Wvia Program Focuses On Mental Illness

Bad Economics Is What's Really Trickling Down

TOM MOONEY
 Sunday, February 10, 2002 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1B 





Guy DePasquale was a self-described ``history nut'' as he was growing up in
Wyoming Valley. Anything about the past fascinated him. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But it wasn't until about two years ago that he really hit his stride.
Around mid-2000 he realized that the deadline for the assignment he'd taken on
- producing the program book for the 100th anniversary of Local 163 of the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in February 2001 - was bearing
down on him. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Another person might have collapsed under the strain. But DePasquale
discovered that not only was he good at compiling and writing history, but he
enjoyed it as well. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``I just went nuts. But thank God the juices started flowing and I pieced
everything together.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 What he produced for his union local's anniversary, in a year of furious
activity, was a truly impressive and genealogically useful document.
Eighty-eight pages long, the glossy-bound book describes the historical
background and the step-by-step organization of the union a century ago. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 That's not all, however. Have an ancestor who was an outside lineman or an
electrician? The book offers lists of inspectors and other officers as well as
biographies of former business agents and managers - beginning with his own
great-grandfather, charter member Anthony F. Love Lynch. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It's got large photos of anniversary celebrations and work on major job
sites, such as the Veterans Hospital, with good identifications. Wondering
what the inside linemen used to earn? DePasquale gives you an historical chart
of wages (87.5 cents per hour in 1921). The dangers early workers endured is
suggested by a 1901 news story detailing the first death on the job of a local
member, an outside lineman killed by a falling pole. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Style abounds. DePasquale suggests the age of the local by scattering
through the book plenty of old-time ads, using antique-looking borders and
coloring some clippings yellow. Even great-grandfather Lynch's
turn-of-the-century union card is there. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Technically, DePasquale of Penn Lake Park is an electrician and
historian/curator of the Local 163 Historical Society, Wilkes-Barre, Inside
Wireman-Electricians Union. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But he's also a man on a mission to make modern-day people aware of the
struggles it took to organize and of the dedication of local labor pioneers,
many of whose descendants live in the area today and might not know much about
their ancestors. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``It (electrical work) was a brand-new trade,'' said DePasquale. ``The
corporations didn't want you to be skilled. They wanted you to be a glorified
laborer. So the unions formed to improve wages, safety and the like.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 DePasquale insists he doesn't do it all alone. He credits Local 103
Business Manager Joseph Capece, computer graphics partner Augie Ciulla, and
research helper Carol Cipolari, from the international in Washington, D.C. -
along with wife Natalie. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 DePasquale's local union history work doesn't stop with his anniversary
book. He's also compiled the first two volumes of his Pioneer Collection,
writings by and information about great-grandfather Lynch and fellow local
charter member Willard F. Barber. These notebooks not only describe the two
men but offer, in their own words, the story of the union's first three
decades. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 For the future he's planning a full-length book that will expand upon his
100th anniversary monograph and a 75th-anniversary commemoration of the State
Electrical Workers Association. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``I'd also like to compile a biography book as well and - in my wildest
dreams - a movie script based mostly on the old linemen and their struggles
with a new trade,'' he said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Whether he will find his future in Wyoming Valley is uncertain, though.
DePasquale is looking forward to a move to Washington, D.C., soon, a move that
he hopes will enable him to expand his research into union history through
access to national sources. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But wherever that future lies, he says, his goal will never change: to make
the people of today aware of their ancestors, ``the men whose mettle was
tested and those who strove for the golden rule and golden principle - all for
one and one for all, a union/brotherhood utopian ideal.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 *** &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The public can find DePasquale's anniversary book at the Osterhout Free
Library and the Luzerne County Historical Society, both in Wilkes-Barre. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Local History Moment: Sometimes an old, faded sign can tell a lot about the
past - to those who will look and remember (or ask). On the side of a brick
building on Wilkes-Barre's Hazle Avenue there remains the inscription
``Huntzinger's 5 cents, 10 cents.'' Before there was a Kmart, an Ames or a
Wal-Mart, communities had their Woolworths, their Kirbys and their Kresges -
downtown stores that sold bargain-priced goods from big self-service racks. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Then there were the individual entrepreneurs, such as the local Huntzinger
family, running its own store to serve the people of the city's Rolling Mill
Hill section for whom a streetcar trip downtown to buy fabrics, magazines or
toys was an inconvenience, or an experience reserved for a special day. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In the now-dim past, everything in these stores really did cost just five
or 10 cents, but eventually the expression ``five and dime'' or ``five and
10'' came to mean anything below department-store price levels. Huntzinger's
has been gone for decades, but the sign remains, a signpost to another era and
way of life. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 News Notes: My second and last introduction to genealogy program for the
winter season is set for the Wilkes-Barre Boscov's Department Store today from
1 to 3 p.m. It's free. Come on over to the store's fourth-floor auditorium for
an afternoon of tips and conversation with your fellow local family
historians. You can park in the South Franklin Street parkade and walk right
into the store. I'll be repeating the sessions in the fall. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Congratulations to Webmaster Tammy Lamb, whose Luzerne County Genweb
recently garnered high praise in Smart Computing, the online computer
magazine. In an article titled ``Put Down Roots,'' appearing in the February
issue, writer Kylee Dickey praises the local Genweb for its ``massive amounts
of information'' and holds it up as an example of what a Genweb site should be
as she evaluates national sources of genealogical research material. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Genweb is a national network of localized Web sites containing genealogy
information, query boards and other features. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The Genealogical Research Society of Northeastern Pennsylvania will
sponsor part two of the beginners' workshop titled ``Genealogy A B C: How Do I
Find Out All About Me?'' It is set for 7 to 9 p.m., Feb. 20, at the Community
Room, Lackawanna Heritage Apartments, 211 Susquehanna Ave., Olyphant. The
workshop is free and open to the public. For additional information, call
(570) 383-7661. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In a move that other states are looking at, New Jersey libraries have
banded together to offer research services over the Internet. ``Twenty-six
libraries in New Jersey split day and evening hours answering questions,''
says a recent wire story. ``Overnight duties are provided by LSSI, a library
service provider based in Maryland.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The service is limited to factual questions typed in by the person seeking
information. ``And Pennsylvania libraries are trying to get their own together
by midsummer, using the Free Library of Philadelphia as one of the research
providers,'' the news story said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 State legislators in South Dakota recently refused to consider a proposed
law that would have required newspapers to run free obituaries. The
legislators' reason for rejecting the bill was that they did not believe they
had any right to tell newspapers what to print. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But the controversy points to a fact that genealogists should be aware of.
Though the Times Leader and many other papers print obituaries for free, some
papers - especially those in larger cities - charge to print them. So if you
can't find an obit for an ancestor, that might mean simply that the family
didn't ante up for the article. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``Out on a Limb,'' the Times Leader's award-winning local genealogy
column, appears every other Sunday. It is also accessible at
www.timesleader.com and on the Luzerne County Genweb. Back columns are
archived on the Genweb. Contact Tom Mooney, Times Leader, 15 N. Main St.,
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711. E-mail is tmooney@leader.net. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

`history Nut' Chronicles Union's Past