Grange to honor ‘Citizen of the Year’
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GRAYSVILLE – Harvey’s Aleppo Grange 1444 near Graysville will honor a school superintendent and a fire company during an open house from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday. The community is invited.
Thelma J. Szarell, superintendent of West Greene School District, has been chosen as “Community Citizen of the Year.”
Szarell was raised on a farm in Morris Township where she still lives. Her career included teaching in Aleppo, Graysville and New Freeport elementary schools, as well as in West Greene Middle-High School.
After serving as the assistant to the superintendent, Szarell was officially named superintendent in 2006. She is a member of Nineveh United Methodist Church, where she is also a member of the Women’s Christian Group.
Szarell also serves on Greene County Housing Task Force, Greene County Redevelopment Authority Board, the board for the Community Foundation of Greene County, and is a state representative to the PA Association of Federal Program Coordinators.
She is married to Dr. David Szarell. They have two children – Kristen, who is a high school Spanish teacher, and Jonathan, who is a longwall foreman in the former Shoemaker Mine.
Chosen as “Community Group of the Year” is Richhill Township Volunteer Fire Department. Like all local communities in the area, the folks of Richhill Township and neighboring areas rely on a dedicated group of volunteers who give tirelessly of their energy and expertise in handling emergency situations. The Richhill VFD provides the only ambulance service between Waynesburg and Cameron, W.Va. Emergencies are handled by a few dozen well-trained first responders.
The people of the Wind Ridge community decided in 1959 that they needed a local fire department. The original funds were raised by an auction at the Jacktown Fairgrounds Oct. 17, 1959. This auction raised $4,100, which was used to buy the first fire truck, a 1947 International Fire Truck from Rayland (Ohio) Volunteer Fire Department.
At the time of the 25th Anniversary celebration in 1984, the equipment inventory had increased to two ambulances, a tanker, a pumper truck and a mini-pumper. Richhill VFD is one of many area groups who hold Friday night Lenten fish fry dinners.