Northwest PA

One of the books found in William E. Dimorier’s personal library was The Meaning of Service, by Harry Emerson Fosdick, published in 1921. It, perhaps, more than any other of William’s books, illustrates his life of service. Fosdick graduated from Colgate University in 1900, three years before William, so they had probably met one another there. After…

Registered patent attorney Jonathan D’Silva moved to northwestern Pennsylvania in 2005, and he has no plans to leave anytime soon. In fact, he just began a new business venture there, and that’s also where you’ll find his two largest clients. The nature of his business, however, has no geographic boundaries. Born in Kuwait, Jonathan attended…

Waldameer’s First Ravine Flyer (Ravine Flyer I) When I was a kid, my mother told me that long, long ago, a roller coaster used to pass right over Peninsula Drive, in our hometown of Erie, PA. She said that a young man died after he fell out of the Waldameer Park roller coaster, onto the street, and…

For more than a decade, I’ve traveled the same route between northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio, first as the parent of a college prospect, and most recently, as a newbie grand-mère. I’ve often remarked that one does not need to steer the wheel between here and there; the road is so straight. So, last Sunday…

According to some folks, especially those in Pennsylvania, in order to have good luck in the new year, you should dine on pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day. This, according to legend, is because pigs root forward, a symbol of success. I’ve never seen a pig rooting, but I did make eye contact with…

Poet and educator William E. Dimorier played a major role in the building of Veterans Memorial Stadium in Erie, PA. Although the newspaper accounts from the stadium’s dedication in 1924 do not mention his name, Dimorier worked behind the scenes from the landmark’s conception to completion.   Remembering Erie’s Veterans Memorial Stadium Dedication Veterans Day 2014 will mark 90 years…

As an ordinary citizen observing Millcreek’s J.O.Y. senior center, the conflict between the township supervisors and the seniors looks muddy and messy. I say that because the situation is as clear as mud, and it will be quite a mess to clean up. Currently, the township says that items are missing from the senior center inventory. The…

Millcreek’s JOY senior-citizen center closed on August 27, 2014 in spite of repeated pleas and protests by the users of the center and their supporters, Meca, Inc., a local non-profit that had been running the center, and CCom (Concerned Citizens of Millcreek). Efforts are currently underway to reorganize the center, independent from government control, and…

Hopes were high at the J.O.Y. Center meeting on August 19, 2014. The seniors, and their supporters, were confident Millcreek’s supervisors would grant a three-month extension to Meca’s contract. This would allow the non-profit to continue running the center, and there would be time to find a solution to the senior-center issue. Unfortunately, at the August 26 supervisors’ meeting,…

A century ago, William E. Dimorier, an Erie educator and Colgate University alumnus, wrote a letter about Erie, PA, to the editors of Colgate’s school newspaper, the Madisonensis. Dimorier was a transplant from Afton, NY, to Erie, and this letter shows how great his love for Erie had grown in just a decade’s time. Dimorier would reside in Erie for nearly…