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IBEWCURRENTS December 2002 IBEW Journal Pennsylvania Association Celebrates 75th Anniversary The Pennsylvania State Electrical Workers Associationone of the oldest state associations in the Brotherhoodrecently celebrated its 75th anniversary. Some 120 delegates and guests attended the two-day gala at Hershey Convention Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Organized May 11, 1927, in Harrisburg by 10 IBEW locals, the state association now comprises approximately 40 locals. Wilkes-Barre Local 163 historian Guy DePasquale said the associations first elected secretary-treasurer was the late Willard Barber of Local 163, and the first president was the late L.F. Clark of Local 143, Harrisburg. "Barber and Clark, along with then-International Representative James Meade, were instrumental in forming this association," DePasquale said. Among those present for the October 2002 gala were IBEW Third District International Vice President Donald C. Siegel and Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President William M. George. A citation from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives recognizing the associations 75th anniversary was presented by state Rep. Robert Belfanti to then-Pennsylvania State Association President Michael Welsh. Welsh has since been appointed IBEW Third District International Representative, and Joseph Sanna, business manager of Local 459, Johnstown, was elected association president in October. An Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to then-Pennsylvania State Building Trades President Glenn Schaeffer, Local 143 business manager, for his work with the association and as a lobbyist in the state legislature. DePasquale also noted that his great-grandfather, the late Anthony Love Lynch, a Local 163 member, was one of the Pennsylvania State Electrical Workers Association founders and is pictured in the accompanying photo (back row, center, with bow tie). Other founders pictured could not be individually identified. Vintage photo of the founders taken at the first regular meeting of the Pennsylvania State Electrical Workers Association on November 16, 1927. This photo first appeared in the IBEW Journal in January 1928.
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