Community News Well, the lazy, hazy days of summer have finally arrived! There is a lull in our activity schedule due to the warm weather! There are a few things happening around town this week. The Dunbar Historical Society will meet tonight at 7 p.m. at the Dunbar Presbyterian Church. All members are urged to attend. This evening's program will be a presentation of the pictures from Memorial Day. The Dunbar Volunteer Fire Department will meet tonight at 8 p.m. All members are urged to attend. Dunbar Borough Council will meet at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the council chambers. Remember the summer reading activities happening at our local library. Help your children retain their skills over the summer and encourage them to read, read, read! Community Fest Update The next meeting of the Community Fest Committee will be on June 27. Please note the change of day from Tuesday to Thursday this month. All committees and churches wanting to be included in the advertising brochure must have their information at that meeting. Congratulations to the entertainment committee, Sandra Lincoln, Tammy Nedrow and Joy Wallace who have worked hard and planned a great line-up of activities for that day. Special thanks for Burhans-Crouse Funeral Home's sponsorship of some of the children's activities. The Rainbow Express is scheduled to run that day from 1 to 4 p.m. so kids get out your railroad hats and come on down and take a ride! Registration forms for the Pechin 5K Walk/Run are available at the Dunbar Post Office along with the Patron Fest forms. Cups and buttons are still on sale; contact one of us at one of the e-mail addresses at the end of the column. Many thanks this week to Stefanos Printing and Keith and Dawn Basinger of Current Construction for their generous Patron contributions. Meet Your Neighbor: Lois (Rankin) Moag This week we had the opportunity to visit with lifelong Dunbar resident, Lois (Rankin) Moag. The daughter of Bob and Pearl Rankin, she has one sister, Rae Gouker, who lives in Columbus, Ohio. Her other sister, Jean Holsing, has passed away. She says, "we lived at Pechin where I attended grade school. I graduated from Dunbar Township High School in 1943." Moag worked in the office at the Pennsylvania Wire Glass Co. There she met and married Bob Moag, to whom she was happily married for 43 years. She and her daughter, Cindy, who is working diligently to plan and promote the Pechin 5K Walk/Run for this year's community fest, live in Dunbar Township. When asked about her hobbies and pastimes, she says bowling, sewing and socializing at Stefanick's Restaurant with her friends are her favorites. Moag has many memories of Dunbar. Riding her bike to Smith's Butcher Shop to purchase meat and other items quickly comes to mind. She also tells us how she used to go to Rose Ann's Candy Kitchen next to Smith's for some of her homemade chocolate candy and a double scoop ice cream cone. As popular as Rose Ann's has been with so many of the neighbors we have visited, wouldn't it be great to have a candy store and ice cream shop in town again• How grand it would be to have the Hotel Central refurbished and a candy store and ice cream parlor inside, a Dunbar Museum and meeting place for the Historical Society, maybe some little shops. OK, OK! What potential this town has if only the residents and property owners could "catch the vision" and work together to try to recapture some of Dunbar's former glory. Moag goes on to tell about her aunt, Jennie Gillespie, who had a small grocery store next to the hotel. Later, she worked at the Dunbar Post Office. It was interesting to hear about the Civil Defense Program, in Dunbar, during World War II. It was routine to practice "blackout alerts." When the siren sounded, all the lights had to be turned out. She tells about her team having to run to their station, which was at Earl and Emma Martin's house on Ferguson Road. After the events of the past year, it is not so hard to understand the need for this kind of preparedness. We would like to thank Lois for taking the time to be a part of our column and share some of her experiences with us. We wish her happiness and good health in the future. Birthdays and Anniversaries Birthday wishes go out this week to: Cassie Pepe, Riley Eans, Dana Martin, Susan Friel, William Young, Ann Giobbi, Julie Leapline, Kelsey Ryan, Brittany Mancini, Holly Renze, Stephen Sholtis, Michael Herron, Merle Rogers, Jay Miller, Jerry Smell, Francis DeMarco, Matthew Urie, Nellie Cope, Cathy Hair, Frank Caruso, and Ryan Smith. Anniversary wishes go out this week to: Eric and Kristi Fike, Bud and Donna McClintock, J.D. and Wendy Hixen, Jeremy and Amy Craig, and Paul and Frances Miller. Dunbar History Moment: Indian of Stone This week's moment in history seeks to share some information about a little known artist whose work we see everyday. William "Bill" Warnick, a lifelong resident of Fayette County, was born in Dunbar in June of 1889. A man of varied interests, his passion was art. He married Iva Mae Douglas in 1916, and together they had six children: Raymond, Patrick, Hazel, Thelma, Betty and Marie. Raymond and Patrick inherited their father's love of art and were considered artists in their time. Their stone carvings can be found on a wall on Churchill in Dunbar. If you search diligently on the large, grass-covered stones, you will find the chiseled face of a man, a head of a horse and a flag. Tragically, Raymond died in a car accident along with his two cousins and Patrick died of spinal meningitis. Hazel, too, died tragically at the age of 16 of typhoid fever. Thelma Laya lives in West Virginia; Marie Kolat lives in Ohio, and Betty, who married Donald W. Lowry, still lives in Dunbar. Though Warnick was a coalminer by trade, his true love was art. Completely self-taught, he loved to paint local scenes. His work had a primitive quality and he used bright colors reminiscent of the landscapes of Grandma Moses. His painting of Ohiopyle, which was owned by the Fruehauf Corp., was especially prized. Warnick's most famous work of art can be seen everyday by anyone driving on Route 119 in Dunbar Township. The cigar store Indian that stands majestically in front of Ye Olde Inn, four miles south of Connellsville, was his crowning achievement. The Indian weighs two tons and is made of local sandstone with the hands and head of cement. His eyes are of amber glass and adorning his broad chest is a thick piece of bluish glass. The chief originally stood at High House near Smithfield in 1951, and in 1959 was moved to its present location. It has ironically not been bows, arrows or guns that has scarred this majestic piece of art, but cars that have detoured into him. Each time, he has, like a phoenix, arose again to stand guard over that part of the highway. The statue's presence has become so commonplace that few people realize the labor of love that went into creating this stone masterpiece. Next time you are driving by, glance over at the Indian of stone and take a moment to appreciate it was a Dunbar artist that created him. Another sculptured piece, designed by Warnick, was the Indianhead penny that adorned the front of the Rippling Waters Restaurant. As many locals will remember, this restaurant was operated by Wayne and Lena Martin in the 1960s and was located in a stone trestle across from the former Bluestone quarry. Last known, the penny adorned a lawn in South Connellsville. Several of Warnick's paintings were sold at auction in the 1980s. He died in April 1982 at the age of ninety-two, never having been recognized for his artistic contributions to the history of our hometown. Part of our desire for this Moment in Dunbar History piece is to preserve the memory of little known and less appreciated locals who have left part of themselves for future generations. We welcome suggestions and information from our readers about others who may not be well-known but who have in some way contributed to Dunbar's rich historical legacy. We want to thank Betty and Don Lowry for sharing some of the information for this week's Moment in Dunbar History. Dunbar Trivia Question Did you know the answer to last week's question, "Pechin Store is located upon the site that was previously known as what company?" The answer: This site was previously the home of the United Fire-Brick Co. This week's trivia question is: "Wesley United Methodist Church was formerly known as the Methodist Episcopal Church, where was it originally built in Dunbar?" Phone us at 724-277-8448 or e-mail at myers@zoominternet.net or bonz@zoominternet.net. All announcements for this column should be received by noon Saturday for publication the following Wednesday. Until next week, remember to say "hello" to your neighbors! Myers and Zurick are Dunbar area residents.

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