He’s 92 years old, and is described as a visionary and a fighter, and has been a part of the Lansford community his entire life.

Richard E. Forgay Sr. was honored as the recipient of the 2021 Black Diamond Award presented by Lansford Alive at their annual Christmas Party held at the Lansford American Legion Post 123.

Due to illness, Forgay Sr. could not attend the festivities, but was represented by his son, Richard E. Forgay II.

Forgay II talked about some of his dad’s and his accomplishments.

“He was a letter carrier for 40 years,” Forgay II said. “He was well-loved. A community leader. He served as Lansford Borough secretary. He helped to get the grants to buy the Carbon County Railroad for just under $1 million. He was visionary enough to get the grants, worked with the Carbon County Commissioners to secure the grants. Lansford was a distressed community at that time, and Lansford benefited by receiving 25% of the lease revenue every year from 1985 until the sale. We sold the railroad to Reading Blue Mountain for $4.7 million, with Lansford benefiting again. That’s a credit to Dad, he is a visionary.”

Richard Forgay served his country in the United States Army, serving in the Korean War. He worked in the coal mines in the No. 10 Colliery as a certified motorman, and member of the First Aid Team, which won several competitions. He left the mines to work as a letter carrier, and retired in 1990.

“The Elks across the street; he ran in it in the ’60s, I ran it in the early ’80s. We’re both Exalted Rulers, taking our leadership to the local, state and national levels.

“The Carbon-Schuylkill Industrial Development Corp; he is a past president and executive director, and I’m a past president and executive director. We’re lifelong members of the American Fire Company No. 1.

“The McCall and the Forgay family (Richard’s wife was Catherine McCall), we’re deep-rooted in the valley and the area. This is where our heart is, and always has been. Dad is just thrilled for this award and he’s honored by it. He’s a pretty humble guy; generally he likes to make a fuss about everybody else. He’s thrilled with what Lansford Alive is doing, as am I, with the community and the area; making it vibrant again. All communities go through cycles; it takes leaders, it takes people playing well together, and it takes events like that to bring people together.”

Several of those dignitaries were on hand to honor Forgay for his work including state Rep. Doyle Heffley, who presented a citation from the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; Tom Gerhard, director of community development for Congressman Daniel Meuser, presented a citation from Meuser’s office; and Carbon County Commissioners Wayne E. Nothstein, Rocky Ahner and Chris Lukasevich, who presented a resolution that was passed honoring Forgay.

Mark Sverchek of Lansford Alive also presented a certificate from Sen. Pat Toomey.

The Board of Lansford Alive presented the Black Diamond Award to Richard Forgay II on behalf of this father.

Christopher M. Ondrus, president; and the rest of the board: Bob Silver, B.J. Berk, Mark Sverchek, Joe Krushinsky, Lynn Peterson, Joseph Butrie, and Joe Genits all presented the plaque.

Lansford Alive has been presenting the Black Diamond Award for more than 10 years.

It started out by honoring people or groups with citations. Eventually they decided to make the award an annual event in conjunction with their annual Christmas Party. The award is given each year to a business, a nonprofit organization, or an individual, someone who is making a contribution to the community.