Click here to subscribe today or Login.
(Editor’s note: Matt Mattei and Rebecca Mattei are cousins.)
EXETER — The images brought back memories of a cherished time, a time when almost every borough had its own high school, when everyone knew local policemen and politicians, when restaurants were beacons of good eating and socialization for miles around and when the streets of Pittston City were bustling with life.
The Greater Pittston Historical Society and Highland Manor combined resources to host a retrospective slide show recently for residents of the rehabilitation and nursing center with the goal of providing a nostalgic treat for the people who remember the Greater Pittston of decades ago.
In attendance were residents, family members, staff and members of the community as the event was open to the public.
Rebecca Mattei, an activities aid at Highland Manor, organized the event and said the inspiration for the slide show came from the “conversation games” she plays with residents during evenings.
“Our conversations with residents always seemed to turn into old Pittston,” said Mattei. “Where they worked, what they did, going there for the day, the theaters they went to, the stories they shopped in. I was friends with the Greater Pittston Historical Society on Facebook, and I thought, ‘I wonder if we can contact them and do a display.’”
When Mattei reached out to the G.P.H.S. president, Ron Faraday suggested a slide show and the two went to work. They poured over hundreds of old Sunday Dispatch negatives to put together a presentation that they thought would resonate with residents based on their recollections.
The slide show displayed photographs of Pittston City and the surrounding boroughs of Greater Pittston throughout the 1950s and 1960s. There were pictures of sports teams, school dances and plays from high schools dissolved in the 60s when school districts consolidated.
There were images of politicians attending community events and policemen serving their community, including one where an officer helped two lost children get home.
Residents recognized businessmen like Carmen Sciandra, who owned a shoe repair shop on Market Street in Pittston for 60 years, and they remembered dining in restaurants like the Nook, a popular seafood spot, which sat just on the Pittston side of the Fort Jenkins bridge.
Faraday said the entertainments value for residents was the first goal of the slide show, but the presentation also served as an opportunity for him and other members of the historical society to gather information. The archival newspaper photos, being negatives, have no captions, so members of the audience had new insights on the context of the images, and were encouraged to shout out their recollections.
“Finding somebody who may have been there and said, ‘Oh yeah, that was the 1966 Memorial Day Parade’ … There’s stuff like that that you can’t get anywhere else,” said Faraday.
Veda Dunston, a Highland Manor resident who was born and lived much of her life in Coxton, said the presentation was beautiful and she remembered a lot of the images displayed. She said, without hesitation, that her favorite memory was of the American Theater in Pittston.
“My grandmother worked there,” said Dunston. “In the morning before I’d go to school, we’d go in and help her put up the seats and help her clean it, and in the afternoon she worked at the candy counter.”
Rosemary Lombardo said she loved the display and was fond of the slides she saw of West Pittston. A resident of the Mid-town Apartments in Wyoming, Lombardo was visiting Highland Manor for the presentation and photos of the borough made her think of members of her family who owned the Blue Ribbon Dairy.
Pam Sheeder, Director of Admissions for Highland Manor, was pleased with the turnout and support for the event (Ron Faraday actually commented that if he’d known there would be so many in attendance, he’d have brought a larger projection screen).
Sheeder said the slide show presentation was the beginning of many open-to-the-public events in an effort for Highland Manor to become a more salient entity in the community.