Sayre has a number of monuments and memorials located throughout the borough. The purpose of each is to honor and remember people because of their contribution to the community, including service to our country.
The program will highlight many of the memorials by way of photographs and a narrative. While some of the memorials are easily accessible, others are a little out of the way and seldom seen.
Included in the presentation are several memorials for Sayre’s military heroes from the time of the Spanish-American war to the present (Sayre did not exist at the time of the Civil War). All who gave their lives in defense of liberty are remembered by name on plaques in Howard Elmer Park which read, “Their deeds are immortal – their memory shall never die.”
The story will be told of one of Sayre’s W.W.II serviceman lost at sea in 1945. He and eighty-five additional seamen perished when their submarine disappeared in enemy territory. That mystery ended just eight years ago when their sunken submarine was located off the coast of Thailand.
Other memorials to be discussed include one to an assassinated president of the United States; a historical marker from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission commemorating an event dating to Native American days; the most recent memorial in Howard Elmer Park honoring volunteer fire fighters; a masonic plaque marking the border of Sayre and Waverly, thus the border of New York and Pennsylvania; a marker honoring Dr. Donald Guthrie, founder of Guthrie Healthcare; the monument remembering the Lehigh Valley Railroad in Sayre; and many others.
This program will be presented by Jim Nobles, a long-time historian with a special interest in the history of Sayre. Nobles has been a member of both the Sayre Historical Society and the Bradford County Historical Society for many years and is a past board member of both organizations.
This program is part of the 2013 Friday Night at the Museum programming series that is held the third Friday of each month from May through October. Each event is held in the Great Room at the Bradford County Historical Society, located at 109 Pine Street, Towanda, PA. Free refreshments are provided at each program and the museum is open prior to the event.
Other Friday Night at the Museum programs scheduled for 2013 include: The Rifled Musket in the Civil War, June 21; Something for Everyone: A Concert by Carrie Hooper, July 19; Tales from the Jail, August 16; Unusual News of Bradford County, September 20; Towanda On Fire, October 18.
The Bradford County Historical Society is a recipient agency of the Bradford County United Way. For more information about the society and its programming schedule, museum or research center, visit www.bradfordhistory.com or check out the society Facebook page at facebook.com/BradfordCountyHistoricalSociety.
