Vol. 142 No. 24
THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889
August 18 - 24,2013
DALLAS POS
50¢
WILKES-BARRE, PA.
WWW.MYDALLASPOST.COM
AN EDITION OF THE TIMES LEADER
Remembering firsts — many, many years later
Lake-Noxen, Lehman-
Jackson classmates
gather to share memories
SARAH HITE
Dallas Post Correspondent
The Lake-Noxen Class of
1960 and Lehman-Jackson Class
of 1959 went through a lot of
firsts together.
They voted to choose the first
mascot and school colors for the
Lake-Lehman School District
when it combined in 1958.
That tradition continued
when many of those classmates
celebrated their 71st birth-
days during a casual reunion at
Grotto Pizza on Friday, Aug. 9.
“This is our third time meet-
together,” said Gordon
shimer, a 1960 Lake-Noxen
alumnus.
The 70-year-old from Harveys
Lake said the group got together
for its 50th anniversary reunion
and then everyone decided to
gather for a birthday celebration
last year, as many of the class-
mates turned 70 years old.
Now the tight-knit group
keeps in touch throughout the
year, thanks to modern technol-
ogy and it wasn’t long before
another reunion was planned.
Dershimer enjoys socializing
with his former classmates and
had only kept in touch with a
few before the 50th anniversary
reunion.
Beverly Wandel, 71, of
Harveys Lake, said she keeps
showing up to the reunions “like
a bad penny.”
“It’s fun to see all the old peo-
ple - or should I say, past class-
mates,” she laughed.
Wandel, a Lake-Noxen Class
of 1959 grad, said one of her
favorite high school memories
was meeting her husband, Ray
Wandel, when he came to the
school for the first time in ninth
grade.
“He was cute,” she said.
But her husband remembered
the romance a little differently.
“(She) liked my ‘49 Mercury,”
he said.
Frank Dudinski, 70, of
Greentown, met his wife Donna
later in life and out of the area,
but the two share roots in the
Back Mountain.
“My wife lived in Dallas, so
we always have a little rivalry
about which team has had the
(Old) Shoe more times,” said
Dudinski.
The coveted trophy is a key
point of rivalry between the two
school districts, and the varsity
football teams duke it out every
November to see who will win
the Old Shoe for that year.
Dudinski remembers voting
to pick the school colors and the
outcome was one he didn’t want.
“I liked maroon and gold,” he
said. “But I got used to black and
gold eventually.”
i 1
Lake-Lehman Class of 1960 alumnus Al Niezgoda, back, talks with classmate
Jim Roberts and his wife Nancy at Grotto Pizza at Harveys Lake.
Gordon Dershimer, left, and Norm James chat during the reunion.
&
As the 2013 high school
football season gears up,
Dallas High School head
football coach Bob Zaruta,
left, and Lake-Lehman
High School head football
coach Gerry Gilski are
preparing their squads for
tough competition. For
previews and more photos
of this year’s Mountaineers
and Black Knights, please
turn to Page 9.
Zaruta
Are you ready for some foothall?
Gilski
Back Mountain Regional EMS &
Fire named EMS Agency of the year
Jack Mountain Regional Fire
¢« EMS has been awarded the
2013 EMS Agency of the Year.
The award is issued by the
Pennsylvania Department of
Health, Bureau of Emergency
Medical Services, with the
assistance of the Pennsylvania
6 |
8151200794 %9
ty with quicker response times.
Emergency Health Services
Council (PEHSC) to recognize
organizations that have made
a significant contribution to
Pennsylvania’s EMS System.
The local organization was
selected because it has worked
cooperatively with surrounding
community organizations and
municipalities to make many
changes that included increas-
ing the level of service and
facilitating a change from tradi-
tional EMS protocols to a new
standard that brings a higher
level of service to the communi-
The public announcement
of this year’s award recipients
was scheduled to occur on
Thursday, Aug. 15, and again
on Thursday, Sept. 26, dur-
ing opening ceremonies of
the 36th Annual Pennsylvania
State EMS Conference at the
Lancaster County and Blair
County Convention Centers
respectively.
The actual award presen-
tation will occur on Now.
23, in conjunction with the
annual Pennsylvania Fire and
Emergency Services Institute
Dinner in Camp Hill.
4
Bill Tarutis photos | For The Dallas Post
Members of the Lake-Noxen Class of 1959 and Lake-Lehman Class of 1960 have a night out at Grotto Pizza at Harveys Lake.
Al Niezgoda, 70, of Dover,
Del., said the Lehman school’s
class colors were once red and
blue, and the district's well-
known Black Knight mascot was
once another fierce black char-
acter.
“We used to have a Scottie dog
as a mascot,” laughed Niezgoda.
Seventy-one-year-old Jim
Roberts, of Sweet Valley, was
hand-picked to draw the new
*
Mary Ann Sevenski Martin, left, and husband Al Martin,
a
both alumni of
Lake-Lehman Class of 1960, wait for more pizza.
mascot in the class yearbook.
The 1960 Lehman school
alum said he was always a good
artist, and he even etched in a
little dedication in the drawing
to his sweetheart at the time,
hoping no one would notice.
“I was dating a girl at the time
named Flo,” he said. “I wrote the
name ‘Flo’ in the knight's cape
or on the horse somewhere for
her. Now it sticks out like a sore
thumb when you look at it.”
Other classmates had simi-
lar goals in high school when it
came to impressing the ladies.
Don Steltz, 74, of Sweet Valley,
was no exception.
“I just remember cutting class
all the time to go hunting,” said
Steltz of his extra curricular
activities. “I was in the chorus,
but I wasn’t a good singer. I just
joined to meet girls.”
Sweppenheiser.
Members of the Back
Mountain community
came together on Aug.
10 in support of Harry
Sweppenheiser III at a fun-
draiser spaghetti dinner
held at the fire hall where
Sweppenheiser spends so
much of his time.
The Franklin Twp. fire
chief was critically injured
in a July 22 vehicle accident
during a hard rainstorm.
There were warnings of
flash flooding as the chief
and his 11-year-old son,
Kyle, traveled on Eighth
Street. State police who
reconstructed the scene
said Sweppenheiser was not
speeding but pooling water
on the windy road was
enough to hydroplane his
SUV into a treee.
Kyle Sweppenheiser, who
was not injured in the acci-
dent, helped to staff tables
at the fundraiser.
Sweppenherise is cur-
rently at a Philadelphia hos-
pital undergoing therapy to
regain use of his legs. He is
expeted to be there for sev-
eral weeks.
Maureen Oremus, who
organized the fundraiser
dinner, said Sweppenheriser
has an uncanny abil
ity to handle more than one
thing at a time. She said,
although it is difficult, the
firefighters are carrying
on in their chief’s absence.
People crowd the Franklin Township Volunteer Fire Co. Hall for a spaghetti dinner to benefit Fire Chief Harry
Support for the chief
Fundraiser dinner benefits Franklin Twp
ws
Sue Redmond, left, and Robert Kile, Sr. of Mt. Zion Fire Company dish out
spaghetti in the Franklin Township Fire Company kitchen.
fire chief who was injured in accident
Bill Tarutis photos | For The Dallas Post
Family of Franklin Township Volunteer Fire Co. Chief Harry Sweppenheiser m
chat at his benefit spaghetti dinner. From left, are Erik Sweppenheiser, son;
Harry Sweppenheiser Jr., father; Sharyn Davis, sister; and Sarah Davis, niece.
@