New Cumberland Hall of Fame continues decades-long tradition
31st-annual ceremony happening for Feb. 6

EVENT PLANNERS — The 31st-annual New Cumberland Hall of Fame honorees have been selected for the Feb. 6, 2022, induction ceremony that honors citizens for their dedicated service to the community and will be announced in the weeks to come. Involved in the planning process are Dorothy Hawkes and Rick Greenwood, chairman. -- Janice Kiaski
NEW CUMBERLAND — The pandemic may have interrupted a decades-old tradition in one Hancock County community in 2021, but it returns in 2022 and with good reason.
Representatives of the New Cumberland Hall of Fame say the recognition of unsung citizens for their dedicated service to the community is something that’s special to have happen and important to do even though inductees through the years don’t seek the limelight for their many acts of kindness.
The 31st-annual New Cumberland Hall of Fame will be held Feb. 6 at the New Cumberland Christian Church located at 100 S. Court St., New Cumberland. The ceremony open to the public begins at 1 p.m. and is followed by refreshments in the church fellowship hall.
“We did not do one last year because of COVID, so we skipped a year,” explained Rick Greenwood, chairman, who joined with Dorothy Hawkes, a longtime committee member, in explaining the history of the recognition event and other particulars.
The ceremony honors two people, one posthumously. The 2022 honorees already have been selected and will be announced in the weeks to come.
The New Cumberland Hall of Fame ceremony honors citizens for their dedicated service to the community and was launched in 1991 by Robert Stanley, who at the time was a member of New Cumberland Boy Scout Troop 38. He created the event as his Eagle Scout project.
“He felt that there were people in New Cumberland who did outreach to help people in the town that did it only to be doing it — not to be recognized — and he felt that they should be recognized in some way because of the good that they were doing,” Hawkes said.
“The candidates are nominated by the public and then the committee and all living past inductees vote on those to be inducted in February,” she said, noting one living and one deceased citizen are inducted annually, although some years there have been as many as four inductees.
The committee is made up of representatives of the organizations and the churches in New Cumberland, including the New Cumberland Women’s Club, New Cumberland Lions Club, Swaney Memorial Library Board and New Cumberland Troop 38 Committee. Committee members and all Hall of Fame inductees vote in elections.
Nominees considered for the honors are judged on the part they played in the community in their religious, civic service, business or educational role; their length of service to the community; and their moral integrity.
The Hall of Fame committee encourages the submission of names to be added to the current list of nominees, which is kept each year and added to as new names are submitted. A nomination should be accompanied by a letter explaining why that person is worthy of such honors and include a resume of sorts. Nominations can be submitted to Greenwood at greenwood908@comcast.net or to any committee member.
Aside from Greenwood, the Hall of Fame committee has Rob Stanley as co-chairman and Joyce Frain as treasurer. Presentation committee members are Hawkes, Betsy Wells, Alice Mitchell, Helen Kirpen, Bonnie Burskey and Pam Briscoe. Ed Fields, Richard Blackwell and Robert Manypenny constitute the research committee and Rodney Burdine and Rick Greenwood, the plaque committee.
“At the ceremony each inductee is given a plaque, and a plaque is placed on the Hall of Fame in the City Building,” Hawkes said. “There are people from all walks of life who have been inducted due to the good that they have done in the community.”
Past Hall of Fame inductees are: 1991, Virginia Marshall and Howard Stillwell; 1992, Pearl Cullen, Charles “Bud” Atkinson and Dr. Charles Swaney; 1993, Jane Herron, the Rev. Allen Fields, Mary Jones and C.D. Henderson; 1994, Mary E. Porter, Joseph Manypenny, Preston Evans Sr. and Albert “Jackie” Fuccy; 1995, Margaret “Sis” Campbell, Ralph Powell, Matthew Phillips and Benny Phillips; 1996, Jean Milton, Robert Swearingen, Leslie Cuppy and Earl Bennett; 1997, Ted Turley, John D. Herron and Jack Harris; 1998, Iris Cuppy and Kurt Swan; 1999, Joyce L. Frain, Mary Lou Plattenburg Newburn and John Ramsey Plattenburg; 2000, Arthur L. “Jack” Watson and Robert Carlton Shuman; 2001, Robert Wayne Manypenny and Paul Wigner; 2002, William B. Murray and William Donald Jones; 2003, John Joseph Kuzio and Amy James Boyles; 2004, Charles Richard “Rick” Greenwood and John A. Zumer; 2005, Dorothy Jean Swearingen and Elmer Willis Swearingen; 2006, Richard Blackwell and Gwen Jones; 2007, Clarence V. Buck and Charles Benson “Ben” Marshall; 2008, George B. Hines III and Dr. Alice Swaney; 2009, Patricia Ann Binkoski and Eleanor Burskey Kobily; 2010, Mary Alice Mitchell and Nicholas “Nick” Nardo; 2011, Donald J. Bowen and Charles “Bud” Mitchell; 2012, William “Bill” Webster and Charles Miller; 2013, William Fields and Hugh Tate Sr.; 2014, Laura Greathouse and Joe Graham; 2015, Raymond C. Ewing and Billie Jackson “Bill” Staley; 2016, Dave Beatty Sr. and Brian Webster; 2017, Harold Eugene “Fib” Murray and Ed Fields; 2018, Wilma Jean Thayer Boring and Elizabeth Susan “Betsy” Wells; 2019, Kenneth R. “Ken” Bartley Sr. and Michael Clair Swartzmiller; and 2020, Marsha Webster and Thomas P. Kessel.
A new twist to the awards ceremony came in recent years with the Hall of Fame including the presentation of the Spirit of Scouting Award as well.
The Jack Harris Spirit of Scouting Award was established in 1997 in honor of Harris, who was killed in an automobile accident in 1996 and had been active in Scout work throughout his life. The award was created by Boy Scout Troop 38 Scout T.J. Greenwood, Rick Greenwood’s son, as part of his service project for his Eagle Scout award.
The selection committee for it consists of members and a chair person who were at some time in life active in the Scouting program either as a youth or an adult plus all Spirit of Scouting recipients.
The award is presented to one living person each year who at some point in his life was active in Scouting as a youth or adult leader/committee member and who demonstrates the spirit of Scouting.
Past Spirit of Scouting recipients are: 1997, Rick Greenwood; 1998, Oreon Fields; 1999, George Hines; 2000, William “Bill” Littell; 2001, Lester N. Ross; 2002, John Everly; 2003, Edsel F. Emery; 2004, Joyce L. Frain; 2005, William T. “Bill” Ross; 2006, Rodney Lee Burdine; 2007, Jody Lynn Goddard; 2008, Michael David Lawson; 2009, Franklin Elliot Lewis; 2010, David Midcap; 2011, Robert W. “Bob” Manypenny; 2012, John Ashcraft Sr.; 2013, Charles Mitchell; 2014, Timothy J. “T.J.” Greenwood; 2015, Robert “Rob” Stanley; 2016, John Givens; 2017, Rick Tinsky; 2018, Pamela Jo “Pam” Briscoe; 2019, Ed Fields; and 2020, Joby Franczek.
“This is why the ceremony is always the first Sunday in February because it’s Boy Scout Sunday,” Hawkes said.
The two explained how they got involved as committee members for the Hall of Fame that initially was held at the New Cumberland Fire Department hall, then the original New Cumberland school (now the municipal building) and now New Cumberland Christian Church.
“They had representatives from the different clubs (on the committee) and at that time I was president of the New Cumberland Young Woman’s Club,” she said of an organization that has since dissolved. “Each club in New Cumberland had a representative. It’s made up of representatives of the clubs and churches in New Cumberland,” noted Hawkes, who has been involved for 30 years.
“I enjoy seeing people who are doing things get recognition,” she said, citing one example of an honoree. “We had one man who was inducted who at Christmas time, he would provide a tree and Christmas gifts for a family in need in New Cumberland, and it was just Christmas morning, they woke up and there it was on their front porch, but nobody ever knew where it came from until somebody found out and he was honored,” she said.
Hawkes’ parents were inductees — her mother, Mary Jones, in 1993, and her father, William Donald Jones, in 2002.
“My mother and a couple friends cooked the dinners for the Lions club and what they made on that they donated back to the Lions Club for their sightseeing programs,” she said.
Greenwood interjects with a remembrance.
“Let me tell you a story about Dorothy’s mom,” Greenwood begins, prompting a chuckle from Hawkes. “I was a kid, and there was a nice hillside behind their house for sled riding, and we would sled ride down that hill, and every time we went up there sled riding, she always brought us out a cup of hot chocolate,” he said.
Hawkes’ father was a Prudential Insurance agent who worked in the Steubenville office.
“He would go and write insurance on people who would come over from Italy and had no idea what life insurance was, and he would explain to them that their family would be taken care of if anything happened, and a lot of times he paid their insurance, and they’d give him a chicken or something,” she said.
Hawkes agrees that she is vested in the recognition program in more ways than one.
“Yes, I am,” she said with a smile.
Greenwood said the Hall of Fame program is an important one.
“It’s just recognizing people who have done so much for the community whatever their role might have been,” he said.
The Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 38 for 43 years, Greenwood explained why he enjoys being a part of the program.
“What I like about this event is that day it’s put on and people are recognized it pulls the community all together to honor one of their own, and it’s a good time, especially afterward when we’re having cookies or punch or coffee and you get to mingle,” he said.
“You’re honoring people who have done so much for the community. It’s important that we recognize them,” Greenwood said.
“Sometimes we have a lot of teachers inducted because they have influenced a child to graduate from high school and go onto college and make a life for themselves where maybe if they hadn’t had that influence from that teacher maybe they wouldn’t have,” Hawkes said in offering a perspective on the types of things inductees are acknowledged for.
A nominee selected for honors is encouraged to prepare a display of memorabilia reflective of their interests and involvement, of what’s important to them.
Average attendance at the ceremony ranges between 100 to 125, depending on the weather, according to Greenwood. The deadline for 2023 inductees is Sept. 1.