Dale T. Bennett - 1948

Dale Bennett was a 1948 graduate of Bangor High School.  He received his B.S. in Business Administration from Bloomsburg University in 1952.  From 1952 to 1954 he served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps.  When he returned home he took a job with the Harleysville Insurance Company where he worked for 32 years. 

He was an underwriter, sales promotion assistant, and branch manager.  He was president of Jefferson-Pilot Fire & Casualty Insurance Company for five years.

In 1970 he earned his CPCU (Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter) designation, and later served on the CPCU Society National Board of Directors.  He was selected by the Lieutenant Governor to serve on the North Carolina Insurance Study Commission.  Both the Carolina Association of Professional Insurance Agents and the Independent Insurance Agency of NC twice recognized him as company manager of the year.

Dale has an outstanding community service record.  He served on the Board of Elon Homes and Schools for Children for 35 years.  In 2007 the Elon Homes Board of Governors named him as Trustee Emeritus, one of only three who share this distinction.  He served on the Board of Trustees of Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster, PA for 24 years.  In 2006 the Theological Seminary Board of Trustees named him as Trustee Emeritus.  He served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Catawba College in Salisbury, NC for 6 years.  He was a board member of the Evangelical and Reformed Historical Society for 10 years.  He was a board member of the John's River Valley Camp and served as director of its two million dollar capital campaign. 

Dale is a devoted member of the Peace United Church of Christ in Greensboro, NC.  He has worked extensively with the United Church of Christ where he was named a delegate to the UCC General Synod.   In 1995, he was recognized as the United Church of Christ's Council of Health and Human Services "Trustee of the Year."

Dale was a member of the Greensboro/Guilford County CrimeStoppers and the recipient of the CrimeStoppers Distinguished Service Award in 1996.

Dale and his wife Lucille have three married children, nine grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.

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Leon R. Kneebone, Ph.D. - 1938

Leon Kneebone, a well-rounded student, graduated first in his class in 1938.  He served as class president for four years and as president of both the German and the Science Clubs.  He received awards for both the Outstanding Student in Science and the Outstanding Student in Social Studies.  He was awarded the All-Around Senior Award, was a member of the National Honor Society, and lettered in football, baseball, and basketball.  He received his B.S. from Penn State in 1942, graduating cum laude with a major in biological science.

After college he joined the armed forces and was commissioned 2nd Lt. in the U.S. Army in March 1943.  He served four years in the 11th and 13th 82nd Airborne Infantry during WWII.  He was wounded in action on December 7, 1944 and was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.  He was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain in 1946 and is a life member of the 11th Airborne Division Association.

In 1946 he was admitted to PSU graduate school to study botany.  He received his Ph.D. in botany in 1950.  He served as a professor of Botany and Plant Pathology at PSU from 1950 until 1978.  His primary area of research was the commercial and potential importance of mushrooms, about which he has written more than 100 publications.

For 38 years he has served as an international consultant to the commercial mushroom industry throughout the world.  He is a life member of the Penn State Alumni Association; an honorary life member of the American Mushroom Institute; a member of the International Commission of Mushroom Science; and an honorary life member of the Mushroom Growers Associations of numerous countries.  He is one of only four people in the world to be elected as an Honorary Life Member of the International Society of Mushroom Science. 

Leon is a member of St. Paul's UMC where he has been active for over fifty years as a council member and a Sunday school teacher.  He has been a voting member of the World Methodist Council for twelve years.

His community activities include past chairman of the American Cancer Society State College Fund Drive, and the Centre County United Way Board of Directors and United Way Executive Chairman.

Leon married Elizabeth C. Morgan in 1945.  They have three children, six grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.

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Ralph J. Mensch - 1945 (Deceased)

Ralph Mensch was a 1945 graduate of Bangor High School where he played football and basketball.  After graduation he served in World War II as an aviation radio operator, 3rd class.

Following the war, Ralph attended radio school in Kansas City, Missouri.  He worked as a DJ in Culpepper, VA for a short time before starting his TV career.  Initially he worked as a cameraman, eventually working his way up to the job of technical director, which put him in charge of the control room.

He worked on many television programs including, The Merv Griffin Show, The David Frost Show, Beat the Clock, and MTV's New Years Eve in Times Square NY.  He also worked on many TV commercials, concerts, and the Robert DeNiro movie, King of Comedy. 

Ralph was most proud of his work with The Electric Company and Sesame Street, a show on which he worked from the first day it aired until he retired forty years later.

He received two Emmy awards, one for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Technical Crafts Children's Programming and Technical Direction in 1983-84.  The other was for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Technical Direction/Electronic Camera/ Video Control in 1993-94.  He was considered by the entertainment industry to be one of the top three TV technicians in the country. 

Ralph, who died in 2008, was pre-deceased by his wife, Teddi.  They were the parents of a daughter Gailynn and a son Gary, who are both married.  They also have one granddaughter.

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Gina Viglione Penn - 1950

 

Gina Viglione Penn graduated from Bangor High School in 1950.  At the age of 15 she won the New York Teachers' League Competition, and sang in her first concert at Town Hall in New York City.  She received a four-year voice scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Music. 

She performed on Broadway in Once Upon a Mattress with Carol Burnett, where she played the part of Nightingale of Samarkland.  She also understudied the dramatic lead, and went on in the leading role at The Alvin Theater.  When the show closed, the creator, Mary Rodgers, suggested that she look for a role in Richard Rogers' Sound of Music, which was playing at the Lunt Fontaine Theater.  After performing in the Sound of Music she took a role opposite Don Ameche in 13 Daughters and later toured for six months with Camelot.

Gina taught voice lessons for 25 years in New York City.  She did a voice-over of a young opera singer, played by Liza Minelli on the TV series Broadway Joe.  One of the highlights of her life was performing as an honored soloist in Leonard Bernstein's Mass for the celebration of John Kennedy's life at the opening of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.  Some of the other fine and talented people with whom she has performed are: Hal Linden, Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, and Mary Martin.  She has also appeared in over 30 television commercials.

Gina and her daughter, Gina Elsa, a graduate of Fordham University, are the co-owners of Footlights & Company, a bridal boutique.

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Bonnie Cole Pysher

Bonnie Pysher, a 1978 graduate of Bangor High School, studied floriculture as a vocational-technical student during her high school years.  She placed 4th in state competition and 8th in mid-eastern states competition for flower design.  After graduation, she married Dean Pysher, her high school sweetheart, and shortly thereafter had twins.  In 1982, when the twins were three she started working at Franklin Hill Vineyards.  Owner, Elaine Pivinski, who allowed Bonnie to bring her children to work with her, hired her to pick grapes and then taught her how to prune the vines. 

When she was asked to help the winemaker in the winery she began to learn the wine-making process.  Bonnie was gifted in mechanical skills but she admits that when she started she knew nothing about making wine.  By paying close attention to what the winemaker did she learned to run the pumps, use the filters, and bottle and label the wines.  She spent three years working with the winemaker and learning his job.  When the winemaker left Franklin Hill, Bonnie was ready to take on the mechanical aspects of the job, but was still unsure of some of the finer points of the process.. 

Bonnie worked very closely with Elaine and the business continued to grow.  Eventually Elaine moved into the marketing end of the business and Bonnie stayed in the winemaking end.  Along the way Bonnie consulted with other winemakers and a chemist who helped her overcome the challenges she was facing.  She discovered that winemaking is art and science in equal measures.

Bonnie became a "Jane of all trades."  When something broke, she learned how to fix it.  She even fixed the winery's van when it broke down.  She became a mechanic, an electrician, and a plumber. 

Over the years the winery grew from making 3,000 gallons to 30,000 gallons and from 6 varieties to 25.  Six of these wines, Bonnie created from scratch, and the bottles now have her name on the label.  The first year that she and Elaine made wine together they won a gold and two bronze medals in the state of Pennsylvania.  This gave them the confidence they needed to keep going forward.

Since then they have entered many state, national and international competitions and have won numerous medals for their wines.  One award that is most special to Bonnie is a gold medal that she won in 2008 for the Harvest Berry, a raspberry spumante.   It was entered in the Women's International Wine Competition and took one of eight gold medals among 300 entries.  Another wine, Desire, a mango wine, won a double gold in Pennsylvania.  Bonnie is one of only four female winemakers in Pennsylvania, a state with 134 wineries.

Bonnie is married to Dean Pysher and has a son and daughter and four grandchildren.