Harry Funk stories, Page 15

Santa Claus arrived either eight months early or four months late, depending on your point of view. Actually, representatives of Allegheny Valley Marine Corps League Detachment 827 and the American Red Cross played the role of St. Nick in delivering toys on April 10. The gifts were for young victims...

Year 2 of the Verona Community Garden has begun. With the weather fully cooperating, a group of youngsters gathered on April 11 to help launch planting season in the former vacant lot at West Railroad and Allegheny avenues. Students of ARCH, Academics and Recreation for Christian Homeschoolers, assisted by tilling...

Monroeville has functioned under the same zoning ordinance since 1984. Although it has been amended substantially since, officials are pursuing a consolidated update that contains an abundance of details and addresses various situations that have cropped up during the past 39 years. “Our current ordinance is under a hundred pages....

A new generation is learning all about the importance of environmental stewardship. And according to Bethel Park fourth-grader Abby Burke, plenty of people her age are planning to continue to do all they can on behalf of the earth. She is a member of George Washington Elementary School’s Green Team,...

While the draft form of a revised and updated zoning ordinance in Monroeville contains more than 400 pages, parts of the document addressing a particular topic are drawing practically all the public’s attention. Residents and property owners in Monroeville and nearby communities oppose provisions that would allow for extraction of...

An evening of fun and games started with an afternoon of celebration. Prior to Hampton High School’s Talbot Thon benefit event on March 31, students, staff members and people from the community gathered in the auditorium in a continuing effort to demonstrate their support for Aiden Hanna. Following several months...

Thanks to folks like Betty Dixon, “Jeopardy” has been a mainstay of television since Ford made its first Mustang. “For years and years and years, I watched Alex Trebek,” she said about the show’s late longtime host. “There was a rule: Do not call between 7 and 7:30 unless it...

Residents of Verona are invited to learn more and share their opinions about a proposed budget for spending money the borough has received through the pandemic-related American Rescue Plan Act. A public hearing is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. April 11, half an hour before the start of borough council’s monthly...

Fear of public speaking may be prevalent, but not among a group of Blessed Trinity Academy students. The Indiana Township school’s forensics team impressed judges with their oratorical skills, racking up numerous awards during its post-pandemic return to competition for 2022-23. As part of a forensics league for Diocese of...

When it comes to culinary delights, plenty of people share Dale Himmler’s perspective. “I love pizza,” the Bethel Park resident said. “It really is my favorite food.” It ranks right up there for his son, too. Clayton Himmler was born with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that can cause mucus...

Welcome the return of the mullet. Three decades after hockey legend Jaromir Jagr helped propel the hair style’s popularity in Pittsburgh, Cadillac Jack is bringing it back. Jack, the alter ego of WDSY-FM morning show host Tom Kapasis, launched a “Mullet on the Move” campaign in advance of Morgan Wallen’s...

Who says girls don’t like science? “At a very young age, before I could even walk, I was obsessed with technology: computers, anything,” Gateway High School freshman Bailey Blanton recalled. “That’s all I wanted to do. I would not play with Barbie dolls, nothing. It was all electronics.” So naturally,...

Longtime residents of Bethel Park are well aware of, or even may remember, a time when King Coal ruled local industry. At various points in the 20th century, seven different mining operations worked to extract combustible carbon from far below what used to be Bethel Township, leaving only a small...

Meet Ankle Biter, the industrial-sized robot built by a group of Chartiers Valley High School students. Its name comes from the mechanical grips installed near its base, which may be good for grabbing lower parts of legs but are solely are for the purpose of picking up objects and releasing...

A teenager who heads to Florida in March isn’t necessarily going on spring break. In fact, the accomplishments racked up so far by Prerna Chakkingal would seem to indicate that she rarely takes a break of any type. The latest feather in the South Fayette High School junior’s cap is...

Recycling bottles, jars and the like hasn’t been the easiest of pursuits since most waste haulers stopped picking up such items a few years ago. In Oakmont, the process has become more convenient thanks to the presence of a spacious new bin in the Second Avenue parking lot at Riverside...

For the 100th anniversary of the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, Hampton High School made an impressive showing. Eleven students were honored during the March 13 school board meeting for earning awards in the Pittsburgh region of the presenting organization, the New York City-based Alliance for Young Artists and Writers....

The rabbi of a Monroeville congregation has taken the initiative to bridge an integral part of the Bible with life in the 21st century. “Prophetic Voices: Renewing and Reimagining Haftarah,” an anthology featuring 179 contributors edited by Rabbi Barbara Symons of Temple David, aims to bring relevance to a longstanding,...

A first-year Chartiers Valley High School activity is providing a way for senior Marko Orbovich to honor an uncle who died of cancer. “He used to play bocce a lot, so I decided to play for him,” Marko said. Uncle B.J. no doubt would be enjoying the results. Marko and...

One has roots in Bethel Park going back several generations. The other moved to the municipality 11 years ago. But no matter when the family of each arrived, Lisa Jenkins and Pamela Tiano share the goal, with plenty on their résumés to prove it, of making their community a better...

As seems to happen frequently in most aspects of life these days, Hampton officials experienced sticker shock when they opened bids for the second and final phase of a trail project. The lowest of four bids for completing construction at Hampton Community Park came in at $655,000, well above the...

If the enticing aroma was any indicator, plenty of hungry folks are in for a treat when Plum Creek Lodge 799 Masonic Hall hosts its first-ever fundraising pancake breakfast. “This is actually our trial run today, to figure out any kinds of problems that we might have or anything that...

Monroeville Public Library has a brighter interior and will pay less for power, thanks to the installation of LED bulbs to replace decades-old fluorescent fixtures. Helping to pay for the project is a $5,000 matching grant from the Lions of Pennsylvania Foundation. “We are thrilled with the donation from the...

They’re made from all kinds of clothing: pajamas, jeans, ties, scarves, socks, even a fur coat. One features a gentleman’s shirt that was a favorite of his grandson. “So he would go to bed with the bear every night, and it was like he had his grandpa with him,” Jeanne...

Editor’s note: This article is the second of two parts. On Oct. 1, 1908, Henry Ford introduced his Model T as the first mass-produced “everyman’s car.” By 1931, the year historian John Oyler was born, Ford Motor Co. had sold more than 19 million units of the Tin Lizzie and...