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NANTICOKE — It was a “speechless” day Friday for the family of former Pennsylvania governor John Sydney Fine, as he was honored with a Pennsylvania historical marker.
The Nanticoke Historical Society and the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission honored the 35th governor of Pennsylvania with the iconic blue and yellow marker outside the Greater Nanticoke Area education complex.
Helene Fine Rubin, Fine’s granddaughter, said she was “speechless” after she helped Chet Zaremba, president of the historical society, unveil the marker in front of two dozen people.
Rubin, who grew up in Dallas, and currently lives near Philadelphia, was joined by other family members for the day.
“I’m just sad my mom and dad aren’t able to be here to see this,” she said.
Fine was born on April 10, 1893, in the Alden section of Newport Township to Jacob and Margaret Fine. The family then moved to Nanticoke, where Fine completed high school.
Fine was elected to a permanent term on Pennsylvania’s Superior Court in 1947 but resigned during his campaign for governor.
As State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, who represented state Sen. John Yudichak, D-Plymouth Township, and state Rep. Gerald Mullery D-Nanticoke, said during his remarks Friday, Fine’s inauguration was the first in the state to be televised. He also created the first state sales tax, “but it was only 1 percent,” Pashinski joked.
Jacob Rubin, 15, a great-grandson of Fine, said he was “really touched” that the people of Nanticoke would want to honor his great-grandfather in a special way.
“I hope this marker inspires the students of Nanticoke,” he said.
Pashinski agreed with Jacob, calling Fine an “inspiration” for the students who walk to school via Kosciuszko Street.
Dr. William Lewis, of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, said the unveiling was a “personally exciting” day for him.
“The educational value (of the markers) is enormous,” Lewis noted.
Markers cost thousands of dollars and there aren’t any state grants to help defray the cost.
Lewis mentioned that the commission gets “several calls” a day from people who are looking to visit each of the 2,600 markers throughout the state.
The marker is the second for the society as it placed a historical marker for the former Concrete City — an abandoned Lackawanna, Delaware and Western Railroad housing complex — several years ago on Front Street in the Hanover Section of Nanticoke.
“These (markers) commemorate people, places, events that make Pennsylvania so unique,” Lewis said.
