Grange honors superintendent, fire company
West Greene School District Superintendent Thelma Szarell, right, accepts the Community Citizen award from Grange Master Mary Jane Kent at the grange’s Community Open House April 13.
Harveys Aleppo Grange Master Mary Jane Kent presents the Community Group award to Chief Tom Mannion and Jo Lewis, treasurer of the Richhill Township Volunteer Fire Department.
GRAYSVILLE – When Richhill Township Volunteer Fire Department came to Harveys Aleppo Grange Sunday afternoon to be honored for all they do, they brought along a blast from the past – a hand-operated mini-pumper truck.
“It’s like an old railroad car,” Chief Tom Mannion explained, moving the red cast iron handle on one side of the mini-pumper. “This was man power, not horse power, and when there was a fire the one hose went into the pond or cistern and there was water until people got too tired to pump.”
That’s how fires got quenched until fire departments were able to raise enough money to buy a real pumper truck, but to those who knew the other option was passing buckets to fight a blaze, this little pumper was a high-tech wonder.
In 1959, the community around Wind Ridge got together and began donating merchandise and an auction was held at the Jacktown Fairgrounds Oct. 17. That and cash donations brought in $4,100, enough to buy a 1947 International fire truck from the Volunteer Fire Department of Rayland, Ohio.
By 1984, thanks to spaghetti dinners, fish fries and other fundraisers, and the generosity of the community through donations and the government through grants, the tools for saving homes and lives had grown to two ambulances, a pumper truck and that little red mini-pumper. And of course, the army of volunteers from the community that do the heavy lifting of keeping this all volunteer department running.
“We are so blessed to have people like these in our community,” Grange Master Mary Jane Kent said as she gave Mannion and VFD treasurer Jo Lewis the 2014 Community Group certificate along with a sizable donation. “Almost every resident of the area has a personal memory of at least one time when the volunteers of the Richhill Township Volunteer Fire Department helped them and their family in a time of need.”
West Greene School District Superintendent Thelma Szarell was also at the open house to receive kudos for her good work.
“Every year, we honor a person in our neighborhood who stands out above the rest,” Kent said. “Thelma Szarell still lives on the farm in Morris Township where she grew up and she has spent her entire career caring for the students in the West Greene School District. She humbly wears the Blue and Gold well, and is one of the reasons that we are Pioneer Proud.”
Szarell started out as a kind-hearted teacher, willing to help kids who needed something extra. She taught in Aleppo, Graysville and New Freeport elementary schools, as well as in West Greene Middle-High School.
Her commitment to quality education for every student was the driving force behind her career. After serving as the assistant to the superintendent, she became Superintendent of Schools in 2006, but never lost her personal connection with the students she loves to serve.
“I’m really honored to get this recognition,” Szarell admitted as she accepted the certificate. “Until we started working together I didn’t know that much about the grange except my grandparents went there. Now that I’ve been reading up on it and getting to know you grangers, I can see what made my grandparents join. You do wonderful things in the community.
In 2013 Harveys Aleppo Grange started a $500 scholarship open to any traditional, homeschooled or cyberschooled student living in West Greene School District, and Szarell was a willing partner, mailing out the applications to all students in the district and including a cover letter from her office. The 2014 scholarship application will be due at the end of this school year.
For more information about the scholarship, please call the grange at 724-428-4839 or the West Greene superintendent’s office at 724-499-5183.