Letters to the Editor
Written by PA Heritage Staff in the Letters category and the Winter 1996 issue Topics in this article: Abraham Lincoln, Boy Scouts of America, California, John F. Kennedy, Lincoln Highway, McKeesport, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Pittsburgh, Tobyhanna, William Penn, York“Dapper Dan”
My congratulations on an outstanding issue of Pennsylvania Heritage for summer 1995! I have watched the magazine grow and mature, and this issue was the best yet. I was particularly impressed with the piece entitled “‘Dapper Dan’ Flood, Pennsylvania’s Legendary Congressman” by William C. Kashatus III. In 1960, President John F. Kennedy issued an executive order granting the right to organize and bargain to all government employees. I was the chief steward of the newly formed Government Employees Union at the Tobyhanna Army Depot as a result of this order. “Dapper Dan” was a driving force in not only obtaining the order, but in helping those of us working at Tobyhanna to negotiate and sign the very first labor agreement under this order. This experience allows me to vouch for the complete accuracy of this article, recall fond memories, and momentarily relive those good times at Tobyhanna. The author not only chose words that successfully told the story, but took me back many years. Dan Flood was everything the article says he was – and more! Having been in the congressman’s presence on many occasions, I can guarantee his language was even more picturesque than Mr. Kashatus could possibly write. More important than the author’s excellent writing is the total relevance and usefulness of the article. The Honorable Dan Flood made history, was history, and his story needed to be told. Pennsylvania Heritage has rendered a great service to its readership with this excellent, interesting, and worthwhile story.
Verlin F. Curtis
Mechanicsburg, Pa.
Life on the Lincoln
Your article in the summer issue, “Larger Than Life Along the Lincoln Highway,” by Brian A. Butko brought back memories of my Boy Scout days. I am now eighty-two. Our Boy Scout troop, number 13, of York, installed a concrete post along the Lincoln Highway in West York in August 1928. These posts, of which there were many, were made of concrete and had a copper seal with Abraham Lincoln’s head in relief imbedded near the top. The concrete post in West York, as well as most, have disappeared over the years.
Walter E. Anderson
York, Pa.
What memories crowded my mind as I read “Larger Than Life Along the Lincoln Highway”! We lived for a number of years in a house located along the highway, about a mile east of East McKeesport. Our family consisted of my mother, my father, and twelve children. The house we lived in has since been converted to a motel. One of the things I can remember as though it happened yesterday was seeing the man who was “walking around the world backwards,” a Mr. Plennie L. Wingo. My father saw him walking backwards along the highway and invited him to our house for supper. Mr. Wingo continued to walk backwards until he was inside our house. He said he was writing a book about his travels and would mention us in his book. Perhaps he did, but we never saw the book We said many times that someone in the family should write a book about our lives while we lived in our Lincoln Highway house but, unfortuÂnately, such a book was never written.
Martha Young Stockton
Bakersfield, Calif.
Message
I have just reviewed the fall 1995 issue of Pennsylvania Heritage, a publication I greatly enjoy as a legislator and subscriber. The purpose of this note is to tell you how much I enjoy this publication, particularly the “Executive Director’s Message” concerning the legacy of William Penn in this edition. Thanks for a job well done.
Albert W. Pettit
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Albert W. Pettit, a member of Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives, represents the 40th District.
