REUNION COMMITTEE MEETING SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1 TO 3 P.M. AT THE SHAW LIBRARY

The next meeting of the Reunion Planners for our 50th-Year Class Reunion will be held Saturday, November 1, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Shaw Library.

Everyone, please plan to attend. We need your ideas and input.

- Merlyn (Herb) Maney, Chairman

More Tidbits from The Progress

Tidbits from Third Ward School

Oct. 20, 1950 - The Progress …

Officers for 4th, 5th Grades Elected In 3rd Ward School

Officers for the fourth and fifth grades of the Third Ward School were elected recently.

Miss Flora Strayer’s fourth grade -- Kay Skinner, president; Judy Bell, vice president; Vicki Libreatori, secretary; Anson Graham, treasurer.


Miss Twila Matthew’s fourth grade -- Dennis Boal, president; Bonnie Henchbarger, vice president; James Brody, secretary; Beverly Caldwell, treasurer.
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Feb. 13, 1951 - The Progress …

School Pupils Make Valentine Favors For Hospital Patients

Patients of the Clearfield Hospital will have their food trays decorated with Valentine favors tomorrow -- thanks to the Fourth and Fifth Grade pupils of the Third Ward School.

The favors were made as a school project under the direction of Miss Edna Froyd and were presented to Hospital Administrator Paul Loubris yesterday by Kenneth Mitchell, Jerry Ann Jury and Gloria Wrigley, representing the Third Ward School pupils.
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Oct. 3, 1951 - The Progress …

Fourth, Fifth Grades Elect Room Officers At Third Ward School

Fourth and fifth grade students of Third Ward elected homeroom officers at meetings held recently.

Two fourth and two fifth grade rooms named their leaders. One homeroom government, room 9 of the fourth grade, is set up on the same basis as that of a town. ….

Fifth grade officers elected are Room 10 President -- Guy Graham. Vice-President -- Betsy Kephart. Secretary -- Dennis Boal. Asst. Secretary -- Jesse Stewart. Treasurer -- Virginia Smeal. Student Council -- Jerri Ann Jury, Gloria Wrigley.

Room 7 President -- Gary Bolton. Vice-President -- Laurie Smeal. Secretary -- Anson Graham. Asst. Secretary -- Judith Eckley. Treasurer -- Linda Wright. Asst. Treasurer -- Kirk High. Student Council -- Linda Kolbe, Gloria Rice.
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Junior High This ‘n That

Dec. 9, 1954 - The Progress …

Clearfield 8th Grade Pupils To Explain Geography Curriculum

The eighth grade pupils of the geography classes in the Clearfield Area Junior High School will broadcast over WCPA Friday, Dec. 10, at 10:05 a.m., a program entitled “Activities of the Eighth Grade Geography Curriculum.”

The broadcast will be in the form of a panel discussion. By this means the pupils will point out to the parents and radio listeners just exactly what is done in the geography classes. This brief discussion will include the content material of the curriculum, the actual learning experiences, and how these activities are geared to the individual needs and interest of the children.

Wilber Shirey will be the moderator of the panel. The pupils participating as panel members will be Pauline Maloni, Joyce Billotte, Joanne Shimel, Mary Kay Garman, Joyce Shugarts, and Sandra Brown. The program was planned by the pupils and the geography teachers, Horace Thomas and Harold Cassidy.
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Jan. 20, 1955 - The Progress …

Junior High Pupils To Discuss Accident In WCPA Broadcast

A panel of boys and girls from the Clearfield Area Junior High School Health and First Aid Classes will broadcast over WCPA tomorrow at 10:05 a.m. an original program emphasizing how carelessness costs many lives.

The eighth graders participating in the presentation will discuss the problem and dramatize their reasons for the disastrous conditions that lead toward the uselessness of the waste of human lives because of accidents.

The boys and girls who will be responsible for the production of this program are: Sandra Brown, announcer; Tom O’Day, moderator; Neil Buckley and Bob Lee, sound effects; Pauline Maloni, Joan Shimel, Bill Dimeling and Gerald Koval, panelists; Bill Fuhrer, Alton Davis, Wilbur Shirey, Dawn Cleveland, Robert Jay, Sue Sherkel, Dick Spingola, Joyce Billotte, Jimmy Stewart, James Walthers and Gary Greene in the skits.
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Dec. 14, 1955 - The Progress …

Clearfield Ninth Grade Science Class To Dramatize Skit

A ninth grade science class from the Clearfield Area Junior High School will dramatize a skit entitled “Electricity around the Christmas Tree” over WCPA, Thursday at 10:05 a.m. The play will show how carelessness in the use of electricity for Christmas lighting can be prevented.

The members of the cast will be Wilbur Shirey, Jerry Koval and Charles Nelson. Sue Sherkel will do the announcing.

The script was written by Jerry Koval and Charles Nelson, as a result of a class project on the safe use of electricity for Christmas Lighting and decorating.

The class project and the radio program are under the direction of Paul Bednar, a ninth grade science teacher.

Random Notes on Wilbur Shirey

Wilbur spent a lot of time in high school breeding and selling boxer pups (As spotted in the “Classified Ads” in The Progress. Many, many ads. No indication that he would later turn to honey bees).

Nov. 10, 1958 - The Progress …

Young Hunter Gets Turkey

Wilbur Shirey of Bigler, a 16-year-old Clearfield Area High School student, bagged a 9 ¼-pound wild turkey hen while hunting Saturday in the Grahamtown area.

(Note - Wilbur stands alone as the big game hunter of our class.)
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Tidbits from The Progress - All Research, Stories and Photos by Mona Kay Mollura Croyle

Sept. 28, 1950 - The Progress …

Fourth Grade Class Officers Elected In Fourth Ward School

Class officers and council members were elected in the fourth grade of the Fourth Ward, September 21.

Dawn Buehler and David Schucker were named council members. All council members elected from the fourth grade will remain on the council for three years unless they resign on account of illness or move from the district.

Class officers elected were president, Gary Greene; vice president, Biaggina Accordino; secretary, Sandra Howland; treasurer, Lewis Marrara.

John McDivitt, Nicky Mendolia, Judy Stevens and Robert Henry acted as tellers for the election.

(By Melvera Kennedy and Linda Porta).
__________

Oct. 3, 1951 - The Progress …

Fourth, Fifth Grades Elect Class Officers At Fourth Ward School

Class officers were elected by the fourth and fifth grades of Fourth Ward at organizational meetings last week. The fourth grade also named council members and staff members for its newspaper, the Star Bulletin.

Mimi Crowe and Dennis Howell were elected members of the council, Joseph Barbara was named circulation manager and Sheila Evans collector of materials for the Star Bulletin. Class officers elected are: President -- Rosemary Sturniolo. Vice President -- Sandy Ruffner. Secretary-Treasurer -- Ann Marie Marino. The tellers at the meeting were Judy Porschet and Donna Barone.

Class officers elected at a meeting of the fifth grade are: President -- Patty Peterson. Vice President -- Glenn Myers. Secretary -- Lewis Marrara. Treasurer -- Patty Smith.

Feb. 11, 1953 - The Progress …

Sixth Grade To Give WCPA Program Thurs.

Sixth grades will present their assembly over WCPA at 10:05 a.m. tomorrow by remote control from Leonard Grade building. Songs of winter and the February holidays as well as famous poems and quotations to be remembered make up the program.

Leaders in song will be Joan Shimmel (misspelled), Neil Buckly (misspelled) , Nicky Mendolia, Ginny Smeal, Pat Patrick, Diana Rummery (misspelled), Betsy Kephart and Jessie Stewart. Bob Lee, Dick Spingola, Tom O’Day, and Patty Smith will sing solo parts.

“Snowflakes Drift and Fall” will be sung by a group of seven, Dawn Cleveland, Carol Capatch, Bonnie Henchbarger, Judy Eckley, Ruby Ellinger, Sandra Brown and Mary Gintzer. Lewis Marrara with his clarinet will lead the group while they sing “Glow Worm.” Other participants will be Sara Lyons, Blair Hoover, Gloria Wrigley, Bia Accordina (misspelled) and Pauline Marrara (should be Maloni), the announcer.

Chad Maney, grandson of classmate Herb Maney, Is a Lucky Young Man

(Reprinted from The Progress)
Saturday, October 04, 2008

By Terry Whetstone Staff Writer
KARTHAUS - The morning of Aug. 19 is one that Chad Maney of Karthaus won't soon forget. The 22-year-old survived a truck crash that could truly have had fatal results, not only for him, but also other motorists.

Mr. Maney started his day out like he did every weekday; he got up early in the morning, climbed into his triaxle truck and headed down the road, but on that particular morning something happened. He wasn't aware of it, however, until he woke up with firefighters and paramedics working to free him from his truck.

Mr. Maney was traveling north on state Route 53 from Philipsburg toward Kylertown. He remembers the Hawk Run intersection, but that's all until he woke up.

Mr. Maney had blacked out, and his truck crossed the opposite lane of travel, went off the road and overturned onto the driver's side.

Witnesses said he was driving well when all of a sudden he turned left and went off the road.

Against his wishes, he went to the hospital via Moshannon Valley Emergency Medical Services Ambulance, but today, he's thankful that they suggested he go.

He said this was the second time he blacked out, the first time was about six months earlier, while he was sitting in his truck at a truck stop. He said he figured it was because he was working hard and hadn't eaten for a while but it turns out that wasn't the case.

When he was taken to Clearfield Hospital, the emergency room staff ran tests on him and detected a spot on his brain.

He was told he needed to go to Altoona Regional Health System, Altoona Hospital Campus, for further testing because Clearfield didn't have the technology Altoona Regional has. Altoona referred him to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Presbyterian Hospital.

He was there on Aug. 25 and met with the doctors who told him he had a brain tumor and the best option was surgery.

"Brain surgery is a scary thing to hear," he said. "But I thought it is something that has to be done, so let's do it."

Dr. L. Dade Lunsford was his physician and he said it was a DNET, or dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor.

The Internet describes it as a small mass present in the right temporal lobe, a slow-growing, benign tumor. Clinically it is in patients present with chronic intractable partial complex seizures.

The illness shows up, generally, in those ages 1 through 19. Dr. Lunsford told Mr. Maney this problem had been present in his brain for about 10 years. There's no real cause for it, it isn't hereditary and is something that shows up rarely.

"It's one of the rarest types of tumors you can get," Mr. Maney said. "How lucky am I?"

Another Perspective on the Antiwar Activities of the ‘60s and ‘70s

Vietnam War photo by Larry Burrows, Life Magazine, Vietnam 1966, from “The 100 Greatest Military Photographs,” Number 4 on the list.

Imagine for a moment you are Wilbur Shirey, Clearfield Area High School Class of 1959.

Capt. Wilbur C. Shirey, U.S. Army, serving in Vietnam. Despite all that is around you, despite being away from your wife and family at Christmas time, despite feeling the sadness and loneliness within yourself, you continue to have enduring faith in your country and its system of government.

And then, in January 1967, a member of your family sends a full-page clipping from your hometown newspaper, The Progress, touting the antiwar activities of classmate Neil Buckley leading the antiwar protests and demonstrations on the Penn State campus.

The article is written by Daily Collegian Editor William F. Lee, another Clearfield High alumnus. The lengthy article states, in part:

What I would like to do,” Buckley was saying, “is to be able to sit down and read and write poetry and listen to good music and go for long walks by the sea. Unfortunately, there are things in this society which I see as wrong. In good conscience, I cannot allow these things to continue. I feel it is my moral duty to change them…

Buckley currently finds himself in the leadership of the Penn State chapter of Students for a Democratic Society. SDS is a five-year-old national student group which is at the apex of the New Left and which has led a successful community organization project in the Negro Ghetto of Newark, N.J. (and other less successful projects) and which is the primary student protest voice against the multiversity, the draft and the War in Vietnam (SDS sent a representative to Hanoi last year to get a first-hand look at the “other side” of the war).

From Bill Lee’s viewpoint, and perhaps the editors at The Progress, who chose to give the story full-page treatment, it all seems so romantic. So benign. In reality, so far removed from the military action in Vietnam.

What do you do? What do you feel? How do you respond?

Capt. Shirey pens a response, which is published by The Progress on Feb. 6, 1967.

Capt. Shirey Responds to Article on Neil Buckley

Yankee Papa 13, by Larry Burrows, Life Magazine, April 1965

Vietnam Veteran Voices Opinion on ‘New Campus Spirit’
(The Progress, February 6, 1967)

I write tonight (Jan. 18) from Vietnam after reading page three of The Progress (Postscript) dated Jan. 7, 1967, the subject of which was “A New Spirit on Campus.

I congratulate Bill Lee on the display of his prowess as a journalist. However, I criticize you for the use of an entire page of newsprint dedicated solely to the activities of an old high school classmate of mine, Neil Buckley, with the rather dubious distinction of “Leader of the Penn State chapter of Students for a Democratic Society.”

I am afraid that most newspapers give their readers a rather slanted view of college students by publishing the questionable actions of an extreme minority, but then that is what your readers enjoy, as I certainly did the above article.

My basic disagreement with the article probably stems from the fact that I fall into that category of people who would walk a mile carrying a can of gasoline and a carton of matches for gratuitous issue to all demonstrators.

I still have enough faith in my generation to think that Neil could more effectively voice his opinion through a more reputable organization than the Students for a Democratic Society.

Capt. Wilbur C. Shirey
278th Supply and Service Bn.
Vietnam

P.S. -- I also believe that if Neil would relinquish some of his extra-curricular activities, he could learn as much on the trimester system as he did on the semester system

41 Years Later, Wilbur Reflects on the Article, His Response and His Current Feelings

Photo by Brad Markel , Andrews AFB, 1991 - from “The 100 Greatest Military Photographs,” Number 89 on the list.

I should make it clear that I was a logistician, not a war fighter. The only shots I heard fired were by soldiers committing suicide at Christmas, 1966. That had a profound impact on me. I came home as I've said in November 1967, before Tet '68. I basically spent the rest of my career trying to repair the "hollow Army."

Repairing it with people and equipment. I went back to Vietnam for a year in 1970, but by then everyone knew we were just hanging on until Kissinger or someone could negotiate a peace and we could leave with some dignity.

I reread my letter a couple times, and I believe it represents my attitude and opinions at the time. My only regret on my letter is that I probably overstated my willingness to provide free gas and matches to the demonstrators who, at the time, were getting a lot of free press. I guess they were entitled to do that, I'm not sure.

I have a totally different attitude about war now than I did then. In summary, it's a good thing that the fighting Army is young. They are going to get this thing right, once and for all, and that's a laudable objective! God bless 'em!I was in a pretty structured environment at the time and had little tolerance for those who wanted to be free to do whatever they wanted to do which seemed to be what Neil was advocating. I thought you should join a commune if you wanted to do that but that a course of instruction should be just that.

It seemed to me that what Neil was advocating was a set up where the student leaders incurred no risk. If it worked, fine. If it didn't work, blame it on the establishment.

Having spent two years of my life away from my family in Vietnam with the suicides at Christmas time and then having dealt with all the drugs, divorces, child and spouse abuses that follow, to say nothing of the wounded and emotional casualties that left the Army that I never saw again, and the lack of funds to rebuild the "hollow Army," I have a totally different attitude about war now than I did then.

I think about this often, and with these latest wars, we are a victim of our own success. We save many more wounded than we did in Korea or Vietnam, but at a great cost. I hope our country is prepared to spend the resources it's going to take to care for these injured soldiers for the rest of their lives. It seems to be so easy and heroic for politicians to say we're going to war, but many or most have not a clue what that means! Maybe that's a good thing, I'm not sure

Neil Buckley and the antiwar demonstrators of the world do cross my mind occasionally. But every time, and instead of my heated emotions of that time, I thank God that we have Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press, otherwise we're just Third World.

- Col. Wilbur C. Shirey, U.S. Army, Ret.

An In-Depth Look at the Life and Times of Neil Buckley

Neil Buckley, Tom Trout and Amos Hixon at our senior Downbeat extravaganza. - Bison Photo by Orvis Kline

We’ve been down this road before. But like all things Neil Buckley, it’s worth another trip.

Suzy Sherkel Nagle rekindled the memories recently when she wrote in response to a question from Joyce Moody Fletcher as to whether Neil attended any of our class reunions:

Unless he was at the 5th (the only one I missed), Neil did not attend any class reunions. (Editor’s note: He didn’t show for the 5th, either.) He showed up on our doorstep once when we were living in Springfield, Ohio - in 1963, most likely. He was "on the lam" from the law (FBI, maybe) at the time, because he was very active in the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society). I guess that means we were aiding and abetting a "criminal", huh?

He DID come to Clearfield every once in a while; and we'd manage to get together for a few hours. He even deigned to come to dinner once when we were living in Hillsdale. He wanted to listen to my dad's old jazz records. That's when he gave us the tape of his band "The Neil Buckley Octet", which we still have and cherish...I'd particularly like to know to whom I gave the original cassette tape that Neil gave us (of his octet). It had the titles and arrangers (listing Neil as such on many of the tracks) of the pieces. The one that we have is just a copy that we made (minus that info). I'm thinking that I "lent" it to some classmate at a reunion - maybe '79, '84 or '89. Perhaps you should start posting lost-and-found ads....

As far as I can recollect, since he refused to fly (or was unable to fly because of his lung condition), he didn't even come home for his mother's funeral! He was certainly one of a kind. Any other memories, anyone?

Dennis Mollura:

Yes, Suzy, lots of them.

I first met Neil Buckley in the Sixth Grade at Leonard Grade School in the fall of 1952 and in Boy Scout Troop 7 at the Trinity Methodist Church. At that time, my perception was that he was just another of the happy-go-lucky, prepubescent boys.

By the Ninth Grade, his personality began to present itself – at least to me.

Neil was a serious student. Late one Friday morning, for example, Mr. Eldon Nelson gave us an assignment to write a thousand-word term paper on some aspect of Pennsylvania History. It was due in two weeks. By Monday morning, Neil’s was complete. I hadn’t even begun to think of mine.

He was an Eagle Scout and a patriot. He and I usually sat together at the Clearfield High football games at the Driving Park and always stood to sing, loud and clear, the Alma Mater. We also stood to sing the National Anthem, home and away.

He worked at a part-time job after school sweeping up, I believe, at Rhine’s Tobacco Store or maybe Hembold and Stewart Insurance or Moore Wilson & Eshelman Insurance.(Someone please verify or correct me on this.) With his earnings he bought, among other things, a jalopy which he painted a weird purple and decorated (as I recall) with yellow flowers or some paisley-like designs - perhaps portending a Neil Buckley to come.

No one, it seemed, ever gave him anything. He worked hard for everything he earned. And earned everything he had.

Comedian, Musician and Athlete

- Bison Photo by Orvis Kline

Neil was a comedian, a musician and an athlete. Who can forget his hilarious Downbeat duos with Denny Boal?

He loved jazz and played the xylophone and saxophone in small groups and in the Downbeat. There’s an Orvis Kline photo in the 1959 Bison of Neil in beatnik garb (see photo above, at the top of this Neil Buckley posting) on a huge saxophone (believe it’s called the contrabass sax) with Tom Trout and Amos Hixon. Hilarious.

At various times, he ran track and played JV football, basketball, and baseball. He didn’t particularly excel at any of them, but at least he was on the field. In the 1959 Bison, he was voted the "wittiest male" by his classmates.

A bit of his rebellious personality also began to emerge. He called his mother “Helen - not Mom or Mother. Helen. For most of us, such “disrespect” would have warranted a good slap on the back of the head. But Helen, being Helen, simply rode with it. Or maybe even encouraged it.

Neil's Undergraduate Years at Penn State

In his undergraduate years at Penn State, Neil again was a serious student and showman. I recall walking between classes during the two-week freshman hazing period and, almost without fail, seeing him standing high on an exterior stairway or park bench being taunted by a group of upperclassmen. And Neil, again being Neil, always could be counted upon to make a speech:

"As everyone knows, this class of freshmen has the highest I.Q. of any class before us!”

For whatever that was worth, Neil made it known. And a substantial number of Penn State students were thus informed. Finally, it occurred to me. These were not random events. They were set-ups. Neil was hazing them!

Neil and I roomed close by in the West Hall dorms through much of our undergraduate years. He always seemed an earnest, high-achieving student. His assignments were always completed in advance. Mine sometimes lagged. I remember that at the end of our senior year, I was wholly unprepared for our final open-book exam in English Literature. He loaned me his paper to copy and crib. Believe he got an A or B. I got a D, and was grateful for it - needing every single credit to graduate early.

We graduated on the same day in March 1963. I never saw him again.

- Dennis Mollura

Some Memories of a Changed Neil Buckley from Suzy Sherkel Nagle

During high school - summers, mostly - Neil and John Berthot (who was two or three years ahead of us) used to come to my house to listen to my dad's jazz records. My mother always told me that she had known Neil's father was a jazz musician somewhere in the Pittsburgh area. Neil, among others, also used to come and sit around our dining room table when it was time to get our U.S. History notebooks up to snuff for Harold Wisor's scrutiny or to study for tests.

I think it was at the very beginning of the summer after our sophomore year at Wittenberg that my roommate, Marilyn Bitler, came home with me on the way to her home in New Jersey. Neil came to visit and was "smitten" (Marl was a stunner!) with her. Then, later that year, when we were back in school, he and Jim Stewart came to Springfield, OH to spend a weekend.

I also remember one summer (late 60's or early 70's), when I was "home" with our kids spending time with my folks, my mom told me that Helen Lantz (Neil’s mother) had called to tell her that Neil was in town. So I went to Helen and Dick's house on West Market St. and had a really weird visit. At that time everything Neil said had to do with the "coming revolution", and he never used the personal pronoun "I". It was all "we". I chided him about that, and he accused me of "selling out" to the establishment! Helen later apologized for that. (She was the truant officer for the school district, and I used to see her a lot in the high school office.)

Neil Buckley Leads "Campus Wars" Against Vietnam War

- Clipping from The Progress, Clearfield, PA - January 7, 1967

Following are excerpts from the book “Campus Wars – The Peace Movement at American State Universities in the Vietnam Era” by Kenneth J. Heineman, published in 1993.

Publishing these excerpts is intended neither to glamorize nor disparage Neil Buckley’s participation and leadership in the movement. It is simply an effort to illuminate Neil’s activities, ideas and writings at the time.

Heineman writes:

"Neil Buckley, a 'Hollywood version of a campus radical,' his critics claimed, had an enormous ego as well as ambitions to become a national New Left figure. Jealous of (another’s) influence in the chapter, Buckley at one point had to be restrained from beating up his rival. When Buckley and Creegan were not fighting each other, they were locking horns with Pam Farley, who was increasingly disgusted with the male SDSers’ sexism. In December 1965, at a national SDS conference in Illinois, Farley had encouraged the women delegates to meet separately in the ladies’ restroom…

"The winter of 1967 began miserably for SDS and then worsened. SDS’s unpopularity on campus mounted throughout the winter. At a SDS dormitory forum in January, a student argued that if SDSers did not like the university, they should drop out of school. Buckley replied that such an action would be like “committing suicide if one does not like the world rather than trying to change it. The audience then urged Buckley to commit suicide...

"Following that incident, the chapter learned that it lacked even minimal student support… Even though a number of SDSers, including Buckley… had grown weary of campus organizing and decided to drop out of school, they enthusiastically laid plans for a serious of spring actions against the war...

"A number of PSUers that summer eschewed street protest for their own version of community organizing, establishing a commune in nearby Bellefonte. Initially Buckley, who had announced with much fanfare his intention to leave school in order to work for revolution, sought to create a communal environment which would serve to radicalize the working poor. However, the SDS commune quickly became a magnet for juvenile revelers. None of those teenagers were interested in SDS diatribes on revolution. Indeed, the often drunken street kids physically intimidated the middle class SDSers.

"By autumn, the commune had disbanded, succeeding only in convincing the locals that SDS wished to corrupt the mores of those children."

Non-Believers Need Not Apply

More from "Campus Wars.." by Kenneth J. Heineman, 1993:

"SDS leader Neil Buckley did not welcome doves and libertarians into the movement unless they first recanted their political errors. Thus, with just sixty determined members, SDS claimed the (Penn State) campus antiwar movement as its own, and fraternizing with…the enemy, became unthinkable….

In one of his letters to another antiwar leader, Buckley said: … "the more I think about your suggestion for a coalition between the New Left and the libertarian right I get cramps in my brain…simply allowing the concept of civil liberties as defined by the Constitution –- which we see for what it is—to be perpetuated within our movement is detrimental, both because it allows people to take out frustrations through a system which in no way changes the basic tenents of capitalism and because it is internally inconsistent to base any of our analysis on the civil libertarian analysis which is several centuries out of date. Honest to Christ, Carl, sometimes I can’t figure out your politics."

Neil Outlines His Objectives for SDS

Again, from "Campus Wars..." by Kenneth J. Heineman, Neil outlined his objectives or game plan for revolution around the time of a major antiwar gathering at Michigan State University:

"First that this movement in general and SDS in particular is ultimately committed to the destruction of imperialism and the recommitment to the requisto (sic) destruction of capitalism;

"second, that our movement is an element of the revolutionary vanguard painfully forming from the innards of America;

"third, that the object conditions for revolution are not with us, but are coming up (relatively) fast, and that our revolutionary conditions must be condition for the coming struggle;

"fourth, that by the time the revolution is upon us, we will have transformed from the movement as we know it today into a revolutionary political party;

"fifth that that we have not fulfilled our potential as a political movement in the past and, if we continue to follow our past course, that we will suffer deeply as a total movement;

sixth, that our failure, while in part a result of personal contradictions, is ultimately solvable in term of organizational restructuring;

"and seventh, that now is the time to change our subjective conditions to meet new objective conditions realizing that simultaneously, we must develop still newer forms of organization which will supplant those we now form when the former shall have outlived their political relevance."

Neil's Message (His Last) to CAHS Classmates Prior to 40th-Year Class Reunion in 1999

(Note - Click on the message to enlarge.)

What More Can You Say...?

.
In the end, Neil Buckley traveled full circle:

- From Eagle Scout, high-achieving student, comedian, musician, athlete and “patriot” singing his high school alma mater and National Anthem loud and clear;

- To antiwar leader actively advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government. In this respect, he most certainly considered himself a "patriot";

- To PhD student and graduate, musician, big band sideman and band leader, pharmaceutical chemist, editor of scientific publications, and grower of heirloom tomatoes (26 varieties), peppers (20 varieties) and housecats (from a high of 6 to a low of 1).

One thing you can say: In whatever direction Neil chose to travel, he was earnest. Earnest beyond description.

Neil Buckley died of a lung ailment on December 14, 2003, in his adopted hometown of Sebastopol, CA .

I loved Neil Buckley. I always will.

- Dennis Mollura

A Whistle Far Away

By Sandi Howland Archer

As I get older I notice that things pop in and out of my memory suddenly and certainly uninvited. More out than in for sure! Like today when I arrived home from work. I opened my car door and heard a distant whistle. A human whistle.

Now it's entirely possible that I hear that same whistle on a regular basis and just don't lumber into the house soon enough to write myself a little “gotta remember this” note. At any rate, I should get to the point before I lose my train of thought and tell you all about how we fry eggs on the sidewalk here in sunny Arizona.

Now about that whistle. When I was five years old, my parents bought a home in East End and moved us there from metro Turkey Hill. Or perhaps it was Olanta. We lived at 1311 Daisy Street. My father drove a Willys. It was green. The license plate read 2LP88. Our phone number was 59180.

There was an alley between our house and the large yellow one shared by the Hugar and Passmore families. And at the end of the alley lived a real swell fella. Robert Henry. The alley was paved with bricks. The red variety.

Now just to give you an idea of how far back my pathology goes, one of my most vivid – dare I say, fondest – childhood memories was watching my mother shovel ashes hot from the furnace on those slippery bricks so she could trek over and have coffee with Mrs. Hugar on a typical wintry day. I felt no pleasure while watching the shoveling. None at all. But just every once in a while, her feet would go out from under her. What joy!

Oh, yes, about that whistle. My sister, Carole, was the first-born. Two years later I joined up and became the oft-forgettable middle child. A short time later brother Clyde arrived. His steadfast pals from early on in school were Louis Mitchell and Jack Mitchell. Cousins I think. And those fellas whistled. I sat on the stairway with the phone and talked in whispered tones to Bea Accordino, Anna Marie Marino, and Forshia Vale. Don’t think Clyde talked on the phone. Maybe once when he made plans to run off to Altoona with Karen Knicely. They hitched a ride on the back of a snowplow. That’s another whole story. None of it good.

Clyde (I think his chums called him Clijo) and Louie and Jackie whistled to each other in various tones, repetitions, and volume. It was a language known only to them. I recall vividly sitting at the dinner table and hearing a whistle from at least 2 or 3 blocks away. Clyde would go outside and reply in code known only to “the gang.” Shortly he’d go off down the street.

Clyde died when he was just 48. Pancreatic cancer. A real beast it was.

Now about that whistle I heard today. Hmmm……….

See ya in ’09!
Sandra (Sandi) Howland Archer

To Lea Davidson, with Love

Lea Davidson as News Editor of our CAHS newspaper, The Triangle, with faculty advisor Miss Jane Gillespie.

Lea Davidson is one of my favorite classmates. She always greeted you with a big smile. And she was supportive whenever called upon for ideas or help. Maybe I missed it, but I don't recall ever seeing her in anything but a friendly, cheerful mood.

She worked hard as a member of the Press Club for three years and served as News Editor of our school newspaper, The Triangle, in our junior year.

You always knew she was going to be a teacher and a good one at that. True to her calling, she was a second grade teacher at The Phillips School in Pittsburgh for many years, retiring 12 years ago. She then turned her talents to serving customers in Kaufman’s Department Store for 10 years. In Better Ladies Wear, of course.

Her father, Bob Davidson, was one of Clearfield’s best-known and best-loved haberdashers. As owner of Davidson’s Store for Men and Boys, he greeted you with a big smile and could size you up without laying a hand or a tape measure on you. The tailoring was impeccable, and you left the store feeling on top of the world.

It’s clear Lea inherited both her smile and her knowledge of quality clothing from her father.

Here’s to you, Lea Davidson! We look forward to seeing you at our 50th-Year Reunion in 2009.

- Dennis Mollura

Heading the CAHS Press Club in 1958-59

For some reason, the Press Club ceased publishing The Triangle in our senior year. In the same year, the club chose not to (or maybe was not permitted to) elect officers. Lea, however, continued her leadership role by heading a group of club members who contributed a weekly CAHS news column to The Progress. From left, Jerry Koval, Louise Long, Lea Davidson, Russell Read, Fonda Duck and Dennis Mollura. Second row, B. Graffius, Dixie Aveni, George Gaylor, P. Herbert, Mary Lou Kepner and Carmen Norman.

- Bison Photo by Orvis Kline

With Future Teachers of America

From the Future Teachers photo in The Bison in 1958. At left is Jane Evans.

At The Phillips School in 1989

With Second Graders at The Phillips School

In the classroom with second graders in 1980. Look at all the fun things on the white board.

Lea with Her Mother, Sara, in Philipsburg

In front of Uncle Harry Parsky's Men's Store on Spruce Street in Philipsburg.

Lea with Her Sister Elinor - Already Demonstrating Her Future Teacher Talents

Teaberries, Tadpoles and Tipping Over Toilets

Childhood in Hyde / Hyde Child in the ‘Hood / Growing Up a 'Hyde Hood’

By Suzanne Sherkel Nagle

In the 40’s and 50’s Hyde City was the perfect place to be a kid. There were three general stores: Rafferty’s (which was also the Post Office), Paul Bailey’s and Schrot’s; two gas stations, a factory - American Mono-nickel, or the A & M, that I always thought stood for Airplane & Marine (?), a furniture store – Henry J. Brown’s (which is still there!), the Hyde Hotel, the Laurel Garden dance hall, the Pilgrim Holiness Church, two or three barber shops, a ball field, the “hill” (for sledding or tobogganing – NOT skiing!- usually on HJB’s cardboard), the village-dividing Montgomery “Crick” (which we dammed up in several places to make swimming holes), several vacant lots, some of them boggy or swampy (great for picking teaberries or catching tadpoles and salamanders) or woodsy (for “camp”-building using –you guessed it – HJB’s discarded cardboard appliance boxes). There was even a nearby Country Club with a nine-hole golf course! And, of course, there was “Hyde City Tech”, our much-loved four- (later, five-) room elementary school, with the super, l-o-n-g cement sidewalks for hopscotch and roller-skating, and a “football-field”- sized patch of real grass on either side.

But Hyde City was really its families, with names like Ammerman, Armstrong, Bell, Brown, Collins, Crawford, Duckett, Duttry, Faulkner, Gearhart, Guelich, Haag, Harper, Haversack, Heitsenrether, Hoover, Hummel, Hurley, Jay, Johnson, Lanager, Lanich, Lawhead, Little, Mabie, Magnuson, Michaels, Moyer, Poole, Quinn, Raybold, Reed, Reitmyer, Shimmel, Teats, Tornatore, Triponey, Viehdeffer, Vokes, White, Yatta – many of whom spawned dynasties of athletes who excelled, especially, in football, wrestling and golf.

From 1948 to 1951 I lived in one of the “suburbs” of Hyde City: the Montgomery Run, Fletcherville, Coal Hill, Riverview Road “loop”; and I got to ride the bus with kids named Barr, Carns, Fiscus, Fletcher, McBride, Powell, Ogden, Rauch, Rose, and Rumfola. Lest we forget, that’s where the airport and armory were. The Sherkels lived in the lower half of the old, then “duplexed”, McPherson farmhouse during the great ice-storm of the winter of ’50-’51. And to a nine-year-old kid, it really was “great”!

By the time I moved back to the “city”, some of the streets had been paved and given names (We never knew our “address”, except for a P.O. Box number.), fewer and fewer outhouses were in regular use, and most homes had indoor plumbing, including pure, sparkling water piped in from the Montgomery Dam. A few TV antennas were beginning to sprout up; but we kids still played outdoors until dark. (The Sherkels never did get a TV set until my mother’s beloved Pittsburgh Pirates played the Yankees in the ’60 World Series, after I was long-gone.)

Some may ask how we came to be known as “Hyde Hoodlums”. I honestly don’t know, except for the fact that we were all pretty “rough and tough”, due to our physically active, relatively unsupervised, “left- to do-as-we-pleased” childhood. As a result, some of us got hurt, and some even got arrested. (We started “halloweening” in late September: corning, soaping or, worse, waxing windows, tipping over outhouses, stretching ropes and/or chains across the streets, as well as dressing up in old clothes, with nylon stockings disguising our faces, and going begging from door to door.) As far as I can recall, we Hyde kids were not into Girl and Boy Scouting, which might have redeemed some of us – although I was in 4-H, but only because my grandmother was the leader.

Leaving Hyde City Tech for the Junior High was pretty traumatic; but that’s another chapter….

All in all, I wouldn’t trade my childhood in Hyde for anything – it was a gift for which I am eternally grateful.

Present-Day Hyde, As Photographed by Karl Nagle

- Razor Sharp Photos by Karl Nagle

Planning Committee Moves the Agenda Ahead

- Fuzzy Photo and caption by Karl Nagle

The planning committee meeting for our 50th-year reunion in 2009 attracted a number of new participants to the cause on Saturday, Aug. 2. Joanne Shimel Magnuson volunteered to head the decorating committee; Sue Weisshaus Speicher presented a number of great ideas for the commemorative booklet; Sam Lansberry agreed to host an picnic-type event at his Woodland home the Friday before the the formal reunion; and Tom O'Day presented a number of excellent ideas for events surrounding the Saturday event, including golf outing, canoe trip, bus trip to historic Clearfield County sites, and Sunday breakfast.

Following the meeting, Wilbur and Karen Shirey volunteered to host a Sunday breakfast.

All in all, the meeting attracted the largest number of participants to date, and most agreed it was one of the most productive sessions yet. The next meeting is set for Saturday, Nov. 1, at the Shaw Library in Clearfield.Watch this site for a full summary of the day's discussions and decisions.

Wil Shirey, Chairman Herb Maney and Gary Bolton

Joyce Amon Michaels, Orvis Kline, Sue Weisshaus Speicher and Suzy Sherkel Nagle

Suzy Sherkel Nagle, Tom O'Day, Joanne Shimel Magnuson and Dennis Mollura

Joyce Moody Fletcher, Bonnie Henchbarger Powell, Herb Maney and Dennis Mollura

Linda Smith Dale, Sam Lansberry and Joyce Moody Fletcher

- All Sharp and Clear Photos by Karl Nagle

Joyce Moody, at the Tender Age of 7

As we come up on our 50th-Year Reunion planning meeting this Saturday, Aug. 2, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Shaw Library, it is fitting, proper and long overdue that we pay tribute to the one, only, and incredible Joyce Moody Fletcher, who provides the spark, the cohesiveness and the glue for all our reunion efforts.

Joyce has worked tirelessly (and mostly alone) for many years to keep the knowledge, the records and the spirit of Clearfield Area High School alive - not only for the Class of 1959 but also the Golden Bison Alumni Association.

If you ever attended Clearfield Area High School, she has a record of it. If you've ever been "lost"or "gone missing," she'll track you down. That's how she earned the nickname Jessica, as in Jessica Fletcher of the TV series "Murder She Wrote." (Believe Karen Shirey pinned that moniker on her.) And if you've ever died, well, she has a record of that, too.

So, here's to you, Joyce Moody Jessica Fletcher! We love you and we appreciate you, more than you know.

Clearfield Area High School Class of 1959

50th-Year Reunion Planning Meeting

August 2nd - Shaw Library - 10 am - Noon

Come Join in the Planning

and

The Fun!

Betsy Kephart Kruckenberg Uncovers a Treasure of Photos

Betsy Kephart, maybe Seventh or Eighth Grade.

Somedays you open your mail and a wonderful gift arrives. Our classmate Betsy Kephart Kruckenberg produced an envelope full of memorable photos, both students and teachers, primarily from our Junior High School years. What you see here and below are but a fraction of the photos. Watch this website though the next few months for the complete file. Thanks, Betsy. You really came through for your classmates.

Great Group of Girls - Can you Name Them?

Vickie Libreatori and Betsy Kephart

Linda Wright and Kay Skinner

Jerriann Jury

LaRee Luzier

Keith Knepp - This Man Obviously Loves To Party

Keith Knepp's birthday party, 1959

Dressed for the Senior Prom, 1959

White sports coats, pink carnations, and two lovely women in their elegant prom dresses. From left, Fred King, Corrine Gelnett, Sue King and Keith Knepp.

- Copies of photos from Keith Knepp

Molluras Drop In on the Nagles in Indiana, PA

On their way home from a family reunion in Clune (Coal Run), PA, Dennis and Rosemary Mollura had a great idea - why not drop in on Karl and Suzy Nagle at their lovely new home on School Street in Indiana.

The visit was brief but filled with lots of fun and laughs. Suzy and Dennis dominated the conversation, mainly about our 50th-year class reunion in 2009 and some memorable CHS moments and characters. Suzy even promised to deliver the long-awaited "Growing Up in Hyde City" article that she's been "writing" for this website.

Karl and Rosemary played the patient spouse routine and let the conversation wash over them. What choice did they have?

Karl, ever the gracious host, served coffee and made these "historic" photos. We're looking forward to the Reunion Planning Committee this Saturday at the Shaw Library in Clearfield.

- Dennis Mollura

Classmates and Prom-mates, 49 Years Later

Suzy and Dennis, reunited at the Nagle's new home in Indiana, PA on a sunny Sunday morning.

- Photos by Karl Nagle

Tom and Dawn O'Day on the Ice Fields of Alaska

We're not sure which is more breath-taking, the O'Days or the Alaskan Ice Fields.

Interesting note about Dawn. "She married me for my last name," O'Day says. "In Irish she is Dawn of the Day Clan. She really is a 'morning' person."

O'Day could go on and on with this, but we won't let him, at least for now.

Tom and Dawn (of the Day) on Cruise Ship with Glacier in Background

Finally, An Opportunity To Reconnect with Gary Greene

Classmate Gary Greene and his lovely grandchildren, Chasidy Marie, Keirsten Nicole, and SeAnne Elizabeth) ages 8, 7 and 5.

It's been almost 50 years since most of us have connected with classmate Gary Greene. He has not attended any of our class reunions but says he is looking forward to our 50th-year bash in 2009. Gary has led an eventful and fruitful life since we last saw him.

After graduation, he attended Bucknell University and planned to become a biochemist. But a tragic explosion which claimed the life of his father Norman Greene in July 1960 forced him to to leave school for a spell. He enrolled at Indiana State Teacher's College (now University) in 1961 and became a successful junior and senior high school science teacher at Elkton, MD, High School from 1965 through 1995.

He then taught science at Mount Aviat Academy in Maryland for 11 years before "retiring" in 2006. Not one to stay inactive, Gary has been substitute teaching in Cecil County since then, "29 schools, any grade, any subject." During the 2006-07 school year, he taught 187 days in a 180-day school year. How so? Some days he worked two jobs.

Now for a real Clearfield angle. At CHS, Gary was an aspiring wrestler. Although he never stepped on the varsity mat, "I apparently learned something," Gary says. He organized the wrestling program at Elkton High School in 1970 and compiled an impressive record for 23 seasons. Among the highlights of his coaching career, Gary led his team to an undefeated season in 1972-73 and organized the Cecil County Junior Team and the first Cecil County Junior Tournament in 1983 (which, of course, his team won).

After his retirement, the Elkton wrestling program went downhill, so the school invited Gary and his son Mike to return to the mats last year as co-coaches. Talk about being in demand!

Congratulations, Gary, and welcome back. We look forward to seeing you and your family at our 50th-year reunion.