Editor:

I am 83 years old and I have lived in Lansford all that time. I was born in Lansford (Kline Avenue), delivered by a midwife. Boy, was my dad proud.Living here all that time, I have seen Lansford go from a nice, prosperous town to a dump. People had jobs in mines and factories, and people were friendly.My mom worked in the Kidde Clothes for 12 cents an hour, and my dad worked in the No. 10 Mines.My dad used to take pork and bean sandwiches to work to eat. Mom had a carpet machine she used to make carpets and sell them. My dad played a violin with the Kings Brothers Father band for extra money. My mom used to get kids clothes from the neighbors to wear.One payday my dad went to Brennan's Bar for a drink. Somebody picked his whole pay out of his pocket. They put an ad in the Evening Record, but never got it back. I guess dad was feeling good. If you worked in the mines you had to go to work at dark and came out at dark.In Lansford we had 10 churches, 40 barrooms, two movie theaters (Vic and Palace), one Chinese laundry, one bowling alley and five restaurants.Ridge Street from end to end was all stores: Bright's, Silver's, Ben's Workshop, Triangle Shoes, Tartlon TV, Ridge Center and a liquor store.Restaurants included My Place, Subway, Brennan's Cafe, Hotel Aquila, Lansford Hotel and Lefty's Hotel.There were organized sports teams. Baseball included Conference League, Church League, Panther Valley League and even Seek had a team. In basketball, Summit Hill played Allentown for District 11, and there was a Black Diamond League. In football, Lansford played Dunmore for the championship. The Lansford-Coaldale game had 10,000 people Thanksgiving Day. All girls had corsages.When Kline's closed and Bright's moved to Lehighton, Lansford went bye-bye.God bless us,Steve HerbertLansford