Years Ago
This week’s column was researched and written by Frank DeRosalia and Nick Galbato.
25 Years Ago
… the Skaneateles Central School District was achieving many accomplishments. Many alumni of Skaneateles were receiving various awards; Deborah Coccia, a Skaneateles class of ‘89 graduate, made the dean’s list at Cornell University. Another graduate of Skaneateles, BellaMarie Bregar class of 1970, was given an award for excellence in teaching. After graduation, Bregar lived in Pennsylvania and started her teaching career. She did her job so well that she ended up winning the “Teacher of the Year” award of Centre County, Pennsylvania. Along with that, Skaneateles’ sports teams were outstanding, even after losing some very talented seniors from the year before. You know that if a school’s athletic program does well, even after losing graduates and former coaches, it’s most certainly doing something right. Skaneateles still remains one of the best educational and athletic school districts of Central New York.
50 Years Ago
… a Skaneateles Press column celebrated the advent of a new kind of community education group. On September 12, 1968 an article announced the new Parent-Teachers Club or the “P-T Club” as it was known then, for the elementary school. Readers learned that the P-T Club would meet to discuss the sharing of information on what was happening in the school, changes that occurred in the school and the introduction of faculty members to parents. Today, we take for granted that this organization, now known as the Parent Teacher Committee, has always been doing great things for our school and our community. However, it was just 50 years ago that the P-T Club was introduced to the Skaneateles community. Today, the PTC helps with funding for various activities within the school as well as continuing to make communication between teachers and parents more effective. So, the next time you visit one of the PTC events you will know how it started.
75 Years Ago
In the early 1940s, World War II still ravaged the globe. The Allies were fighting perilously against the Nazi and the Japanese armies. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposed the idea of selling war bonds to citizens, and every dollar raised would go right to America’s military. In September of 1943, after two successful war loan drives, a third one was proposed. The initial goal was $15 billion, higher than it had ever been before. In order to do this, every American citizen had to pledge $100 ($1,500 of today’s value) to the war effort. Believe it or not, even people in Skaneateles were contributing. At the end of the war loan drive, America had $19 billion raised from its citizens- $4 billion more than the original goal! Along with contributing to war loans, some citizens in Skaneateles enrolled in the military. Dozens of men and women from Skaneateles were risking their lives for our freedom. We thank you.
100 Years Ago
… a Skaneateles Press advertisement entitled “10,000 Men Needed to Harvest New York’s Apple Crop” sought 10,000 men to help with the harvest of apples in New York State. They were looking for people who could work until November 1st. It noted that the wages would be $4 to $6 a day (equivalent to $63 and $95 today), based on 20 cents a barrel. The need for the labor was so great that year that the pay for each barrel had increased from 12 cents to 20 cents per barrel. Today, apples remain an important crop in New York agriculture. Apples also have become an important part of families’ fall traditions.
