Other Times

100 Years Ago – 1917:

Present indications are that the first ship built at the mammoth plant of the Sun Shipbuilding Co., at the foot of Morton Avenue, will slip off the ways into the Delaware River during the early part of August. Though no definite date has been set for the initial launching it is a wellknown fact in the circles of the company that August has been set as the goal when the first boat built at this vast plant will be launch and employees in every department is bending every effort to see the first tanker out by that date.

75 Years Ago – 1942:

The spirit of Gen. Washington and his Continental Army lived again for a brief instant when the 16,615ton tanker, Valley Forge, slid down the way at Sun Ship into the Delaware. Following the launching, a rally was held in the central yard, attended by thousands of workers, given time off by John G. Pew, president of the Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. A suggestion by Pew for workers to subscribe an additional 10 percent of their salaries to war bonds was received with wild acclaim and the raising of thousands of hands, as a pledge, constituted still another threat to the Axis powers.

50 Years Ago – 1967:

Walter Gatchell, physics teacher at Chichester High School, has received a National Science Foundation grant to University of California at Los Angeles. The eight-week summer grant is for study in two areas, aerodynamics and laser research, leading to a master’s degree. Gatchell, a graduate of Chichester High School and Bloomsburg State College, lives in Lower Chichester.

25 Years Ago – 1992:

Counterfeit $20 bills reportedly being sold on Chester streets for $5 have surfaced in the city and in Upper Darby. The Secret Service has been called to lead an investigation into the bogus currency, according to city Detective Sgt. Gordon Shoates. “Believe me, the streets are infested,” one city businessman said anonymously. “They are bogus. You can definitely tell,” said George Windsor, owner of Georgio’s Pizza on Providence Avenue.

10 Years Ago – 2007:

Upper Chichester police officers and township commissioners at a recent public meeting thanked retired employee Bonnie M. Byrne for her many years of service. A lifelong Boothwyn resident, Byrne, 65, retired May 18 after working for the police department for 35 years.