Two months ago, I wrote about my mother Jeanie’s battle with kidney cancer, and many of you expressed your heartfelt wishes. Since our obituary page is highly read, you may be aware that Jean Franco passed away last month — May 19 to be exact. She was 84. I’d like to use today’s ...
Even though it was the 13th annual Altoona Mirror Athlete of the Year banquet, nothing was unlucky about how the night’s festivities played out in front of a packed room at The Casino in Lakemont. It was there that Bishop Carroll’s Alyssa Martinazzi and Chestnut Ridge’s Noah Dillow ...
I sometimes wonder where I got my sense of humor, and I would like to think a little bit of it comes from both my mom, Jean, and my dad, John. Friends of my mother used to ask her if she ever got upset with me over my monthly columns in which I poke fun at her, my siblings and my family. ...
My wife, Ann Marie, is a saint. That’s been said on these pages before, and it will be said in the future, but what I can say for the first time is that no one — no one — holds a grudge like yours truly. If you do me wrong, I will hold it against you forever. For instance, I’m the ...
Stories about successful football teams can be generated from so many sources, but one avenue that is always traveled in the literary world is that of the family. You always hear that football is family, and, in the case of the 1962 Altoona Mountain Lion football team, that was a common theme ...
By Scott Franco sfranco@altoonamirror.com Growing up in Altoona, 11-year-old Justin Bossler started to learn how to play the game of soccer right here in Blair County. Then, his abilities allowed him — with the help of mom and dad — to go to Centre County where he became part of a team ...