Regarding Roger Stock’s letter “Retire term West Jeannette?” (Aug. 11, TribLIVE): Taking the “West” out of West Jeannette means you are taking away my childhood and the childhoods of thousands of kids from Jeannette.
I’m 70 years old, and I have never heard of a separate and autonomous neighborhood in Jeannette. Growing up, people were proud to be from the south side, west side or north side of Jeannette. These neighborhood designations date to the 1930s.
When I was a kid, a friend told me to go to West Jeannette if I wanted to play football. Kids from all over Jeannette went to the West Jeannette fields to play organized football, baseball and basketball. Kids who grew up in West Jeannette were Italian, Black, German, Polish, Ukrainian, etc.
On any night from early spring to late fall, a group of men at the West Jeannette fields taught kids football and baseball and how to be a good teammate and never give up on yourself, your team or life in general. Half of the officers in the police department were involved in coaching. Stock wonders if West Jeannette had its own police department. I guess the answer would be yes.
Stock calls Jeannette his “city of residence.” Maybe if he grew up there and it was his “hometown,” he would know the history of the town and its people. Maybe he should learn the true history of Jeannette and its people.
At one time there were 26,000 people living in Jeannette. Jeannette was, and still is, a great little town.
Tony Virone
Jeannette