On a recent visit to the Bridgeville Area Historical Society, I found the volunteers deep in a discussion with a gentleman who was introduced to me as Eric Chabassol.  He had just delivered a package of memorabilia from the Bridgeville High School Class of 1953 that became available following the recent death of his mother. Before she was married, I knew her as Laura Pruner, a precocious eighth-grader the year I graduated. Many years later she was a very popular hairdresser; someone whom my mother liked very much. I suspect that old-fashioned hairdressers were as effective therapists for women as old-fashioned…

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Last week I mentioned, in passing, an event that occurred very late in the life of the current drainage system in southwestern Pennsylvania – the development of Lake Monongahela – and glossed over its influence on the Chartiers Valley, while promising myself to discuss it in detail this week. This remarkable event occurred in recent (geologically speaking) time, yet long before the arrival of the human species. Scientists believe that the drainage system here one million years ago was strictly to the north, into a predecessor of the St. Lawrence River. An early version of the Monongahela River began in…

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One of my favorite gifts this Christmas was a copy of Robert Macfarlane’s new book, “Is a River Alive? Macfarlane is a remarkably gifted English writer who has made his reputation as a nature and travel writer. His newest book deals with our stewardship of our creeks and rivers, a subject dear to my heart. Philosophically, it addresses the concept that “rivers are living beings who should be recognized as such in imagination and law”. Dr. Seuss invented the Lorax and Hollywood supplied the voice of Danny DeVito to “speak for the trees”; perhaps Macfarlane speaks for the rivers. Mr. Macfarlane currently…

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When I attempt to review the year that has just finished, I am struck by the contrast between the comfortable little world I occupy and the chaotic real world of which my tiny piece is a part. I realize that I am fortunate to live in a wealthy neighborhood in a wealthy community, surrounded by other communities that are comfortable economically and stable socially, and that that environment clouds my perception of reality. I am astonished by the things that dominate the national news – masked storm troopers with assault weapons patrolling the streets of major cities; air raids on…

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Thanks to our parents, Joe and I enjoyed memorable Christmases when we were children. Fortunately we both found wives with that same tradition and worked hard to see that our children had Christmas experiences to match ours. The tradition has survived at least one more generation. Last night Sara sent us a photograph of their beautiful Christmas village, overseen by a gaily decorated tree they had cut in the Rockies. In no time John and Beth reciprocated with photos of their trees. Their grandparents would be proud of them! When Nan and I were first married, she wrote individual letters…

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I have been involved with the University of Pittsburgh Department of Civil Engineering Senior Design program for thirty years, including many serving as its coordinator. Offered in their last semester, Senior Design is the capstone course for our graduating Civil and Environmental Engineers, an opportunity for them to synthesize their academic learning into implementation of a significant “near-real-world” team design project and demonstrate their readiness to function as engineers-in-training in the real world.  This Fall’s program was abnormally small, only nineteen students (next semester we have over sixty students registered!). As a consequence, they fielded five small teams, each of…

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Breaking News! After two hundred and thirty-two years the United States Mint has announced that it will no longer mint new pennies. The last ones were produced on November 12, 2025. In recent years annual production has been slightly over three billion. Estimates of the total number of pennies currently in circulation range from one hundred billion to three hundred billion. That is three hundred to nine hundred per person in the United States – I suspect most of coins “in circulation” are stashed in coffee cans or shoe boxes.  The rationale behind terminating minting pennies is two-fold; the expense…

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My dear friend, Larry Kennedy “left this world” on November 25, 2025, nine weeks shy of his one-hundredth birthday, refuting the adage “the good die young”. I am well aware that common sense and logic tell us that we should celebrate the glory of a magnificent life, fully lived, and ignore the sorrow inherent in witnessing its end. That is a concept I am still working on. The Kennedy family moved into our neighborhood fifty years ago, occupying the last house on the end of our dead-end street. The combination of the location of the Kennedy house and Larry’s obvious…

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In an earlier column I mentioned my enthusiasm about the potential of next year’s calendar offering of the Bridgeville Area Historical Society (BAHS); now that I am in possession of my own copy, I am pleased to report that that potential has been achieved. Focused on historic residences in Bridgeville, it is indeed a “keeper”. The calendars are currently on sale for ten dollars at the History Center, corner of Station and Railroad Streets, between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. They are certainly excellent candidates for a Christmas gift for anyone with a local connection, whether…

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Twenty-five years ago while visiting our daughter Elizabeth in St. Louis, we obtained a cutting from a magnificent house plant she told us it was an “Einstein’s Begonia”. My green-thumbed wife nursed it to maturity; since her death it has survived my stewardship and become quite impressive. The original plant is now nearly three feet tall with lovely foliage. Last summer it exploded with brilliant red blossoms. The process of careful pruning and transplanting cuttings has produced several other mature plants. Curiosity led me to investigate its heritage, generating a very interesting story. In 1926 an amateur botanist in California…

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