SUS
Q
February 19, 1975 - Vol. 75 No. 7 -
Dr. Brown retires at Wyeth
At the end of this month
Dr. John H. Brown will re-
tire as general manager of
Wyeth Laboratories at Mari-
etta.
His retirement ends 42
years Of service with the
company, which was called
Gilliland Laboratories when
he joined it in 1932.
In addition to his posi-
tion at Wyeth, Dr. Brown
is chairman of the advisory
committee of Dauphin De-
posit and Trust Company of
Columbia, president of Mari-
etta Gravity Water Com-
pany, and a director of Pe-
quea Valley Vineyard and
Winery. (Dr. Brown has an
extensive vineyard of his
own near his house east of
Marietta.)
Despite an absorbing and
time-consuming professional
career, Dr. Brown found
time to donate his talents
generously to his commun-
ity.
Community leader
He is a member of the
Planning Commission of East
Donegal Township, served
for eight years as a member
of the Marietta Borough
Council, was active in the
Marietta Lions Club and
served in all of its offices
including president, and has
been active with his wife
Kitty in Marietta Restora-
tion Associates since their
inception. Deeply interest-
ed in local history, he ser-
ved as the first president of
the Associates.
John and Kitty Brown
were married soon after he
came here to work at Gilli-
land Laboratories. They
raised their family here:
Saranna, Mrs. James Miller,
and Jay Harold, who is vice-
president and treasurer of
Miller and Hartman, Inc., in
Lancaster. John and Kitty
have three grandchildren:
Christopher Miller, Mig
Brown and Jay Harold
Brown III.
Prevented a tragedy
The career that brought
Dr. John Brown to Gilli-
land Laboratories in 1932
started in a strange, almost
tragic way.
John was a student in
college when he happened
to go to the locker room at
the college and found a stu-
dent there with a knife in
John L,
John L. Parker, Jr., Presi-
dent of the Borough Council
of Marietta, settled down in
the borough soon after his
marriage to the former Mary
Louise Wisman, who had
been born and raised in
Marietta. That was almost
RR
Parker, Jr.
twenty-five years ago, be-
cause John and Mary Lou
just celebrated their silver
wedding anniversary by tak-
ing a week’s trip to Virginia.
They spent three days at
Williamsburg looking over
that restored village, which
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Susquehanna Times & The Mount Joy Bulletin
MARIETTA & MOUNT JOY, PA.
his hand about to cut the
arteries in his wrist.
John interrupted the sui-
cide and talked to the stu-
dent, who he found was in
desperate trouble of all
kinds. The student was
flunking his courses in
school, he washaving trouble
with his girl friend, and his
mother was dying in a hos-
pital.
John took the student to
the Dean’s office. The Dean
called the student’s father
and found that the father
could not leave his wife’s
hospital bedside. The Dean
asked John to take care of
the student until the father
could come, promising John
he would do what he could
later to repay him.
For four days John look-
ed out for the desperate
student, who slept in John’s
room and went along to the
final exams John was in the
midst of.
Asks Dean for job
Later, a position was
open as student instructor
at the college. Although
the position had always
been given to a senior and
John was only a junior, he
wanted it and needed it
Parker
reminded them of Marietta’s
current restoration program.
They have three children:
John L. Parker. III, of Mari-
etta; Raeann, a student at
Donegal; and Michael a stu-
dent at Riverview.
Active in community
John had not been in
Marietta very long before
he became active in com-
munity affairs. He joined
the Marietta Youth Athletic
Association, and, contribut-
ing his skills as an electri-
cian, installed the stadium
lights in War Memorial Park.
He also donated his elec-
trical skills when needed to
other service organizations,
like the Jaycees and the
Lions. When there were
carnivals in the park, John
did the wiring. He did the
electrical work on Marietta’s
street Christmas lights,
which continue to win praise
from visitors to town. He
was also active in the Midget
football league, and drove a
bus to convey the players
to their games away.
much, since he was putting
himself through school, and
the job paid S50 a month, a
big sum to John in those
days.
John went to the Dean
and asked for the position.
The Dean, remembering his
promise to repay John, let
him have the position.
It was in that position.
that John began his career
as laboratory researcher in
bacteriology. That position
led to a position in bacterio-
logical research at the Hen-
ry Phipps Institute, and it
was at the Institute that he
first heard of Gilliland Lab-
ortories.
Idea for park
Among his many contri-
butions to his community,
Dr. John Brown likes to re-
call the beginning of War
Memorial Park in Marietta.
He was a member of bor-
ough council at the end of
World War II. He was con-
cerned that there was no
playground for children in
Marietta. He also wanted a
memorial to the soldiers
who had given their lives in
the war. The two needs
were cambined in the idea
of a living memorial of a
UEHANNA BULLETIN
Ten Cents
Dr, John Brown
Marietta moved on Market
park.
But the question was:
how to raise the money for
a park? At that time, before
the construction of Route
441, traffic to and from the
Depot on the west end of
Street. There were lots of
speeders.
Dr. Brown designed and
had installed a speed trap
along Market Street. It
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serves the people
Defeated for council first
time
In the 1950’s he made
his first run for borough
council. That first time he
lost.
With some urging from
others he ran again in 1968.
This time he won. Then, as
now, Barney McDevitt was
mayor. John, a Democrat,
worked well with Barney, a
Republican.
On the local level, John
does not believe that politi-
cal party affiliation is so
important. He says there
are good men in both part-
ies.
Although he had not
been eager for office when
he had first run, John says
he learned a lot about gov-
ernment during that first
term in office. In 1970 he
wanted to serve his com-
munity again and felt he
had something to contri-
bute. That time he lost the
election.
Pres. of Council, Constable
But in 1974 he was elec-
ted to Council again, and
this time he was chosen as
its president. In addition,
he was elected to be bor-
ough constable.
John Parker’s life at pre-
sent is very much part of
the borough of Marietta.
Besides being president of
borough council and con-
stable he is also superintend-
ent of the water pollution
control plant on the east
end of town. The plant
serves not only Marietta but
East Donegal Township as
well.
John has a very simple
principle which he adheres
to in government: to do
what is good for all the
citizens. That is not such
an unusual principle for a
public official to proclaim.
What is unusual about John
Parker is that he acts on it
and sticks to it.
Gave tax money back to
citizens.
Marietta Borough has had
continuing trouble raising
enough revenue to meet all
its expenses. Last year with
unforeseen expenses in the
new development on the
western edge of town, bud-
get problems were especially
severe.
To solve their financial
problems, council members
had talked at various times
about claiming the extra
one-fourth of the one per-
cent earned income tax to
which the borough was legal-
ly entitled. Whenever that
possibility had been raised
John had asked for an a-
mendment stating that any
additional revenue acquired
over and above what was
needed to meet borough
expenses, should be given
back to the taxpayers.
Mount Joy Borough
Council voted last Decem-
ber to claim the additional
fourth of the one per cent
earned income tax, thus
making it available to all
the municipalities in the
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