Glancing Backward, 10/31/09

Published: October 31, 2009

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Today is Saturday, Oct. 31, the 304th day of 2009. There are 61 days left in the year. This is Halloween. A reminder: Daylight-saving time ends Sunday at 2 a.m. local time. Clocks go back one hour.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Oct. 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Palace church, marking the start of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.

Glancing Backward Locally:

25 years ago - 1984

Paul Shook received the Fireman of the Year award at the annual appreciation dinner and dance of the Wyalusing Firemen.

Mary Kay Hoagland, a 1982 Towanda Area High School graduate and now a sophomore at Allegheny College, was named an Aiden Scholar.

The Memorial Hospital Auxiliary compiled a 300-page, 600-recipe cookbook called "Historical Hospitality."

50 years ago - 1959

After the Towanda Valley Senior and Junior High School students painted the windows of businesses in downtown Towanda for Halloween, the winners were announced. In the senior high division, artists Sheryl Kennedy, Barbara Olm and Margaret Frawley won with their painting on Bern Furniture Store. In the junior high division, artists Elsie Goodman and Clark Sparrow won with their painting on the Grant store.

Thousands attended the annual All-Valley Halloween Parade, at which the Athens Presbyterian Church Boy Scout Troop 37 won the first place award for best float.

Celebrating his birthday today is Harry "Honey" Smith of Bridge Street, a fireman and extra engineer of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. In his younger days, Honey played third base on some of Towanda's top baseball clubs, and he has been railroading since he was 18.

75 years ago - 1934

Marching at the head of tonight's Towanda Halloween Parade is Burgess C.S. Lilley, Frederie W. Reuter, president of the town council, and T.J. Finn.

At the Girl Scouts of Towanda Troop 2 Halloween party, Joan Law won the prize for best costume.

At the 60th anniversary celebration and meeting of the Standing Stone Grange No. 354, Silver Star Certificates were awarded to Jesse Stevens, William Stevens, and William VanNest.

Elsewhere on this date:

Ten years ago: EgyptAir Flight 990, bound from New York to Cairo, crashed off the Massachusetts coast, killing all 217 people aboard.

One year ago: President George W. Bush signed an executive order restoring the Libyan government's immunity from terror-related lawsuits and dismissing pending compensation cases.

Today's Birthdays: Author Dick Francis is 89. Former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk is 87. Actress Lee Grant is 82. Movie critic Andrew Sarris is 81. Former astronaut Michael Collins is 79. Former CBS anchorman Dan Rather is 78.

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