1970 Holiday Season
Everyone’s busy around the holiday season.
December parties mean folks put on festive ties and gowns … and put in a few extra calories.
In 1970, some prepared for a happy yuletide. Others received early gifts. And still others just went to work.
Longtime Capital Region publicist Ed Lewi wore a big smile as he was presented an award from the Schenectady YMCA. Lewi had recently headed the organization’s membership drive. Cornell University student John Bradley received a plaque from Mayfair-Burnt Hills Kiwanis Club President Joseph Magish, and a smile from Saratoga County’s Mary Flascher. Bradley had spent a year in Africa; Flascher had spent time as the county’s alternate dairy princess.
Scotia firefighters decorated their station on Mohawk Avenue. And local Marines and postal workers mobilized for the Toys for Tots program, Posted on November 28, 2011.
Ed Lewi, third from left, smiles as he accepts a plaque for heading the YMCA’s autumn membership drive in 1970. Presenting Lewi the award on Dec. 3 are Neil Hiatt (far left), William J. Goetz and Peter Pink (far right).
John Bradley (center), an exchange student at Cornell University during the fall of 1970, receives the Kiwanis International Distinguished Service Award from Joseph Magish, president of the Mayfair-Burnt Hills Kiwanis Club. Mary Flascher, alternate Saratoga County dairy princess, was also part of the award program. Bradley spent a year in Africa.
Village firefighters decorate fire headquarters on Mohawk Avenue on Dec. 8, 1970. Jack MacDonald did his work on a ladder. Also working the detail were, from left, Capt. Ted Feurer, Lt. Harry Wells Jr. and Chief Edward O. Lewis.
The U.S. Marines promoted their Toys for Tots program, working with National Postal Worker Union Branch 358. From left are Larry Bellamy, supervisor; Gunnery Sgt. Berton Robinson; Robert Becker (top); Sean Larkin; Helen Quirini of the YWCA; and Ward Wedlake (right).
Robert Silvernail, left, vice president of Pepsi-Cola Bottling in Schenectady, and Thomas Seeley of the Al Kellert Advertising Agency, introduce sure winners in December 1970 — 32-ounce bottles of soda. Sales were brisk during the holiday party season.
Sometimes crime interferes with holiday joy. Schenectady Police Lt. Victor Palmo talks to Dominick LaTorre after LaTorre’s shoe repair shop on State Street was robbed of $13 on Dec. 3, 1970.
Students at Schenectady’s Central Park Junior High School donated toys and food to local day care centers. In the front row are Nancy Howenstein (kneeling), Anne Hession (sitting) and Ira Brooks (standing). Standing in the back row are Georgia Kee and Steven Cass.
Harry Sullivan, director of the Scotia-Glenville High School Mixed Chorus, sits at the piano and prepares his singers and musicians for a holiday concert on Dec. 13, 1970. From left are Allan Rosenberger, Gary Karl, Millie Savidge, Colleen Farley and Sandy Ledbetter.
69° F | Schenectady, NY







































