A Look Back, May 23

50 Years Ago

■George Mungall, 77-year-old, completes his 50th year of service to the Daily Hampshire Gazette today. Mungall, who began working for the Gazette in 1925 as an assistant stereotypist, has had a hand in just about every other technical and business chore at the newspaper since then.

■Look Park pool will open June 1. James Ryan will serve as pool manager for the third season. He is a Red Cross water safety instructor and is an alumnus of Ithaca College where he majored in physical education. He is also a substitute teacher in area schools and during the winter, he teaches skiing at the Mt. Tom Ski Area.

25 Years Ago

■Amid balls lobbed by tennis legend Billie Jean King, more than 4,000 undergraduates danced, cheered and jumped for joy Sunday as they received degrees during the 130th commencement of the University of Massachusetts. On the stage, King embraced and encouraged their enthusiasm, hitting a few tennis balls into the sea of graduates, who had been tossing beach balls and confetti throughout the ceremony.

■Flooding in the Barrett Street Marsh area can be reduced by excavating and cleaning the channels that carry water and installing sediment traps, at an estimated cost of several thousand dollars, a new study says. The study recommends five steps be taken to lower the water table in the marsh and suggests four different ways to excavate the channel that has been filling in with debris and sediment.

10 Years Ago

■A committee of local residents, school and state officials has been formed to help decide the future of the 280-plus acres of former Northampton State Hospital land off Burts Pit Road leased to Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School. The 14-member team represents a variety of interests, including runners, dog walkers, those who would like to use the property to compost, and those involved in activities such as disc golf and orienteering.

■Northampton Community Rowing is finishing construction of a boathouse beside the Connecticut River, a project that’s part of the new 11-acre Connecticut River Greenway Park owned by the city. Use of the boathouse will enable the nonprofit group Hamp Crew to move from the Oxbow area into the open river for better training conditions.