They proudly graduated from area high schools or professional positions here, and then moved on to other places to pursue their goals.
The Oneonta Star seemed to have a knack for catching up with a few alums on their whereabouts and achievements during the early months of 1960.
As The Star of Feb. 3 reported, “Friends of T.C. Helvey, formerly of the SUCE faculty and now living in Florida, will be interested in a study carried in the January 31 issue of The American Weekly.” Today’s SUNY Oneonta was then known as the State University College of Education in Oneonta
“The article identifies Dr. Helvey as one of the top space scientists, director of biophysics and astrobiology for an Orlando, Fla., firm that advises governmental missile and rocket programs.
“The author of the article, William A. Coleman, tells a tale of long-range plans for the first moon colonization party, as visualized by Dr. Helvey.” There were predictions at the time that such colonization could begin “four or five years after man’s first landing,” which was 1969.
Star readers then learned on Feb. 6, “John D. Capron, a former Oneontan, is one of the foremost authorities on the iron and steel industries in Virginia.
“Mr. Capron, who attended public schools in Oneonta, and has been living in Lynchburg, Va., since 1930, is president of the Glamorgan Pipe and Foundry Co. Since moving to Lynchburg the white-haired, bespectacled executive has been regarded as a civic leader in that Virginia community.”
With a dateline of Cooperstown, The Star of Feb. 16 reported, “‘Seventy-eight below zero and 106 above are the temperatures I can recall most vividly,’ said Clifton Fairchild of Fort Yukon, Alaska.
“‘Actually, that is not really true for all Alaska, but it holds for Fort Yukon,’ added Mr. Fairchild.
“Mr. Fairchild is a native of Cooperstown, attended school here for a while and was employed as a construction worker. He left Cooperstown in 1940 for Fairbanks, Alaska, and about three years later moved to Fort Yukon.” He was visiting Cooperstown at the time of the interview.
“Mr. Fairchild said that he ‘loves it’ in Alaska. He is engaged in a bush operation which entails flying trappers and their supplies from Fort Yukon in a radius of 250 miles. The Indian small villages located in the same radius rely on him for their supplies.”
Another former native of the area was in New Jersey. He was George J. Waters, a former Oneontan who of all things, was a winner in 1960, of a 1901 Oldsmobile.
“Waters is preparing his one horse power, air cooled engine,” The Star reported on March 15, “for his daily commuting to Bloomfield, N.J. It now takes him 20 minutes to get to the Westinghouse Lamp Division plant where he is assistant advertising manager; from his home in Essex Fells. With the horseless carriage he anticipates the trip to take about 40 minutes.”
Aside from the probable surprised looks he gets, The Star continued, “It wasn’t too hard to learn to drive, claims Waters, but there are a few adjustments he had to make. He has to climb up into the vehicle instead of stepping down into the car, and instead of using a steering wheel, a tiller is his guide.” The car could get 60 miles to a gallon of gas.
Lastly, as reported in on March 17, “Keeping up with Oneonta’s ‘alumni’…
“Olof N. Nelson, former city clerk, has taken a new position in Bradenton, Fla., as material controller of Miller Trailers Inc., described as the largest trailer manufacturer in the South.
“Mr. Nelson’s new position is with a firm similar the original Lynn Coach Co. in West End,” where the Commerce Plaza is found today. The two companies were later affiliated, during the 1970s in Oneonta.
“Literature from Miller Trailers Inc. states that Mr. Nelson is setting up a new department and that his new title will be ‘supervisor of material control.’
“Mr. Nelson said ‘jobs are at a plush premium in Florida, especially when one is fifty-ish.’”
This weekend, a new Cooperstown Academy in 1940.