Audio postcard from Nanticoke

As part of the radio series "100 Days: On the Road in Troubled Times", NPR reporter David Greene posted a report from Luzerne County Community College in Nanticoke:

Lessons From The Recession In The Classroom

...But things are different at a public institution in Northeastern Pennsylvania, where I arrived a few days ago.

"I have a very full load. My classes are packed these semesters," says Jim McAndrew, a professor of economics and management at Luzerne County Community College in Nanticoke, Pa. He says Luzerne is "affordably priced" and has seen a "huge increase" in enrollment.

Unfortunately, the radio report somehow manages to omit mentioning where Luzerne County Community College is located, beyond "Northeastern Pennsylvania." At least Nanticoke is mentioned in the online version!

City-Data: Nanticoke

City-Data.com is a nifty site that provides demographic information about various localities. It also provides discussion forums for people who want to talk about a particular city, which is especially useful for former residents who want to keep in touch with how things are going at the place they still think of as home. Nanticoke's entry on City-Data can be found here:

http://www.city-data.com/city/Nanticoke-Pennsylvania.html

Here are the current (as of this writing) forums about Nanticoke, and the current number of comments in each:

Reminisce about Nanticoke (39 replies)
Greater Nanticoke Area School DRESS CODE !! (32 replies)
Nanticoke Spider Infestation? (9 replies)
How's Nanticoke?? (46 replies)
Wilkes-Barre/Nanticoke Restaurants (0 replies)
Nanticoke bar/restaurant with stuffed turkey hanging over the bar? (2 replies)

Diamond's Candy Shoppe

Originally published on Another Monkey on March 28, 2005

Diamond's has been a fixture of Nanticoke all of my life. It is located just off our city square, in a not-very-good neighborhood. Their chocolate is, I think, the best I have ever had, not too waxy or too sugary and with a strong chocolate aroma, but I am probably biased in this regard.


Diamond's Candy Shoppe, October 30 2004

I walked into the store this morning and was greeted by the proprietor, Mr. Panagakos, who was still reeling from the Easter rush. I told him I was looking for some unusual shapes, that my friends had told me he had chocolate knives and guns and Darth Vader heads. He didn't know about these shapes, but he did show me some other unusual ones - a chocolate Empire State Building for $26.50, a chocolate dancing pig and dog, and another chocolate pig. While he was going through the comical chocolate animals he came across the chocolate handgun, which surprised him quite a bit. I also spotted a fleet of chocolate submarines on his shelf and asked him to get one down for me. I thought I spotted a chocolate knife in the front display case, but it turned out to be the blade of a pair of chocolate scissors. Near the scissors was a whole tray of chocolate American flags, with the message "PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN" barely visible at the bottom.


Some chocolate shapes from Diamond's

I bought all of these, which Mr. Panagakos gave to me at the traditional discount given by most local shopkeepers (who tend to round down all of their prices), and he also threw in some cream-filled Easter Eggs free of charge ("Everybody likes Easter Eggs!" he enthused in his thick Greek accent as he shoveled them into the bag.)

I asked him for a business card as I paid for my goodies, and he pointed out that his clear plastic business card case was empty save for the one taped to the front - which he pulled off and gave to me, noting that the guy who takes care of printing his cards should be getting him more soon.


Diamond's business card

If you ever find yourself in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it's worth your while to visit Nanticoke and get some delicious chocolate from Diamond's Candy Shoppe at 4 East Broad Street. You'll be glad you did!

Nanticoke Church Consolidations

The final report is out on parish closings and consolidations in the Diocese of Scranton. Erin Moody, who wrote the newspaper article on The Stained Glass Project several months ago, also wrote a comprehensive article on the closings and consolidations for the Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice. The official announcement from the Diocese of Scranton can be found here.

Here is the information that pertains specifically to Nanticoke:

CLUSTER # 8 – the parishes of Holy Trinity, Nanticoke; St. Stanislaus, Nanticoke; St. Mary of Czestochowa, Nanticoke; St. Francis, Nanticoke; St. Joseph (Slovak), Nanticoke; Holy Child, Sheatown:

Holy Trinity, Nanticoke; St. Stanislaus, Nanticoke; St. Mary Czestochowa, Nanticoke; St. Francis, Nanticoke; St. Joseph (Slovak), Nanticoke; and Holy Child, Sheatown will consolidate no later than July 2010 at the Holy Trinity site. There will be an additional worship site (Masses as needed per weekend with occasional funerals and weddings) at St. Mary of Czestochowa which will be evaluated no later than two years after the consolidation, based on geography, attendance, fiscal realities and the availability of priests. St. Francis Church building will close no later than July 2009. The Church buildings of St. Stanislaus, St. Joseph, and Holy Child will close no later than July 2010.

Nanticoke Historical Society in the news

The Nanticoke Historical Society was featured in a story in today's Citizen's Voice:

Nanticoke Historical Society saves, documents pieces of city’s past

BY ELIZABETH SKRAPITS
STAFF WRITER

Published: Monday, December 15, 2008 11:58 AM EST

NANTICOKE — They’re preservationists, technophiles, detectives and, when the occasion calls for it, Dumpster-divers.

Members of the Nanticoke Historical Society have seen too much of the city’s history reduced to rubble, crumble to dust, get carted to landfills or otherwise irretrievably vanish to be squeamish. When it comes to saving records that might be crucial for charting the South Valley’s history or providing genealogical data, they’ll do what they have to.

“Believe me, it’s a rich, rich history we have in this town,” said Chester Zaremba, the society’s vice president and secretary.

You can read the rest of the article here. You can visit the Nanticoke Historical Society website here.

WNAK is gone

A few days ago I received this comment on my post about Nanticoke's radio station, WNAK:

As a former employee of WNAK it saddens me that Neilson sold the station. I enjoyed the eight years I was there on-air, and the Nightwatch was like saying "goodbye" when the station would go off the air. Mr. Neilson passed away a few years ago but he told me how he made a mistake in the sale and wished we could have all worked together to keep the station alive. Time ran out for all of us and, well under different ownership things changed.

Some good news perhaps, as of Dec 1, 2008, I hear the old sounds could be coming back to WNAK? Let's all hope and prayer!!

I do not know if the format has switched back yet - I haven't tuned in in a very long time. But as of yesterday, the former funeral home that housed WNAK from 1982 until the new owners relocated earlier this year no longer exists.

Former home of WNAK razed for church parking

BY BOB KALINOWSKI
STAFF WRITER
Published: Thursday, December 4, 2008 4:06 AM EST

The residential Nanticoke building that was home to the small, but popular WNAK radio station for decades and launched many successful media careers was demolished Wednesday.

The building at 84 S. Prospect St. has been empty since early this year, when the station’s new owners, West Chester-based Route 81 Radio, moved operations to a multi-station headquarters in Avoca.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Sadly, when I was taking pictures of the churches in the area of WNAK - including the Nebo Baptist Church, which purchased the building and had it torn down to build additional parking - I didn't bother to take any of WNAK itself. I'm not sure if the sign indicating that it once was home to the radio station - an old-style NBC "N" logo, a holdover from the brief period when the station was an NBC affiliate - was still there. (Owner and broadcaster Bob Neilson would refer to the station on-air as "NBC" long after this affiliation ended, saying it stood for "Nielson's Broadcasting Company.")

Another piece of Nanticoke history is gone.


UPDATE: Yes, it's true. The "old sounds" have returned, at least in the form of easy-listening Christmas music. After the season, who knows? But it will never be the same as I remember it, with Hymn Time (an hour of religious music) every day, and commercial-free Sundays (with the special Sunday jingle "There's something missing from this station...it's WNAK!"), and Bob Neilson giving a daily editorial called "Another Point of View" (with the sound of a chattering ticker-tape behind him) and ending it with the disclaimer that the station would broadcast other viewpoints from "responsible persons," although this always seemed to mean only one person, a woman named Marion Dunstan Karsten of Kingston, PA, and of course, Night Watch ending every day's programming.


UPDATE 2, 12/7/08: Jan Souther, in his column "The Wax Museum" at the Wilkes-Barre Citzens' Voice, confirms that these really are the "old sounds":

The station’s owners realized that what Luzerne County really needs is Adult Standards radio and they wisely kept the music library we listened to for so many years, with a little updating here and there.

Nanticoke churches in the news

Erin Moody of the Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice wrote an article on The Stained Glass Project that featured several of my photos, including one on the top banner of the front page!

Erin Moody: Framing Stained Glass Snapshots - Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice, November 24, 2008


Meanwhile, in other Nanticoke church news...

Nanticoke church will open its doors to Goth community with service

St. George's Episcopal Church is the cool little building described here. According to the article, the Goth service will be held this Saturday, November 29, though I am unclear on the time.

Last Chance to See: Stained Glass Edition

In 1985, Douglas Adams (the bestselling author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series) and Mark Carwardine set out on a series of expeditions to locate and document some of the world's most endangered animals. The book that was later made of these adventures was called Last Chance to See, a title that urged readers to recognize the imminent threat of extinction faced by these animals. See them now, it urged, before it's too late. Save them now, before it's too late.

It was too late for some of these animals. The Baiji Dolphin was probably past the point of no return well before Douglas and Mark made their trip to the Yangtze River, but the Three Gorges Dam sealed its fate. The Northern White Rhino was still "in with a chance," as they say, as long as intensive conservation efforts could be maintained and something like, say, intensive poaching efforts could be avoided. The Northern White Rhino is now extinct in the wild.

Sadly, Douglas Adams died in May of in 2001. But others carry on his work. Mark Carwardine and Stephen Fry are shooting a sequel to the original expeditions, and Gareth's Another Chance to See has kept the torch burning and the updates coming.

Animal species aren't the only things that go extinct.

Catholic churches in the Diocese of Scranton and throughout the U.S. face the prospect of imminent parish consolidation. Populations have shifted, fewer men are becoming priests, and economic pressures are making it financially infeasible to keep underperforming parishes open.

When parishes consolidate, churches close.

Some of these churches are well over a century old. Many of them retain aspects of their original construction that may very well qualify them for historical landmark status. Some, like my own church of St. Mary's (Our Lady of Czestochowa) in Nanticoke, contain works of liturgical art that are both priceless and highly immobile, like the stained glass windows that line the walls and bear the names of the donors - many of them historical figures who played major roles in the history of our region.

What fate awaits these churches? Some will remain open. Some will be kept inactive but in reserve, spending most of the year closed to public and parishioners alike and opened only for special occasions. Others will be closed permanently. Some will be deconsecrated and sold, after their liturgical ornaments - such as their stained glass windows - are removed. Some will fall into disrepair, fall victim to fire or vandalism or the ravages of entropy.

In another place and time, the stained glass windows of St. Mary's church in Nanticoke would be a major tourist attraction, drawing visitors from far and wide to marvel at their beauty and the skill of their manufacture and the richness of the symbolism built into each image. (That fellow in the window on the left in the picture above is St. Leo. Read up on him to find out who the dog-dragon at his feet might be.) But in the here and now, these are just ornaments in a church that is probably slated for closure.

In the Hudson Valley of New York there is a tiny church known as the Union Church of Pocantico Hills. This small, simple structure is exceptional for two reasons: its construction was partially funded by the Rockefeller family, and it contains nine stained glass windows by Marc Chagall and one by Henri Matisse. Visitors come from all over to see them. I've been there, twice. They're beautiful. They're worth the trip.

So are the windows of St. Mary's.

St. Mary's, however, is not set up as a tourist attraction. For security reasons it is usually kept locked when services are not being conducted. But the Union Church of Pocantico Hills literature notes that the best time to observe and fully appreciate the beauty of church windows is during a service, in the company of the congregation.

How much longer does St. Mary's have to be open? How many more services will be held under its steeple? How many more opportunities will people have to visit this church and marvel at the beauty of its windows?

The answer is, I don't know. I have no idea. Not yet, anyway.

In The Stained Glass Project I am making an effort to photograph and document these windows, to save them for posterity and share them with the world. This started out as a personal wish, a "...wouldn't it be nice if somebody..." sort of plan, which only started to become a reality almost on a whim when I found myself in the church, camera in hand, waiting for my cousin to begin her march down the aisle. At the moment I'm doing it entirely on my own, without official approval from either the parish priest or the Bishop of Scranton. I will carry on with it as long as I am able. I encourage others in other parishes do do the same thing, for as long as their churches are open and the opportunity exists.

It may be a matter of weeks, or months, or perhaps years, but someday the doors of St. Mary's will be closed and locked for good. And then the only way to appreciate these works of art will be from the outside, looking in.

So hurry, hurry, hurry. Do not miss what may be your final opportunity to gaze upon these works of art with your own eyes. Masses at St. Mary's are currently held Saturday evenings at 5:30 PM - too late to appreciate the windows at this time of year - and Sunday mornings at 11:30 AM. Directions to St. Mary's can be found here. Stop in, attend Mass, throw a few dollars in the collection basket. On the way out at the end of the services tell the priest how much you appreciate having the opportunity to see St. Mary's stained glass windows for yourself.

This may just be your last chance to see.

In a different light

I was able to get some decent images of the twelve major stained glass windows at St. Mary's Church in Nanticoke this past Sunday. The one above is of St. Hedwig and St. Edward (also known as King Edward the Confessor.) To get the image full length and relatively undistorted I had to take the picture from the central aisle of the church, while bracing myself against the pews - something that would not have been possible if I were not the only person taking advantage of the open Day of Prayer at 1:00 on Sunday afternoon. (And yes, I did spend some time in prayer before, during, and after the taking of these photos.)

These full-length images capture every major part of the windows, which is what I was trying to accomplish. I don't know if there are technical names for each of these parts, but if there are I expect I shall be learning them over the next few weeks. In the meantime I'll just use my own terms.

For now I want to focus on the lower part of the window, which is where the sponsor tag is included when it is actually still attached to the window.

This window - well, pair of windows - has a single tag that extends across both windows and reads "PRESENTED BY" (under St. Hedwig) and "K.M. SMITH" (under St. Edward.) Anyone familiar with Nanticoke will recognize the name K.M. Smith, which has been memorialized in the K.M. Smith school located just a few blocks from St. Mary's church. Unfortunately, references to the school dominate the results for any online search for "K.M. Smith," so I may have to resort to more old-fashioned means of investigation. The Nanticoke Historical Society may be able to help me locate information on this donor, as well as information on other donors (like "WILLIAM EVANS") whose names are not distinct enough (like, for example, "F.H. KOHLBRAKER") to provide a clean hit online.

I made a quick attempt to gather the names of the window donors / sponsors / presenters on Saturday evening after Mass, but by then the light had faded enough that I needed to use my flash to get the images. Which meant that I captured images of the windows by reflected, rather than transmitted, light. So while the image above shows what the bottom of the St. Edward window looked like with the sun shining through it at 1:20 on Sunday afternoon, here's what that same window looked like at 6:30 Saturday evening:


Notice the very unsubtle stripes of color, particularly in the middle of the row of five tablet-shaped panes, and how these fade to nuances and subtle distinctions of color once the sun shines through. I never did like seeing these windows after sunset, or when the sun was clouded over. But as a kid I served plenty of evening Masses and Masses on rainy days, so I got to see these windows under all different lighting conditions.


(Note for the uninitiated: "ORA PRO NOBIS", which can be seen under most (possibly all) of the images of the saints, is Latin for "Pray for us." While many outsiders believe that Catholics treat saints as a pantheon of demigods and pray directly to them, in reality Catholics pray only for the intercession of the saints - they ask the saint to put in a good word for them with the Big Guy. I know that saints are not unique to the Catholic church, though I have no idea how other Christian sects deal with the relationship of the individual to the saint.)

The Stained Glass Project

I've already given a little preview of this project in Angel, Dark Angel. Actually, this post was supposed to be the preview, but I couldn't wait to post the images of St. Michael (visible in context in this detail of a wedding photo.)

This project is starting to grow, and some people have expressed an interest in it. Here's how I summed it up in response to one inquiry:

I grew up in Nanticoke and have lived here most of my life. I attended St. Mary's Church and School as a child, so I've spent nearly every Sunday (and lots of other days back in grade school) in that church looking at those windows. I suppose being in such frequent proximity causes you to take things for granted. I have traveled many miles to see Marc Chagall's stained glass windows at Union Church of Pocantico Hills in New York, and I must say I like our little windows more!

With the possibility of the closing of St. Mary's looming into a probability, I have started to look at all these things I have taken for granted in a new light. Often I have thought that it would be wonderful to arrange for some professional photographer to come into the church with a specially-designed rig to capture detailed images of the windows. But as I sat in the pew before my cousin's wedding last week, camera in hand, I thought "Well, why not?" and started taking pictures.

St. Mary's isn't the only church in this area with beautiful stained glass windows or other works of art. Nor is it the only church in this area slated for closing. (Or potentially slated; Bishop Martino is now advising the people of the diocese that nothing is decided yet, though - but as we saw with the school closings, and the bishop's fight with the teachers, once Bishop Martino has made up his mind, no appeals to reason or mercy will sway his decision.) I'm sure there's at least one person in each congregation with a camera. I think it would be fantastic on so many levels if the people of this area were to take it upon themselves to photographically document the things that mean so much to them, so that these things are not lost forever when they are gone. Or, perhaps, so future generations might understand just what has been lost.

So that's what I'm doing. Beyond just photographically documenting the windows, I will also try to dig up as much information on them as I can. When were they installed? Where were they made? Who are the people whose names are listed at the bottoms as donors?* The church itself may have records that will answer these questions - but if I wait too long, those records may be lost or discarded. Already many of the people with memories of the church stretching back decades beyond my mother's have passed from the scene. I guess I should have acted on another of my little projects sooner.

As I noted in the e-mail I quoted, there are a lot of churches in this area with art worth preserving, even if only photographically, and many of those churches are slated for closing. I wonder if I can generate enough interest to get someone from each parish to take on the task of photographing and researching the windows in their church?



*My mom thinks the answer to the second question may be Baut Studios, a local stained glass manufacturer. Until today, I had no idea there was a local stained glass manufacturer. But if they are the suppliers, then the answer to the first question would have to be "sometime after 1927." And the church is over 100 years old. I'll see if I can grab the priest after Mass this weekend.