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American Society of Highway Engineers
Clearfield
Section
History –
1958 to Present
by
Larry Opalisky
Meeting Day
Clearfield Section Dinner
Meetings were held on the third Thursday of
the month because Thursday was payday.
Speakers & Programs
Over the years Secretaries of Highways, Bob Bartlett, Dave
Simms, and Jake Kassab were speakers at
Clearfield Section dinner meetings. The dinner
programs were usually topics and speakers that were highway or engineering
related. In the early years of ASHE many of the programs dealt with the
design or construction of I-80, the Lewistown Bypass, the Bradford Bypass,
and the Curwensville flood control dam. The November meeting was usually a sports program featuring football highlights
or various hunting or fishing topic speakers. Some Clearfield Section programs
were field trips as part of the dinner meetings. They included tours of:
Clearfield
Section
annual picnics
The first picnics were held at the original
Elk's Country Home. At that time
State Highway
employees were given time off from work to prepare for the picnic and barbecue
the chickens. By the time the chickens were done enough beer had been consumed
that everything tasted good. As many as 400 people attended some of those
picnics. At some point in time, the building at the Elk's Country Home was destroyed
by fire and the picnic was moved to the Cooper Grove Picnic Grounds. During one of the picnics at Cooper Grove several
people were struck by lightning (real lightning not the drinking kind). One
year, the picnic was held at the Old Town Sportsman Club. By that time, the
Elk's Country Home property had been mined and re-claimed.New facilities had been built and the picnics
were again held at the Elk's Country Home. It was about that time that
State
Highway
employees were no longer given time off
from work to prepare for the picnic, so Central Catering of Curwensville was
hired to prepare the food. During the early years of ASHE the picnics were stag.
National Directors Meetings
The National Directors meetings were held every three
months. The first National Secretary was named Ralph Smith who lived near
Carlisle
,
Pa.
For a number of years, the
National Directors meetings were held in
Carlisle
at a
place called The Embers. (Since there is a small airport near
Carlisle
this arrangement worked well for me since, weather permitting, I could fly to
the meetings.) The National Directors representing the Clearfield Section were
Harry Evans, 1958 to 1968; Larry Opalisky, 1968 to 1973; Ed Nasuti, 1973
to 1978; and Region 2 Director, Larry Opalisky, 1978 to 1984. Since that time the Clearfield Section has
been represented by a Regional Director from the Franklin or Altoona
Section. Originally, all of the Membership was from
Pennsylvania
except one Section from
West Virginia
which dropped out after a couple of years. In the seventies, Gene Smith from
the Franklin Section was named National Committee Chairman to expand the Society. His Committee put on a campaign which
resulted in Sections being formed in other states. Because of this large number
of Sections, National Board of Directors was combined into Regional Directors
representing a number of Sections.
Conventions
The National conventions were usually held in May. They
would begin on Thursday at
noon
with
a luncheon with various highway related speakers. The Thursday evening
program was called the Ice Breaker. There was usually a dance band, food,
open bar and a chance for the people to get acquainted. The annual meeting was
held on Friday morning where the Society business was conducted which included
the election of Officers. There was an award for the Section having the most
members attending. The Pittsburgh Section always won this award since they had a
membership of over 400. While the convention was going on, a number of vendors
and equipment suppliers, as well as Engineering Consulting Firms, had booths set
up to display their products. During the day on Friday there were numerous
workshops with Highway related information. There would be tours of local
interest for the spouses or guests of the members. Friday Evening there would be
a dinner meeting followed by some type of entertainment or dance. On Saturday, there
would be a tour of some local attraction. Saturday Evening there would be
the past Presidents’ dinner meeting and the installation of the new Officers.
This would be followed by some type of entertainment or dance. The American
Society of Highway Engineers was first charted about 1958. The purpose of the
Society was to make it possible for people whose jobs were Highway related to
meet as a social, as well as a professional group. The membership came from
State Highway Employees, Consulting Firms, Contractors, Material Suppliers,
Utility Employees or anyone connected in any way to the Highway Industry. There
were several categories of membership which allowed for anyone involved in
Highway related work to be a member. Clearfield Section has always had about
100 members.
PennDOT was still known as the Pennsylvania Dept. of
Highways when ASHE was started. George Leader was Governor at that time. J.J. Kelmar was Dist. 2 - 0 District Engineer. He and his
staff were very much involved in getting ASHE started.
At that time many job titles could legally include the term "Engineer"
or "Surveyor" without the person holding the title having a license.
The Clearfield Section was the third Section to receive a Charter. Members of the
Clearfield Section were very active in those early years at the National level
and had a team of members who performed the installation of several sections
including
Williamsport
and
Altoona
.
The installation team was made up of Donald Conrad, Robert Kepner, Raymond Hughes,
Harry Evans, Tom McGovern and Larry Opalisky. One of the early National Conventions
was held at the Clearfield Country Club.
Presidents
The Clearfield Section Presidents were:
Donald Conrad, P.E. – PennDOT, Asst. Dist Engineer,
National President
Robert Kepner – PennDOT, Dist Design Engineer, National President
Raymond Hughes – PennDOT, Dist Construction Engineer, National President
John Hess P.E. – Yost, Bromfield Hess Consultants
Harry Evans – PennDOT, Asst. Design Engineer, National Director
Tom McGovern – PennDOT, Chief of Surveys
Robert Phileage – PennDOT, Asst. Construction Engineer
William Walker – Beckwith Machinery
Larry Opalisky – PennDOT, P.E., P.L.S.
Duane
Berry
, P.E. – Lee
Simpson Consultants
Nick Sudik, P.L.S. – PennDOT, Chief of Surveys
Joe Waroquier – Waroquier Coal Company
Barry Gunter – PennDOT, Designer
Yvonne Buck, P.E. – PennDOT, Traffic Engineer
John Morroni, P.L.S. – PennDOT, Chief of Surveys
John Marino – PennDOT
Guy Tiracorda – P.E. PennDOT. .
Ed Nasuti, P.E. – Lee Simpson Consultants, National Director
Jim Miller, P.E. – PennDOT.
Garry Harrier – PennDOT, Designer
Tom Ickes, P.E. – PennDOT, Dist Engineer
Bert Kisner, P.E. – PennDOT.
Don Franson, P.E. –
College
Township
A.J. Coval, P.E. – Lee Simpson Consultants
Al Robb, P.L.S. – Consultant
John Hoover – Lee Simpson Consultants
Skip Speiglemyer, P.L.S. – Lee Simpson Consultants
Scott Rhine
Susan Gilliland – PennDOT, Designer
Erik Brown, P.E. – PennDOT District Traffic Engineer - Maintenance
Frank Slezak – Consultant Inspector, Greenman Pederson
Marla Fannin – PennDOT District 2-0
Craig Campbell – Vice President, JMT
(The above list is not in any particular order) |
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