Planning Committee Meeting March 14

The next meeting of the planning commitee for our CAHS Class of 1959 50th-Year Reunion will be held Saturday, March 14, at 1 p.m. at the Shaw Library in Clearfield. There's lots of planning and work to do as the reunion fast approaches. Everyone is invited to attend.

Classmate David Lynn Featured in The Progress

February 07, 2009
By Terry Whetstone
Staff Writer

NEW MILLPORT - Have you ever seen some stained-glass windows adorning a church or other building and wondered who takes the time to do such a project? What many may not realize is that a person who would undertake such a task actually lives right here in Clearfield County.

David Lynn started working with stained glass about five years ago, and he's still doing it today.

(NOTE - David's, wife, Annie Freeman Lynn, also is a classmate. She still writes for The Progress, as does their daughter, Wendy.)

The Erhard, Knox Township, resident said he taught himself to make the stained-glass windows, and began to teach a class on the craft in a Curwensville craft shop a few years later. Before working with stained glass, he painted the windows, but over time, even though it was for windows, the paint would peel off.

"My wife (Annie) suggested I try stained glass since the paint wasn't working," he said. He crafted the windows at the Curwensville Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, and he has been around to other churches and buildings creating his masterpieces, including St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, First Baptist Church and the CNB Bank offices on Second Street, all in Clearfield.

At the bank offices, he said that the third-floor window was bulging out toward the street and was in dire need of repairs.

"It was probably 70-100 years old," he said. Mr. Lynn said he took the window apart and rebuilt it, and while some pieces were damaged and non-repairable, he just replaced them with his own materials. Stained glass is made from either a copper or lead base and is sold in a variety of colors. Mr. Lynn said that just about any color can be acquired. He recently built a lamp for his home, and said that he put about 30 hours of work into it, from design to actual completion. This is the second lamp for his home that he has built.

"The designs are all his own, too," said Mrs. Lynn.

Mr. Lynn was an employee of the state Department of Transportation for 33 years before retiring. He held a number of positions including draftsman, highway designer and civil engineer, to name a few. Through his work, he acquired a surplus drafting table, which is where he designs his lamps and other projects.

Among some of his other glass projects are smaller items like snowflakes that are 4 or 5 inches across, and a huge design that is in the living room window of his home that weighs approximately 5 pounds.

The front door to his home is also adorned with stained glass, and the door and the two lamps feature lighthouses, which Mrs. Lynn likes. Mr. Lynn said he has to use a cutting wheel made of tungsten carbide to cut the glass because a steel wheel only works for about 15 minutes. "They (tungsten carbide wheels) are almost as tough as diamond," he said. When he's not working with stained glass, Mr. Lynn enjoys stamp collecting, something he has been doing for a very long time. He got started in the stamp-collecting hobby thanks to his grandmother, Elizabeth Boal.

He has thousands of stamps, most of which he has purchased over the years. He usually goes to the American Philatelic Center in Bellefonte or to Subway Stamps in Altoona, and one book he has purchased has about 53 stamps on one page that were all printed in the 1800s. While he has purchased stamps, he has also acquired some from mail he has obtained. He has many books of stamps, although some of them are not full and he has spaces where some stamps need to go, should he acquire them. So, how much are the stamps worth?

"Some of the unused ones are worth about 50 cents," Mr. Lynn said. "But they can be worth several hundred too." But that isn't all there is to Mr. Lynn - he has also served in the service for the country. "I was shocked at how quickly I got in (to the U.S. Army)," he said. "I was sworn in the day after Christmas." That was in the 1960s. He spent three years in photo interpretation, where he put films and photos together for aerial photography and, eventually, spy satellites.

"Satellites were still very new and very hush-hush," Mr. Lynn said. "People didn't know they existed. Then, when they realized they were feasible, a camera was put on them." Another of his jobs involved driving a colonel around. He recalls a time when he was late one day for a pickup and saw the colonel walking down the road. He stopped and asked if he needed a ride, and while this colonel did, it wasn't the colonel he was expecting.

Mr. Lynn said that when he was younger, he was also into collecting snakes. He said that when he'd go for a walk, if he'd see a snake, he gathered it up and take it home with him. He had around five cages in his Clearfield home where he kept them. His wife is not a very big supporter of snakes, so he no longer collects them. Aside from that, he also likes to sketch and enjoys being with his horses.

He also enjoys reading, including books by authors like John Grisham, Clive Cussler and Tom Clancey.When asked as to which he prefers, stamp collecting or stained glass, Mr. Lynn replied, "It's six of one and a half dozen of the other."

Our Deceased Classmates

We have received several requests to post a list of our deceased classmates. A total of 51 classmates have passed away since our graduation in 1959, which seems like an extraordinarily large number.

NOTE: Wayne E. Skiles was added to this list on Feb. 8. Wayne died in an auto accident in 1967.

Following is the list as maintained by Wilbur Shirey. If you know of any additions or corrections, please let us know.

JAMES BAUMAN

FRANK L. BEERS

DONALD P. BERGEY

DENNIS M. BOAL

NEIL C. BUCKLEY

DAWN CLEVELAND SHRUM

FLORENCE CODER HAAG

LYNN J. COUDRIET

BRENDA CUTLER BRUNDRIDGE

MARY LOU CUTLER DUBLER

WILLIAM R. DIMELING

LEROY A. DIXON

ANSON R. GRAHAM

JUDITH GRAHAM MAGUIRE

ROBERT L. HENRY

WILLIAM G. HIPPS

RENALD A. KOOZER

GERALD KOVAL

SANDRA LANSBERRY CARR

ROBERT R. LINGLE

RONALD L. LINGLE

MARY E. LUZIER

SHERIDAN D. LUZIER

EUGENE J. MARANO

CATHY A. MAYHEW

JAMES A. MC CRACKEN

GILBERT E. MC LAUGHLIN

NICOLETTA MENDOLIA LEGORY

PAUL E. MILLER

TIMOTHY M. NEBGEN

JAMES K. NICHOLSON

GEORGE T. OGDEN, JR.

EVELYN P. READ

THOMAS E. REIGHARD

KENNETH K. RISHEL

JERRY L. ROBISON

REX ROTHROCK

CAROL ROWLES DEARBORN

RUTH T. SCHUCKER

JUDY SELFRIDGE

RALPH W. SHIREY

BEVERLY SHOMO BUCK

JANICE E. SIMPSON

WAYNE E. SKILES

RICHARD F. SPINGOLA

ROBERT L. SPINGOLA

JAMES N. STEWART

BONNIE SWATSWORTH SPINGOLA

MARGARET J. TIBBENS SIMMONS

EDWARD C. WILLIAMS

GERALD G. WISOR

G. ASHLEY WOOLRIDGE

Further Update from Chairman Herb Maney

Following is a letter sent to a number of our classmates from Reunion Chairman Herb Maney:

Hey Folks:

I have forwarded this recent message to you all for several reasons.

First of which is to let you all know the progress being made by your fellow classmates, on behalf of all of us, to put together a complete, fun filled, relaxing, casual 50th year reunion for ALL class members and guests this summer at the Frenchville Community Center.

The Food committee has worked long and hard to select their best choice for a delicious, affordable meal for us all at the reunion.

Secondly, in case you have not heard of the great Blog posted on our behalf by the blog master himself, Dennis Mollura, please follow the addylink posted with this message and check it often, or better yet, send your personal photos, information, remarks, location status, whatever will be of interest to anyone, to Denny and he will post it on the blog.

Thirdly, you all received a request for personal updated information about one year ago from the Reunion Committee to be sent to Denny for inclusion in a video for viewing at the Reunion and possibly a copy available for each to take home and cherish. Some information has arrived, but many are still needed. PLEASE, get your school age pics and a current pic to Denny as soon as possible so to help eliminate a last minute labor crush on this very capable classmate who will produce a video of epic proportions !!!

Class of '59 can be very proud of all our members and, as such, we want to showcase and include each and everyone in the video. Please get the info, pics,interesting accomplishments,vacation pics, etc. to Denny as soon as possible. We want to include YOU in the Class history and status recording. If you have misplaced your copy of the request sent a year ago, please e-mail or call me 814-387-4868 (phone and fax) and I will give you the information requested. Denny has also agreed to assist with information and suggestions .

Denny's address is:

Dennis Mollura
415 Greene Lane
Phoenixville, Pa. 19460
Phone 610-917-8482
e-mail: dmollura1@verizon.net

The fourth item is for you to mark your calandar, make your plans, and be at The 50th Year Class Reunion of C.A.S.H. 1959.

Respectfully, Merlyn L. (Herb) Maney

Update from Reunion Chairman Herb Maney

Today, I received great news from our Food Committee. They have chosen a caterer and have locked them in for our date of 01 August, 2009 to prepare and serve the meal for our class at the Frenchville Community Center.

I commended them for their work progress to date and have granted executive privelige permission to Joyce MoodyFletcher, with her executive agreement, to issue a security deposit check to the caterer on behalf of the class as a result of therecommendation of the Food Service Committee.

Joyce will follow through with that issuance. The committee will bring their full recommendation and information to our next meeting scheduled for 14 March,2009.

As we discussed at the last meeting, the wheels will have to turn rapidly, at least for a while, after the next meeting to get the announcement worded, printed, and out to our fellow classmates in a short time frame to permit mailing, responding, recovery and tabulation so we have a handle on the numbers for the caterer, suppliers, and those committees with a vested interest in an actual count to supply their intended item or items; the paper weight souvenir, gift bag, etc. etc.

On a personal note, JoAnn and I sincerely hope you and yours had a great, safe, and meaningful Holiday Season and successful entry into the NewYear and will continue with good health and happiness.

Merlyn (Herb) Maney
January 17, 2009

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.
__________

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.
__________

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.
__________

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.
__________

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.
__________

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.)