8 The Dallas Post Dallas, PA
Thursday, November 29, 2001
Townend
(continued from page 1)
He is also known for his role
as the director of Luzerne Coun-
ty Civil Defense during the 1972
flood sparked by tropical storm
Agnes and his involvement in
many community organizations.
“My father was a tremendous,
ethically principled person,” said
daughter Cynthia Donaldson of
Lamoine, Maine. “He was very
committed to his friends and
family.”
A lawyer by trade, Townend
worked in his law office in
Wilkes-Barre’s Public Square up
until his death, friends said.
“He went to work every day,”
said Lt. Col. Pat Riley, comman-
der of the 92nd Aerial Port
Squadron, an Air Force Reserve
unit based in Wyoming. “There
was a right way to do things,
and Frank always did that. He
was moral and decent. He was a
living link to the past.”
Townend was involved in
many major news events linked
to the Wyoming Valley during
his life.
On June 23, 1972, he ordered
residents to leave their homes at
6 a.m., about four hours before
officials predicted the Susque-
hanna River would rise beyond
the dike system, which then
stood at 35 feet.
In 1996, he said that contro-
versial decision was one of the
most agonizing of his life.
“With the concurrence of the
rest of the staff,” he said in a
1998 Times. Leader interview, “it
was the hardest decision I ever
had to make.”
Donaldson on Sunday said
people would sometimes ap-
proach her father and tell them
they remembered his voice from
his work during the flood.
“He loved it when people came
up to him, not because they re-
membered him, but because he
felt like he provided a service to
people during that time,” she
said.
Townend joined the Pennsyl-
vania National Guard's 109th
Field Artillery Regiment in 1938
after graduating from Princeton
University and Harvard Law
School. He was promoted to ma-
jor during his four years of ser-
vice in the European Theater
during World War II. He was
awarded the Bronze Star and
five battle stars during the war.
He also served in the Korean
War, held various command .po-
sitions and rose to the rank of
major general before retiring
from the Guard.
“He was a mentor and a role
model to any military person in
this area,” Riley said. “People re-
ally looked up to him. He was
the grandfather to us all.”
Early on the morning of Sept.
11, 1950, Townend was the
commander aboard a train car-
rying 700 troops from the 109th
that had been mobilized for the
Korean War.
The troop train was carrying
soldiers from Wilkes-Barre to
Camp Atterbury, Ind., when it
stopped to allow workers to re-
pair a broken air hose. Another
train, the Spirit of St. Louis, ran
through two warning signals be-
fore it attempted to stop.
It was too late, and the trains
collided, killing 33 soldiers from
the Wyoming Valley. Townend
tried to wake soldiers sleeping in
the rear cars.
It was his “greatest disap-
pointment,” Townend said at a
September ceremony marking
the tragedy.
Donaldson said her father
never got over the loss.
“He held those men in his
heart for the rest of his life,” she
said. .
Townend’s involvement with
the Wyoming Valley's Veterans
Day Parade stemmed back to
the 1940s, Riley said.
Some years ago, Townend pro-
duced a document from 1946
that showed he was the chief of
staff for the annual affair, Riley
said.
During a recent planning ses-
sion, Riley said, the talk was
about the parade’s spotty atten-
dance every year.
According to Riley, Townend
stood up and said: “It doesn’t
matter if there are 10,000 people
or no one shows up. We are still
going to march to honor the vet-
erans.”
“It wasn’t a commercial ven-
ture to him,” Riley said.
Townend was also the long-
time solicitor for Dallas Town-
ship, said Phil Walter, a town-
ship supervisor.
“Frank was a very community-
orientated individual,” Walter
said. “In the 36 years I have
been on the board, he missed
very few meetings. He worked
right up until the end. He never
wanted to give it up.
“Somebody would tell him
they were retiring and he would
say ‘Why are you going to re-
tire?” He was very talented and a
good man. He was the type of
guy who didn’t mind working.”
Townend was active in many
community organizations during
his life, including the Wyoming
Valley United Way, Nesbitt
Memorial Hospital, the Greater
Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Com-
merce, the Westmoreland Club,
the Kiwanis Club, the Veterans
of Foreign Wars and the Ameri-
can Legion, among others, ac-
cording to Times Leader
archives.
He also ran for judge of the
Luzerne County Court of Com-
mon Pleas in 1978, but lost.
At. a recent Veterans Day Pa-
rade breakfast, when . asked
what personal sacrifices he
made for his country, Townend
said: “I don’t look at it that way.”
In addition to Donaldson and
her husband, Gordon, Townend
is survived by his wife, Lenchen
Coughlin; a son, Stephen, a doc-
tor; Stephen's wife Suzie; and
six grandchildren: Morgaen
Donaldson, Cary Donaldson,
Nell Donaldson, Stark Townend,
Bén Donaldson, and Dunham
Townend. Townend is also sur-
vived by one brother, Henry. He
was preceded in death by a son,
David.
Editor's Note: This article origi-
nally appeared in the Nov. 26 is-
sue of The Times Leader.
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Work has begun at Lake-Lehman High School, but one contractor has. asked to withdraw its bid and
another is asking for changes in its performance bond.
L-L school
(continued from page 1)
said. “It seems to me we are
putting ourselves out for a lot of
risk on a $11 million project
that could probably be held up
because we can’t get the work
done right.”
The bid withdrawal by Con-
struction Unlimited resulted in
the re-awarding of the bid to La-
gana Plumbing of Hazleton and
will cost the school district an
additional $65,333. If the next
lowest bidder must be chosen
for the electrical contract it will
cost the district another
$23,000." :
“But how many thousands of
dollars is it going to cost us if
these people can’t do the work?”
Boytin asked.
“If you have trouble getting
bonding, you have trouble,”
board member Charles Balavage
said. “I voted no on the original
vote and I think you're going to
have problems.”
Although he said he had a
personal dilemma as. he works
for the next lowest bidder for
the electrical contract, Balavage
pointed out that the next two
bidders are “fine contractors too
and they won't have any prob-
lem getting bonding.”
Trumbower cautioned the
board that many games are
played in the construction busi-
ness and there are many ex-
perts who want to sue and file
actions for lost costs. “We have
to be careful we don’t take ac-
tion that will cause this project
to go to the courts by a bidder
who thinks he’s being treated
unfairly,” he said. “There are
people in the construction in-
dustry that are professionals at
filing for profitability that never
did exist and they are winning,
especially when it comes to pub-
lic work.”
Board members decided to do
more research on the issue and
place the issue on the Dec. 4
board meeting agenda. Angelo
DeCesaris, president of the
board, asked Trumbower and
Savage to be prepared to move
to the next step in the process if
the board voted to deny Main
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ne is Te first
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"Douglas Trumbower
Trumbover and Associates
‘ ve | been doing this
Electric's request. Trumbower
said the next step would be to
either accept the next lowest bid
or rebid the contract.
Later in the meeting, board
members seemed taken aback
when John Bodner of Bodner
Sales and Service of Berwick
spoke up during visitors’ com-
ments, saying his company had
submitted a bid that would save
the district about $7,000 on
faster and better copier ma-
chines than the recommended
bid proposalgon the «agenda.
Bodner, who «came to the meet-
ing to find out the results of his
sealed bid on the copier ma-
chine systems contract, said he
has had a good working rela-
tionship with the school district
for almost 20 years and was
very surprised by the higher
cost of a proposal that was on
the verge of acceptance. After
some muddled discussion and
shuffling of papers, DeCesaris
moved to table action on the
proposal from Golden Business
Machines, Inc. of Kingston until
the Dec. 4 meeting so the mat-
ter could be looked into further.
Moderno Rossi, second vice
president of the school board,
informed the audience that any-
one could call the school and be
put on the bid list for any item
or service to the school district.
“We look forward to that,” he
said. “We can perhaps get a bet-
ter price that way, the more
athif |
Back MounTAIN
TT ;
Route 1I8,
bids people put in.”
In other business;
¢ The solicitor reported a dou-
bling of cost would occur as a
result of additional required
bonds if the board approved the
appointment of deputy tax col-
- lectors. The board moved to ad-
dress the request by two tax col-
lectors to appoint deputy tax
collectors at the Dec. 4 meeting.
e Savage also said audits of
the tax collectors can be done
by an independent auditor, as is
currently the case, or by the
municipalities of the district on
the condition all are involved
and qualified.
e The solicitor will send a let-
ter notifying tax collectors that
extra fees being charged for cer-
tain reports should cease, as
the board has not approved
them.
e Bob Roberts, superintendent
of Lake-Lehman School District,
reported outstanding accom-
plishments ‘by the district's
sports teams, including the ju-
nior high school football team,
which took their league champi-
onship and which their division
at the Wyoming Valley Confer-
ence Junior High Football
Championships, and the junior
high field hockey team, who
won their league and District 2
championships.
* Roberts congratulated the
Middle Level Educational Build-
ing Builder's Club on raising
$2,000 for the United Way and
providing 14 local families with
Thanksgiving dinners.
e The board will meet for a re-
organization meeting on Tues.,
Dec. 4, at 6 p.m. in the music
room of the Lehman-Jackson
Elementary School. A special
meeting for general purposes
will be held immediately follow-
ing and the next regular com-
mittee of the whole meeting will
follow the special meeting.
2
Back Mountain
Memorial Library
new books
The Back Mountain Memorial
Library, 96 Huntsville Road,
Dallas, announces the addition
of the following books to their
collection.
FICTION
“Suspicion of Vengeance” by
Barbara Parker
“Mercy” by Julie Garwood
“A Heart of Stone” by Renate
Dorrestein
“The Talisman” by Stephen King
& Peter Straub
“Grand Avenue” by Joy Fielding
“The Mitford Snowmen” by Jan
Karon
“Half a Life” by V.S. Naipaul
“Portrait in Sepia” by Isabel Al-
lende
NON-FICTION
“The Accidental President” by
David A. Kaplan
“The final Days” by Barbara Ol-
son
“Wittgenstein's Poker” by David
Edmonds & John Eidinow
“The Naked Chef” by Jamie
Oliver
“Sicilian Home Cooking” by
Wanda & Giovanna Tornabene
“Chef on a Shoestring” edited by
Andrew Friedman
Twin Towers: the life of New
York City’s World Trade Center”
by Angus K. Gillespie
“Your Life is Worth Living: the
Christian philosophy of life” by
Fulton J. Sheen. Presented by
Charles Shafer
BIOGRAPHY
“Seldom Disappointed: a mem-
oir” by Tony Hillerman
“Call Me Crazy” by Anne Heche
“Thirteen Senses” by Victor Vil-
lasenor
LARGE PRINT NON-FICTION
“Christmas in Plains: memories”
by Jimmy Carter
REFERENCE
“McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Sci-
ence and Technology”
“Thomas Regional
Buying Guide 2002”
“World Chamber of Commerce
Directory”
“The American Prison System”
edited by Peter G. Herman
“Campus-Free College Degrees”
by Marcie Kisner Thorson
BOOKS ON CASSETTE
“Coldheart Canyon” by Clive
Barker
Industrial
“Protect and Defend” by Richard
North Patterson
“Dr. Death” by Jonathan Keller-
man
Christian bookstore
accepting slightly
used Bibles
Gifts From Above Christian
Bookstores will accept slightly
used Bibles to distrubute to any
individual, group or ministry
that is feeling victimized, fright-
ened or confused by recent
events. They will be distributed
without charge. Bibles may be
dropped off at the store, 419
Memorial Hwy., Dallas.
Tell our advertisers you saw
them in The Dallas Post.
They'll
appreciate it, and so will we.
PEO Re
S
n
heme BN
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