Linda and I were totally delighted to see the photo and caption last week giving tribute to Carol and Joe Roinick. When we moved up here 12 years ago from Philadelphia, one of the first sights that hit us was the window of the Sullivan County Library, filled with photos of superb high school artwork. Soon we realized that just about every week there was a new, equally engaging window. But the real experience, of course, was inside the library. Carol, as librarian, has raised what might well have been a reading byway to a literary super highway. Within limited shelf space, she has maintained an open, enlivening, invigorating atmosphere that presents bestsellers, unusual but accessible non-fiction works, large-type and tape books for us dodderers, movies and, perhaps most important in this changing technological age, online access to just about anything. If you haven’t been to the back room – the home of children’s literature and story hours – go there. It’s wide, inviting, light, airy, everything a kids’ area should be. I doubt there are many towns the size of Dushore (pop. 650) or counties the size of Sullivan (pop. 6,500) that can boast of a library like ours – or a librarian like Carol Roinick. To say we’re sad to see her go is the understatement of our
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The Seger Family will perform in concert at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 22, 2012 at Lairdsville Faith Church, 6786 Route 118. Call Pastor Max L. Walters Jr. for more information at (570) 584-2765.
John Orlandini, 68, of Shavertown, Luzerne County, died Sept. 5, 2012. He was born in Eynon March 27, 1944, a son of Jacob and Ethel T. Orlandini. He was a surveyor for the Pennsylvania Game Commission for 42 years and was well acquainted with Game Commission lands in Sullivan County. He was a Penn State graduate and served in the U.S. Marines. Mr. Orlandini was also an archaeologist and was involved in the excavation of the Spring Lake (Bradford County) Wooly Mammoth dig. He had served as president of the Luzerne County Historical Society and was active in many other related organizations. He was also the author of several books on early Americans and their artifacts. Surviving are his wife, the former Julie Cerulli, two daughters and several grandchildren, and two sisters.
Additional survivors of Jesse C. Richart, 24, of Unityville include his stepmother, Frausteen; two step-brothers: Heath and Brett Repard and two step-sisters: Tinecia and Natasha Repard. Jesse died Saturday, September 8th, 2012 at Robert Packer Hospital, Sayre.
Virginia Ricker began her teaching career at Hublersburg High School, and Abington High School and went on to teach at Dickinson College, and the Penn State Center at Harrisburg. She became a full-time faculty member in the Speech Department, and later, in the English Department at Penn State’s University Park Campus. One of her courses, “Careers for Women,” was the foundation of the Women’s Studies Program at Penn State. She was the advisor to the Penn State Chapter of the English Honorary, Sigma Tau Delta, and served on its national board. She taught for forty years, retiring from Penn State in 1970. She was a member of the Penn State Alumni Council and the Penn State Foundation Board. She and her husband, Dr. Ralph Ricker spent summer vacations at the Mokoma Inn and were early Lake Mokoma Association members. They owned a cabin in Laporte for almost fifty years. Virginia loved driving the roads of Sullivan County and sitting by the Lake. She is survived by two daughters: Mary Virginia Ricker Wilkes and her husband George Wilkes of Arlington, Virginia and Heather Dale Ricker-Gilbert and her husband Harvey R. Gilbert, of State College. She is also survived by six grandchildren: Burch, Christopher and Cabell Wilkes and Jacob, Rebecca Dale, and Alexander Ricker-Gilbert and by seven great grandchildren: Caroline, Ricker, Charlotte, Chase,
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