50 Years Ago
- Mayor Sean M. Dunphy handed over control of city government to City Council President Robert R. Patenaude today. Dunphy is resigning to take up his new post as chairman of the state Appellate Tax Board. Patenaude will serve as acting mayor until a new mayor takes office in January.
- A male employee at Northampton State Hospital was slashed Saturday night during a robbery attempt on the hospital grounds. The employee, a 35-year-old supervisor of nurses at the hospital, was treated at The Cooley Dickinson Hospital for wounds he received on his arm. The victim’s name is being withheld at his request. He is afraid that its publication might place his family in danger.
25 Years Ago
- After nearly 10 years, the rabbi who brought many new members into Congregation B’nai Israel has told synagogue members he will leave at the end of June. “It’s sort of time for me to do something new,” Rabbi Philip N. Graubart said Sunday, adding that the average tenure for rabbis in this country is eight years.
- The heat was off at Northampton High School and in City Hall this morning, but the two incidents were unrelated, according to Director of Central Services Brett Jacobus. High school students got a day off out of the situation, but City Hall workers, some of whom were shivering at their desks this morning, planned to be at work all day.
10 Years Ago
- The Public Library Association of Easthampton has hired Nora Blake as director of the Emily Williston Memorial Library. Blake will start work at the library on Jan.13, succeeding Tamsen Conner, who left the post in October.
- The state Board of Higher Education on Tuesday formally approved Ramon S. Torrecilha as the 20th president of Westfield State University. A lifelong educator from California who immigrated to the United States as a migrant worker at age 17, Torrecilha will be the first Latino to serve as president in the university’s 176-year history.