I’ve always been interested in history, and for as far back as I can remember my extended family has been telling me stories about the history of Montgomery. I was mesmerized by colorful accounts of events, people, and places that had once unfolded in the very place that I have always been proud to call my hometown.

I remember my mother and I taking walks on sunny days and she would point out the Magic Market (now the Uni-Mart) and tell me that it was once the site of a hotel that had a barber shop in the first floor. I remember looking at the convenience store and trying to picture a hotel, but I just couldn’t wrap my little head around it. I grew up hearing about my great-great grandfather running the town ferry across the Susquehanna before the river bridge was built. Nearly everyone in town that was a member of the generation before mine seemed to have stories of the 1972 flood that left devastation across Montgomery. I’ve heard stories about the beach that used to be down on the river bank, and the swimming pool that was built in the 1930s.

I was recently flipping through my copy of Joan Wheal Blank’s Around Montgomery and was transported to Montgomery of the past, and was fascinated by pictures of how much the town has changed over the years. One thing in the book that really struck me was a picture of Freeman Bower, a Montgomery resident who was killed in France during the First World War. According to the book, he was killed on March 31, 1918. I also got to thinking about Michael Sechler, a Revolutionary War soldier who served as a body guard to George Washington and eventually settled in Montgomery and worked as a potter. His weather-beaten grave is in Clinton-Baptist Cemetery and commemorated with a special marker.

How much of our lives are affected by the sacrifices of people who died decades before we were born? People who died for freedom, who would scarcely recognize how things have changed from the world they knew? It was a much needed reminder to be grateful, and to be mindful that so much of the goodness of my own life has been shaped by people who were better human beings than me.

Congratulations to the Montgomery Area School District for being recognized by the Williamsport Sun-Gazette for a Grade A transparency rating.

March 25th marks the anniversary of Dorothy Harman’s birthday, my Gram and the original writer of the Montgomery Locals column. She was truly one of the best people I have ever known.

THOT “America is a land of opportunity and don’t ever forget it.” – Will Rogers

Montgomery Events

The annual Egg Hunt will be held in Montgomery Park this Saturday, March 26 at 1:00 p.m.

The Clinton Township Fire Hall will be hosting a Concealed Carry Seminar from 6-8 p.m. on March 31. Registration is required.

Tickets for Virtuoso’s April 22-24 performances of Beauty and the Beast will be available at www.showtix4u.com on April 1st.

The next Summer Alive planning meeting will be held at the Borough Office on Thurs. April 14 at 6:00 p.m.