Cresson TB Sanatorium Remembered
Nowicki 2

More of Ron's photos.

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1.  L to R  Pete Kennedy; Chalmer Mays;  Marion (Tex) Burke, Greensburg; Ron Nowicki; Jim Rogers, Postmaster, Erie, Pa;  (seated right)  Walter Schiffauer, West Pittsburg; Francis Campagna, Oil City; John Baron, Uniontown playing chess on a slow day.  (See chess email below)


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3  Tex Burke and Ron on the roof of the men's wing.
 
 
 
 
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5  Ron Nowicki and Don Miller (hometown unknown) on the 2nd floor verandaof the men's wing.
 

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7.  Nowicki with Ronald (Duke) Young, Pittsburgh.  Young was a brilliant guy, a master chess player.  He "went over the hill" as we used to say, that is, he left Cresson without permission.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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9.  Betty Babyak, Pittsburg, and Ron Nowicki.
 
 
 
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11.  Jim Hammond, a friend of Ron Nowicki and Chuck Felton.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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13.  Jack Larsen, a friend of Ron Nowicki & Chuck Felton.
 
 
 
 
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15.  And here's Dot herself posing for a photo at the san.  She worked in the san kitchen from 1954-59.  I had the  pleasure of thanking her personally for helping provide all that good food I wolfed down.  
 
 
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17.  Jane (Lysic) Pyo, who was a friend of Dot's and worked in the kitchen also.
 
 
 
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19.  Evelyn Spaid, former patient whose brother Melvin and cousin Tom both worked in the san boiler room.
 
 
 
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21.  A young woman named Rita who was in an English or Scottish TB hospital when Ron was at Cresson.  The nurses encouraged the Cresson patients to write to patients in other sanatoriums. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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23.  The above is a copy of Ron's official discharge paper fron the sanatorium signed by Dr. Harry W. Weest.

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2.  Ron and Miss Jones, RN, on the porch outside ward W.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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4 George Dixon, Tarentum; Jim Rogers.  On the roof of the men's West Wing.
 
 

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6.  Louis Cherry from Philadelphia.
 
 
 

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8.  Halloween Party at the patient's dining room.  l to r  Andre Duryea, Pittsburgh, trumpet player, formerly with Billy Ekstine big band;  unknown woman;  Ron dancing with Patty Blair, Holidaysburg;  local band in the background.
 
 
 

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10.  Cecile Krawczyk and Marybelle Marley (hometowns unknown) with Nowicki. 
 
 
 
 
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12.  Ron , apparently about to deliver a speech.  Taken on the san grounds.
 
 
 
 
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14.  The Usual Suspects
Ron Nowicki, Jim Hammond & Jack Larsen out for a stroll.  Photo was taken in 1954 by Dorothy (Eckenrode) Smay of Gallitzin, Pa.   Nice work, Dot.
 
 
 
 
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16.  Mary Ellen, who worked in the kitchen.
 
 
 
 
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18.  Jane again.  Apparently that wall was a favorite spot for photos.
 
 
 
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20.  Ex-girlfriend and former patient Patty Blair from Holidaysburg.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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22.  Ron behind the microphone at san radio station WSAN.  Jim Hammond and Chuck Felton had the same job in 1956.
 
 
 
 
 
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24.  Ron "You talkin' to me, pal?" Nowicki.  
Graduation photo from Penn State University 1960
To: Chuck Felton <charlesfelton@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: Chess, Anyone?
Date: Apr 9, 2011 4:07 AM
 
Chuck -

I wanted to add to the website the names of those who took part in our chess tournaments.  Maybe someone will remember them.

Ron Nowicki
Herb Eby
Sonny Gilmore
Ronnie (Duke) Young
Andre Duryea or Duryen
Francis Campagna 
 
These are the only names I remember.

 I now live in London where I do a bit of writing. As Chuck has pointed out, Herb died in the San in 1958. When I last saw Sonny at the San in '54 he was always strumming a guitar and trying to teach himself to play. When I next saw him, in '58 or '59, he was playing in his own rock 'n roll quartet in a club in New Kensington and seemed quite pleased with himself.
 
Ronnie Young, second only to Herb as a chess player, was in trouble with the law before he came to the San at age 21. He "went over the hill" in late '54 and a few months later, I heard that he'd been arrested for dealing heroin, and hanged himself in a Pittsburgh jail. Francis Campagna, from Oil City, was still in the San when I left in December '54. Don't know whatever happened to him.

Ron 

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