SEPTEMBER 6 - SEPTEMBER 12, 2019
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VOLUME 4 ISSUE 36
CAR. TR. MKTG MAIL US POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 244 BRADFORD, PA
L I L V E G SP RIN TIMES
The official newspaper of the Town of Concord, and the Village of Springville. Serving Springville, the surrounding communities and Springville-Griffith Institute Central Schools
Springville-area woman to celebrate 103rd birthday By Kellen M. Quigley For lifelong Springvillearea resident Marion Ahles, an active social life and plenty of hobbies and adventures have made the past few years of her centenarian life busier than many people’s who are 20 years younger. A week from Friday, she will turn 103 years old, and to help her celebrate, a birthday party is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 11 at the Concord Senior Center at 1 p.m. Marion was born Sept. 13, 1916, at a time when the world was involved in World War I, Woodrow Wilson was President of the United States and Pop Warner was coaching the Pittsburgh Panthers football team to a national championship. “I don’t feel any older,” she said in a recent conversation with the Times. “I wouldn’t know
it if it wasn’t for the calendar.” The last few years have been full of adventures for Marion. Just last month, Marion attended the Erie County Fair, arriving at noon and staying until the fireworks at 9 p.m. “It was a nice fair,” she said. “They work hard.” In 2017, at age 101, she started the year with a two-week trip to Spokane, Wash., in January for the birth of her fifth greatgrandchild. During this year, she went camping several times, participated in Springville Concord Senior Citizen meetings and day trips, taught oil painting classes several times a month, went boating with family on Keuka Lake, enjoyed a day trip to Holden Arboretum in Ohio and spent a weekend in Dearborn, Mich., celebrating birthdays with
friends. Marion even had the energy and ambition to use her ax to help dig out a large old tree root in her backyard. “I got the pictures of her doing it,” said Marion’s daughter, Donna Schweiker. Marion keeps herself busy with attending her great-grandchildren’s school concerts, hockey games, soccer games and swim meets. She enjoys the summer concerts in Springville and West Valley and attends Springville Concord Garden Club meetings, where she made several Christmas wreaths this past November. Last fall, Marion helped can green beans, applesauce and tomatoes and created beautiful intricate beaded bracelets as Christmas gifts. She also took time to teach her children how to make her
Photo by Kellen M. Quigley Local resident Marion Ahles will celebrate her 103rd birthday on Sept. 13. A party in her honor is planned for 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11 at the Concord Senior Center.
delicious bourbon fruit cakes. In January 2018, Marion broke her leg. After a successful repair at Erie County Medical Center, she completed rehab but
nearly succumbed to the flu in March. Her “never fail” attitude and lots of prayers brought her through. “Life is different now,” she said. “It’s slowed
down.” Marion is still active as she is about to turn 103. She attends concerts, graduations and family parties, taught her greatSee 103rd Birthday page 5
SGI superintendent ready for Heichberger hopes strong line, QB lead to wins in ‘19 school after busy summer By Kellen M. Quigley As classes resumed at the Springville-Griffith Institute school district this week, Superintendent Kimberly Moritz said they are “absolutely ready” and excited to have the students return. “This is 30 years for me, and every year by the end of the summer, I cannot wait to see our staff and students return to school,” she said. “It always goes by quickly. I’m always amazed.” Over the summer, work on the district’s ongoing capital improvement project continued, Moritz said, which is nearing completion after three years. “We’ll still have some work that will continue into September and October, but for the most part, the project went really well,” she said. “We got the bulk of the work done, everything is on schedule and we’re really excited to have everyone come back and see how we’ve improved things.” However, it hasn’t been much of a glamorous project,
mostly concerning a lot of the “backbone of the district,” Moritz said. “Parking lots, sidewalks, boilers and things such as that,” she continued. “Not a lot of spaces that the students get to see, but I think the most exciting thing kids will see are the lockers in the middle school.” According to Moritz, the previous lockers had been there since that part of the building was built. She said they were so skinny, “you could only fit about one notebook in there.” But now there’s newer — and bigger — ones for students to use. Construction of the district P-Tech Academy also continued over the summer. It isn’t scheduled to be opened until September of 2020, but Moritz said this summer’s work has been amazing to watch. The program is in collaboration with Erie 2-Chautauqua Cattaraugus BOCES and Alfred State. Students from the surrounding communities would come to Springville to attend the P-Tech Academy and study to become an
electrician or computer information specialist, Moritz said. “They enter in ninth grade and graduate in five or six years with and Alfred State degree and a Regents diploma,” she said. Also over the summer, SGI held its annual Camp Invention program for elementary-aged students. Moritz said she often hears that the camp is some of their best learning of the year. “We have students here constantly for different things,” she added. “Our driver’s ed program was in full operation during the summer, and our athletes came back about two weeks ago. We’re always really happy to see our student-athletes return to us as well.” Although students were around the campus the past couple months, Moritz said some staff was as well. “Springville has an interesting year-round staff develop where teachers can seek out whatever they’re interesting in,” she said. “They study a lot of See Superintendent page 5
Photo courtesy of Springville Football Pictured is the 2019 Springville-Griffith Institute varsity football team. Front row (from left): Thomas Orndorff, Aaron Keyser, David Thompson, Jack Ciezynski, Nicholas Emmick. Second row: Alex Elkins, Ethan Komosinski, Cole Baker, Andrew Slippy, Rhett Butzer, Maximilian Boettger, Eric Pruitt, Tyler Scholes. Third row: Jay Garlock, Thomas Fite, coach Bob Ball, coach Brian Kader, head coach Mark Heichberger, coach Tyler Conklin, Noah Green, Anthony Shultz, Jeff Heim. Back row: Ethan Golabek, Wesley Meade, Carson Peterson, Devin Hitchcock, Trevor Maracle.
By Sam Wilson The numbers are a bit lower than usual, and a new coach is in charge of the Springville-Griffith Institute football team, but some strong line play and an experienced quarterback have Mark
Heichberger sounding optimistic before his first season. Heichberger takes over a Griffins team that went 0-8 last season. But last year’s SGI squad set school records in the passing game led by quarterback Nick Emmick, who returns
as a senior, along with four players with starting experience on the line. “They’re a bunch of really good kids,” Heichberger said of his first impressions of the team early in the second week of See Football page 7
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