must have seemed to her.
She took a mom’s interest in‘me--
my own mother died when I was 17--
and started throwing ideas at me.
At that time, many of her ideas fell
on fallow ground because I came
from a family of school teachers
and office secretaries, who were
mostly part time homemakers and
can opener cooks. I couldn’t see
where I needed all Nonny’s home-
making skills-even though I did.
Nevertheless, I fell in love with’
her and she quickly interested me in
Sondielign dinners for families and
lovely old antique furniture, Bates
white ‘colonial bedspreads and
marble topped dressers, Chinese
Foo Dogs and fireplace fires and
walks through the snow, with cocoa
afterward made by Nonny. She
introduced me to Nonny’s chewin’
soup, a wonderful concoction with a
bone from the butcher and fresh
vegetables that will feed a family
for a week in hard times, simply by
adding more vegetables daily and
letting it simmer awhile on the back
of the stove.
Nonny knew about natural child-
birth, before the term was ever
used in books. She sat with: me
and taught me how to relax com-
pletely between the pains. She
rushed me down the hall to the
delivery room when Mary Eleanor
was born; she and a student nurse
pushing the cart, Nonny hollering at
me, “It’s coming--don’t you dare
shut your mouth!”
Being a realist herself, she used
to be quite upset with me often be-
cause I insisted on avoiding
thinking about some things that
were going on in the world. In World
War II, she took me to'a newsreel
and I covered my eyes at the con-
centration camp scenes, with
Nonny saying indignantly, “It isn’t
happening because you're not
watching!”
Probably her greatest disappoint-
ment with me, was the time she
invited her daughter, Barbara, and
me to attend a real ““first’’ in 1944--a
, series of film slides showing, micro-
scopic of course, conception. (We
didn’t have X-Rated movies then.) I
refused to go with them, saying, “I
don’t think that married love would
seem as romantic if I had to go and
look at all that!”
The years went on and Nonny got
me interested in choir singing,
square dancing, puppet making and
putting on plays in your own puppet
theater, May Day Dances for all the
children in the neighborhood, with
Nonny providing the ideas and the
work for most of the costumes.
“An old fashioned lady costume--
no problem,” said Nonny. Just
make the ruffled pantaloons out of
old white ruffled curtains. Later I
did it, when I had children of my
own.
Nonny played leading parts: in
“The Women’ and ‘‘Arsenic and
Old Lace.” This is when she lived in
Kingston. Later, I tried acting in
BY DEBBIE Z.
I’m late, I'm late, I’m late for a
very important deadline. Sorry Mr.
Allen, ‘but youll have to shoot me
(again). I know I'm late; and I'm so
so sorry, but life will continue. (I'm
falling behind in everything this
week).
First I'll start with the biggest
bummer of the week: I went to the
dentist only to find out that I' have a
cavity. However, the Big D let me
truck around Dallas in Mr. Den-
mon’s Trail Duster and it was so
fabulous that I forgot all about my
cavity: I didn’t hit anything, and for
the rest of the day I was walking
around with a big smile. (Little
But...you might as well not expect
my birthdays to’ be up to date:
They’re not. ‘Still...Margaret from
Humphrey’s celebrated last week,
as ‘did’ Mrs.’ Roth’ (Sept. 30), and™
last, but surely not least, ‘there’s
Mrs. Walters who celebrated back
on Sept. 18. To you and anyone else
who celebrated, Cheers!
Nuclear Power:
Rocky Blier’s in town Oct. 6, and
he will be at Irem Country Club
promoting the $300 million water
and land issue. Mr. Allen will be
there, and later he’ll be in Wilkes-
Barre marching gainst nuclear
power. (I can’t seem to win any
arguments with. Mr. A." about
nuclear energy. I'm pro, he’s anti
and we're both taking a firm stand
for our sides).
Iwas just reading in a daily paper
where a mean old columnist got
nasty about his advertising friends
who wouldn’t advertise and named
them in his column. Well guys (the
ones who don’t) I won’t tell your
secret.
If anyone ever says anything
nasty” abouteEricsLee. I'll punch
them out. T was in WB picking up
Peking Chef’s ad and Mr. Lee
bought me lunch. It was the
sweetest thing ever. Thank you-Mr.
Lee--you're tops on my list. -
How about a big HI this week to
Mike Kozick. Mike is our landlord
(A neat one at that), and I always
have a few moments to chat with:
By the time you are reading this,
the Berwick nuclear power plant
will, undoubtedly, have been ap-
proved for operation by the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission. The
commission will have decided that
nuclear power is safe and, although
it will not be included in their fin-
dings, it will have decided that a lot
of money has been invested and
must be protected.
The catch to this unspoken part of
the decision is that an awful lot
more of money is going to be needed
and the public will have to pay it.
Stockholders will have to pay also,
but at least they will get a return on
their money. The general public
will not.
The dreadful part of the licensing
approval by the NRC however, is
that the enormous problems of
safety still exist. There is still no
way to dispose of the awesome
wastes these plants produce. Some
studies, by scientists opposed to
nuclear power, have found that
50 Years Ago--Friday, Oct. 2, 1931
Nearby sites were viewed as a
possible location for a sanitarium
and health care facility: According
to local physicians, the sanitarium
would provide health and maternity
care, would be equipped to care for
convelescents, and those who
chronic disorders. Several hundred
acres of land at Harveys Lake was
under consideration at this time.
Creswell Drilling Company,
Forty Fort, begun drilling a new
well for the Dallas-Shavertown
Water Company in Shavertown.
Deaths--Simeon Lewis, Pikes
Creek.
You could get--Eggs 29 cents doz. ;
canned corned beef 19 cents can;
tuna fish 15 cents can; all flavors
preserves 35 cents qt.; pineapple 15
cents; black pepper 10 cents.
40 Years Ago--Friday, Oct. 3, 1941
_ District air raid wardens and
their deputies throughout the Back
Mountain were makng plans for a
“blackout”: The telephone com-
pany and local fire companies
would sound the alarm; interceptor
planes from Mitchell Field would
repel enemy raiders in this practice
drill.
Willard Garey, Lehman con-
tractor, built two bomb shelters,
large enough to hold all Lehman
residents. Garey also was filling
radiation from just ‘the normal
operation of plants is a serious
health problem. Industry scientists
and the government say not. -
Some years back 100,000 U.S.
engineers, doctors and scientists
formed the Union of Concerned
Scientists. They were and are
against nuclear power ‘‘until such
time as it can be proven safe’.
Included in their union are several
Nobel Laureates, yet ‘they are
virtually ignored by the news
media.
There are many overwhelming
hurdles that must be cleared before
this type of energy can be accepted.
Aside from the most pressing one of
safety is the almost certain one of
economic disaster. There will be
more TMIs and we will all be forced
to pay for them. Worse yet, there
will be a plant melt-down and only
then will the people realize they
have been pawns in a game of
American roulette:
JOHN ALLEN
ds
storage houses with supplies so that
food was available in the event of an
air raid. =
Engaged--Betty: Ide to Roy
Almerinn; Cora Elston to Robert
Jones. :
You could get--Pork lions, center
cut, 35 cents 1b.; ducklings 19 cents
Ib.; spinach 5 cents 1b.; cauliflower
cents; Waldorf tissue 6 rolls 23
cents; apples $1.19 bu.
30 Years Ago--Friday, Oct. 5, 1951
Bertrand Shurtleff, former
professional football player, author
of Colt of the Alcan Road, and many
other popular adventure stories
spoke at an assembly program at
the Dallas Township High School.
Dallas-Franklin and Monroe
Township School Boards met to
discuss the possibility of a jointure.
In other area school news, Kingston
Township school directors chose
Westmoreland as the name for its
senior high school. i
Married--Phyllis Jane Pascoe
and Glenn H. Brunges; Nancy. C.
Roche and Warren L. Thomas;
Amy Louise Miers and John
Andrew Odells.
Deaths--Sarah Baird, Harveys
Lake; Samuel D. Davis.
You could get--Spam 12 oz. can‘49
cents; Ivory soap 3 medium bars 25
cents; oysters 79 cents pt. can;
him. I also bowl for the Jean Shop
and I wouldn’t be on that team if
Mike wasn’t as kind hearted as he
is. So Mike, this year I'll bowl my
heart out for you and this week I g
ive you the “HI”.
My car is getting temperamental
and I'm: getting just as tempera-
mental as it. But like a Rolls Royce-
-it never breaks down--sometimes it’
just won’t start.
Eddie’s back in school so I don’t
see his parents’ very much any
more. So Mr. and Mrs. Chesnovitch,
if you're out there I send my hellos.
I guess it’s about time I let out the
big (and I mean big) news about
Jane, (Remember Jane?--she was
the Post's production manager, and ;
Rally Sport). Well, Karen Hunter,
and everyone else out there if you
didn’t hear yet, Jane married John
September 17, and they are now
happy and that’s"that.'""’ me
Dave Zimmerman lied to me and
I'm going to kill him. Larry Bowa
will not be in town, instead it will be
Bob Boone and John Vouckavitch.
(I guess Bob’s just as neat as
Larry). Sorry about the incorrect
info last week.
If you're not busy this Saturday
afternoon the Lake-Lehman Band is
sponsoring an ‘‘all you can eat”
bar-b-que at the high school. I’ll be
looking for you there.
And I must ‘congratulate the
Dallas Band for their top per-
formance in competition. As a new
assistant Girl Scout leader, I come
in contact with girls from the Dallas
Band who are super nice. And from
listening to them, Dallas Band. is
moving up.
I want to briefly mention Mrs,
Alice Niskey, mother of one of the
girls in my troop, who was kind
enough-te let us have a meeting at
her home. If youre out there
reading Mrs. Niskey, Thank you, I
really appreciate you getting out
troop started. (What can I say,.I'm...
a slow starter). HOO) SR
Well I really must run, I’ve got to
do homework galore! P.S. I missed
the Bloomsburg Fair this year-
Super bummer!
times
Packanack Lake Little Theater,
because of Nonny’s interest in it.
Mostly, Dallas Post readers
remember the country part of
Nonny’s life, when she left Kingston
and moved up on the mountain.
Doesn’t * everyone remember
she and Gramps made a vo»
home there? I see Nonny’s Franklin
stove in the kitchen glowing with:
warmth; always a mother cat with’
new kittens behind it. I see baskets
of vegetables on her porch, tht
people who loved her had brought--
and mince pies cooling on a winter’s
day. I see a new fire laid by Gramps
in the fireplace and the wood, so
carefully cut by Gramps, just so,
and stored for winter. I see Nonny
making chicken and biscuits ‘for a
large gang of children and grand-
children, while mothers tried to
keep the young ones out from under
Nonny’s feet.
“Keep those children out of the
kitchen until I get the meal
ready!”’, Nonny would say, and we
did. Because Nonny had the voice of
authority and soon even the
smallest children knew that Nonny
was the law. She had the voice of
authority and she stood seven feet
tall, with all of us. She never knew
that in height she was actually only
five feet and neither did any of t
rest of us. EN
Letter:
TO THE EDITOR:
I am a former Back Mountain
resident and I read your paper
every week. In fact, I must travel
from Wilkes-Barre to Trucksville
Pharmacy as its the first place I
can get your paper. I follow the
stories and activities about Tat-
tersall. I work every day, go home
at night, cut the grass or other
small chores and believe me its
kind of boring, but when I read
about all the things that Tattersall
gets into, I feel I am a part of it in a
little way. My wife saw Mr. Tat-
tersall in church. She said when he
appeared all in white, everyone
sang louder and prayed deeper. She
has been very active in bake sales
in the Back Mt. area. She says he
pulls up and buys all kinds of things
just to donate money. So I read in
your paper where someone com-
plained about too much Tattersall
in the paper. Well for me and the
men I work with, the people I see in
the diner where I eat and for all the
people *who work at ‘different
(bazaars and bake sales, I hope and
we hope that he keeps fighting and
protecting us people and that you
keep writing about it. Enclosed yoz
will find my check for your pap
subscription to'come to my house.
But I'm a coward like so ma
others so please withhold my name J
Name withheld
AE /
<
'
Aor
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fresh scallops 79 cents 1b.; bananas
2 1b. 23 cents; sauerkraut 2 1b. 25
cents; ground beef 65 cents 1b.;
bacon 49 cents 1b.
20 Years Ago--Thursday, Oct. 5,
1961
Jack Townsend of Athens, Ohio
purchased Dixon’s Restaurant. -
Townsend renamed the restaurant,
The Town House.
Dallas rattled with the sound of
jack hammers as workmen began
ripping up pavement to’ install
natural gas lines. Pennsylvania
Gas and Water Company expected
to hook businesses and residential
consumers to the gas lines before
winter.
Married-Donna Ruth Boyle and
Gerald Blazik; Jeanette J.
McDonald and Joseph Schoonover;
Mary Lou Harzdorf and Franklin
Mayberry. . o
Anniversaries--Mr. and Mrs.
John M. Cortright, Shavertown, 50
years. -
Deaths—-John T. Bogdan, Sr.,
Fernbrook.
You could get--Spare ribs 49 cents
smoked liverwurst 65 cents: 1b.;
sliced bacon 65 cents 1b.; sirloin or
porterhouse steaks 75 cents: lb.;
potatoes 50-1b. bag 89 cents; carrots
cents peck.
10 Years Ago--Thursday, Oct. 7,
1971
The John Wilson Murder Trail
gets off to a slow start with only one
juror chosen on the first day of the
trail. Wilson was accused of killing
George Wesley at Lake Silkworth in
January 1971.
Three Back Mountain homes,
those of Dr. and Mrs. C. Warren
Koehl, Jr.; Mr. and Mrs. Gustav
Kabeschat and Mr. and Mrs. Robert
Casper, were included in the annual
autumn house tour sponsored by the
Jr. League of Wilkes Barre.
Engaged--Jane L. Chase and
Raymond J. Shultz.
Married--Linda L. Parry and
John J. Vozniak.
Deaths--Joseph S. Warkomski,
Hillside Road; Edith Gibson,
Huntsville Road; Peter Kulvinski,
Harveys Lake; Clyde Davis, former
Dallas resident; Josiah Jenkins,
Shavertown.
You could get-Chuck roast 79
.cents 1b.; ground chuck 89 cents Ib.;
fresh picnic ham. 39 cents 1b.;
chicken breasts 29 cents 1b.; peanut
butter 1-Ib. 2 oz. jar 59 cents; Jell-o-
gelatin 5-3 oz. pkg. 49 cents;
Kleenex Facial Tissues, 200 2-ply
tissues 28 cents.
etter:
To the Editor:
Hats off to the Dallas Post for
taking a courageous stand on a very
hot issue. :
For the life of me, I cannot under-
stand why nuclear power has so
much support. The inherent danger
coupled with the astronomical costs
should make the whole notion
ludicrous. It’s like paying extra to
have a whole cartridge filled in a
game of Russian Roulette.
“Steaming about Salem”’
The Dallas Post®
An independent newspaper
published each Wednesday by Pen-
naprint Inc., from 61 Gerald Ave.,
Dallas, Pa. 18612. Entered as second
class matter at the post office, Dallas, -
Pa, under the act of March 3, 1889.
J. Stephen Buckley, Publisher
Rick Shannon, Associate Publisher
John Allen, Editor
Charlot Denmon, News Editor &
3 Circulation
Sheila Hodges, Production Manager
Mark Moran, Photography
Subscription $9.00 per year in Pa.
$11.00 out of state. Telephone (717)
675-5211 or 825-6868.
POSTMASTER: If undeliverable,
send form 3579 to P.O.Box 366,
Dallas, Pa. 18612, /