Adults

The Big Snow Thanksgiving Weekend 1950

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With temperatures approaching 70 degrees recently, we are reminded of another November day 66 years ago when Pittsburgh was hit with a huge snow storm the weekend after Thanksgiving that dumped 30 inches of snow on the city and surrounding areas. Ed Lybarger, one of our volunteers and a library patron recalls…

I was 5 years old at the time, so the memory isn’t always precise.  The newspapers forecast “flurries” on Wednesday.  

As I recall, the snow fell much of the day and all night Friday…much more than was forecast…and into Saturday morning.  There were no newspapers Saturday; the city and surrounding areas were shut down.  Peters Township at that time used a large Galion road grader to plow snow from the roads; that had been accomplished by the time my dad dug a path up to the top of the driveway where he had left the car Friday.  Other photos taken at that time show the plowed but still snow covered road (now Old Oak Road) and a neighbor who was likewise excavating.  I do not recall whether this was Saturday afternoon or Sunday.  The power was out but we could cook with our gas range.  We had gas forced air heat, which depended on electricity to run the blower.  Conveniently, we had a couple storage batteries in the house, and my dad rigged the furnace blower to run from them, so we had at least some heat for a while…a good thing, since it became bitterly cold following the storm.

You can read the front page story from the Pittsburgh Press from the day after Thanksgiving, November 24, 1950.

I do not remember how long it took to get things back to a semblance of normalcy.  I was not yet in school, so there is no memory of missing it.  I believe my dad went to work (in Mount Lebanon) Monday, though, so the highway was open.  Just how much snow was there?  It varied across the region, but the number 30 seemed to be popular around here!  

Visit our Local History Photos page to see more images from Peters Township past! Credit for the photo on this page: Samuel F. Lybarger photo, courtesy of Edward H. Lybarger

Getting Through the Holidays Gluten-Free

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While visiting a local farm last summer, Melanie Jaskulski’s 5-year-old daughter noticed a little girl wearing the same gluten-free alert bracelet as she was and ran to talk to her.  The elated look on her daughter’s face of meeting someone “just like her” made Melanie realize she needed to do something to bring gluten-free kids together. After doing some research, she discovered Generation GF, a national organization, and she decided to start a local chapter in this area.

To help families have a fun, gluten-free holiday season, the library is collaborating with Generation GF to host Getting through the Holidays Gluten-Free on Saturday, December 10 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. Register online to attend this free, family-friendly event or call 724.941.9430 #1.

Featured speakers include:

  • Amy Macklin, RDN, one of the leading private practice Registered Dietitians/Nutritionists in the United States who specializes in helping families and individuals to live, learn, master, and even enjoy the gluten-free lifestyle. She is the author of Growing Up Gluten Free: A Lifestyle Guide For Raising Your Gluten-Free Child. A book signing will follow the program.
  • Meredith Hartladge, a Nutrition Consultant currently completing her Master of Science in Holistic Nutrition. She will be sharing recipes and samples of quick, easy snacks for gluten-free children and tips for entertaining gluten-free guests over the holidays.
  • Melanie Jaskulski, the founder of Generation GF Pittsburgh.

Generation GF, a program of the Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG), is designed to build confidence in kids, teens, and young adults, and help develop them into the future leaders of our gluten-free community. Their goal is to provide safe environments where kids do not have to worry about what they are going to eat and can just enjoy the fun that comes with being a kid. More information is available at https://www.gluten.org/.

Attic find leads retired teacher to write book

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Registration is required for this program. There is limited seating available at this time. Please call 724.941.9430 #1 to inquire if any seats are available.

While cleaning out his parent’s attic, Carleton Young discovered an enormous collection of letters written during the Civil War by two soldiers. After spending about five years transcribing the letters with the help of friends, the retired history teacher compiled their stories into the book Voices from the Attic: The Williamstown Boys in the Civil War.

Young will visit the Peters Township Public Library on Thursday, December 1 at 7:00 p.m. to talk about the book and his efforts to retrace the steps of the two brothers based on their letters home as they fought in the Civil War. A book signing will follow the presentation.

Young’s book tells the story of two brothers who witnessed and made history by fighting in the Peninsula Campaign, then at South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Cedar Creek. They preserved that history through their surprisingly detailed and insightful letters, rediscovered after 150 years in his parent’s attic.

 

SCORE presents “Financial Essentials for Profitability and Efficiency”

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SCORE Pittsburgh has partnered with the Peters Township Public Library and the Peters Township Chamber of Commerce to present FREE seminars focusing on starting your own small business.

Class participants will gain a practical and applicable understanding of key financial ratios to determine the profitability and performance of a department or business. The class will learn where to locate financial information in order to use these ratios to measure profitability and efficiency.

Registration is required for this event. To register, go to https://pittsburgh.score.org/localworkshops.

 

Meet the Artist: James Sulkowski

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American artist James Sulkowski will discuss the principles, concepts and techniques of classical painting and drawing at the Peters Township Public Library on Thursday, November 17 from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Register online or call 724.941.9430 #1 to attend this program.

Several of Sulkowski’s works will accompany the presentation. A limited number of his book Mastering Oil Painting will be available for purchase for $10.

James Sulkowski is a classical artist in the tradition of the Masters. His adherence to Old Master concepts and techniques gives his work both timeless and luminous qualities.

His dramatic effects of light and use of deep, rich color have attracted private, corporate and public collectors worldwide including former President and Mrs. George H.W. Bush, the Saudi Arabian Royal Family and the Metropolitan Opera of New York.

James studied at the famed Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Carnegie-Mellon University and most notably with master artist Frank Mason at the Art Students League of New York.

Free Driver’s Ed programs online

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Peters Township Public Library announces a partnership with Driving-Tests.org to offer free PA Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) practice tests to library patrons. The new service includes free tests specifically based on Pennsylvania’s DMV materials. It is the only site of its kind to include accessibility tools that let users hear selections read aloud, make them into MP3s, translate pages into other languages, magnify text, and mask portions of the screen for greater visibility on the practice tests.

This partnership allows the library to harness the power of Driving-Tests.org’s specialized practice exams to turn new drivers into safer drivers. The new program will work as an outreach to several groups of patrons, including teens, those with disabilities, and seniors who need to take a renewal exam, as well as patrons at every other stage of life.

Driving-Tests.org is a part of Elegant E-Learning, Inc., an eight-year-old company with a proven track record of revolutionizing online resources for learner drivers. Driving-Tests.org is part of a plan to improve global driver safety by providing free practice tests written by experts to anyone who wants to study, along with online copies of official study guides.

Get started at http://ptlibrary.driving-tests.org, and let us know what you think of this new resource!