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The Altoona High School Class of 1937 Anniversary Committee met to make plans for the class's 25th anniversary reunion. The reunion was held Aug. 25, 1962, at the Penn Alto Hotel. Members of the committee were (from left): front -- Beatrice K. (Shirk) Neff, Bonnie M. (Swank) Kylor, A. Jane Gray and Robert Patt; second row -- Earl H. "Trig" Woomer, Frances L. (Ashburn) Walters, Marian A. (Saylor) Singer, Phyllis V. (Mawk) Sare, Dick Bertram, Leroy McKnight and Stanley Miller. Charles J. LaMark of Altoona, who submitted this photo, pointed out that Jack E. Kuhn graduated with this class. Jack served in World War II with the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion of 225 soldiers who seized control of the gun points at Pointe du Hoc, Normandy, France. He was part of the 90 from the battalion who survived that mission just before D-Day.
Readers are encouraged to send or deliver old local photographs of general interest for use in Yesteryear. Information about people and places should be included. Photos must be 30 years old or older and should be sent to Yesteryear, Altoona Mirror, P.O. Box 2008, Altoona, PA 16603, or emailed to community@altoonamirror.com. For more information, call Brenda Carberry, community news coordinator, at 814-946-7459.
Local news on this date:
Oct. 3, 1951
Heavyweight boxing champion Jersey Joe Walcott spoke at an inter-faith rally at the Jaffa Mosque, visited veterans at the Altoona VA Hospital, visited polio patients at Altoona Hospital and spoke at the Jewish Memorial Center. He was sponsored by the Blair Unit of Infantile Paralysis (polio).
Oct. 3, 1976
The Arandale Elks Lodge honored past exalted Pennsylvania ruler Joseph N. Mills and also past local Altoona exalted rulers: Louis Monroe, Wilbur Cuff, Richard Lawson, Norman Cuff, Park Piper, Frank Hughes and Gene Banks.
Oct. 3, 2001
Railfest this weekend, sponsored by the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum, was to feature two diesel locomotives from the 1950s for excursion rides, painted green as the Juniata based Conrail Business Train but returned to their original PRR red. Their numbers were PRR 5809 and 5711.
Oct. 3, 2016
Michael Chapaloney, executive director of tourism for the State Department of Community Affairs was in the area for a radio appearance and gave an interview to the Mirror's Walt Frank. Chapaloney had served a summer internship at the Altoona Mirror while a student at Clarion University.
Oct. 4, 1951
Coming to the Jaffa Mosque in Altoona was Spike Jones and His City Slickers in a musical comedy show called "The Musical Depreciation Revue of 1952." Spike had been making big band comedy records since the 1930s and had many hits. The show also featured his wife, Helen Grayco and Frankie Little and the Slickerettes.
The Altoona Council of Church Women School of Missions heard a talk from the Rev. Alfred Bartholomew, supervisor of chaplains in migrant work in Pennsylvania and pastor of the Lancaster Evangelical Reformed Church. Rev. Bartholomew estimated there were 8,000 migrant workers in the state.
Oct. 4, 1976
Patricia L. Feathers of Altoona, a student at Mount Aloysius Junior College, Cresson, was to be an orator in a state contest in Washington, Pa., sponsored by the National Women's Christian Temperance Union. The theme was
"The Problems of Drinking."
The Altoona Campus of Penn State University was to celebrate its 13th annual homecoming. C. David Kimmel, assistant director of development, said 400 alumni were to attend, a dinner and dance would be held, a parade and stage
review and a trip to a football game at University Park.
Oct 4., 2001
Pennsylvania Army National Guard soldiers were being trained in security at Fort Indiantown Gap near Harrisburg and were to guard all state airports, including the Blair County Airport at Martinsburg, in the wake of the 9/11
attacks.
Fourteen Pennsylvania legislators wrote a letter to state Senate President Pro Tem Robert C. Jubelirer asking him to give up his seat now that he was lieutenant governor, saying it violated the separation of powers. President George Bush appointed Gov. Tom Ridge to Homeland Security and Lt. Gov. Schweiker became governor, making Jubelirer lieutenant governor.
Oct. 4, 2016
The Blair County Multii-Disciplinary Investigative Team, David Aiello coordinator, was teaming with Family Services Inc. and UPMC Altoona to establish a child advocacy center in Blair County.
The Toasty Toddler Program, started by the Blair County Human Service Office, which collected coats, hats, gloves/mittens for children from newborns to age 4, was collecting again. Last year, the program aided 510 children with the assistance of about 30 local agencies and volunteers.
National, world news on this date
Oct. 3:
In 1944, during World War II, U.S. Army troops cracked the Siegfried Line north of Aachen, Germany.
In 1951, the New York Giants captured the National League pennant by a score of 5-4 as Bobby Thomson hit a three-run homer off Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers, which became known as the "Shot Heard 'Round the World."
In 1990, West Germany and East Germany ended 45 years of postwar division, declaring the creation of a reunified country.
In 1995, the jury in the O.J. Simpson murder trial in Los Angeles found the former football star not guilty of the 1994 killings of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.
In 2008, O.J. Simpson was found guilty of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room. (Simpson was later sentenced to nine to 33 years in prison; he was granted parole in July 2017 and released in October 2017. He died at age 76 on April 10, 2024, after battling prostate cancer.)
Oct. 4:
In 1777, Gen. George Washington's troops launched an assault on the British at Germantown, Pennsylvania, resulting in heavy American casualties and the retreat of Washington's Continental Army.
In 1927, sculptor Gutzon Borglum began construction on what is now Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
In 1965, Pope Paul VI became the first pope to visit the Western Hemisphere as he addressed the U.N. General Assembly.
In 1970, rock singer Janis Joplin was found dead in her Hollywood hotel room at age 27.
In 2001, a Russian airliner flying from Israel to Siberia was accidentally downed by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile over the Black Sea, killing all 78 people aboard.
In 2004, the SpaceShipOne rocket plane broke through Earth's atmosphere to the edge of space for the second time in five days, capturing the $10 million Ansari X prize aimed at opening the final frontier to tourists.
Local news compiled by Tim Doyle. National, world news from The Associated Press.