At its annual Dinner and Program on November 13, the Union County Historical Society recognized those who have contributed to the preservation of history in Union county.

            The award for Historic Preservation was presented to Gary Parks for restoration of the stone house on his property.  In 2003, Gary purchased the c.1813 Abraham Eyer home in Winfield. Beside the house stands one of the largest sycamores in the county, estimated to be 200 years old.

             In the backyard, beside Winfield Creek, is the shell of an old stone building said to be the site of the Lee Family massacre in 1782. Gary has installed a cedar shake roof and plans to continue restoration of this historic structure, which is in the Union County Historic Preservation Plan and is on the Union County driving tour of historic places.

            Gary Parks is the Director of the Slifer House Museum in Lewisburg and curator of many fine exhibits in central PA.  He is a regular contributor to Susquehanna Life magazine, served on the Susquehanna River Valley Visitors' Bureau board of directors, and is currently a consultant for the Central Oaks Heights Centennial Committee.

         An Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to Bill Clemens of New Columbia for his yearly participation in Rural Heritage Days as a demonstrator of blacksmithing, for work on the Special Events Committee, and for designing and creating appropriate hardware for the Dale/Engle/Walker 19th-century style Wagon Shed.

         Bill belongs to the Blacksmith Guild of Central Maryland and works out of the Carroll County Farm Museum in Maryland as a demonstrator at the Historic Forge as well as teaching blacksmithing classes at the Farm Museum.  He is also a member of the PA Blacksmith Guild.

         Bill served in the Air Force for over 25 years retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2000. While working on the Appalachian Trail, Bill learned of the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina.  He and his wife April thought it would be fun to celebrate their anniversary by taking a week-long course at the School; Bill in blacksmithing; April in quilting.  Bill is the son of Ruth Engle Clemens who was raised on the Dale/Engle/Walker farm.

           An Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to Diana Medina Lasansky of Trumansburg, NY, for her development of the Society's car tour CD, On the Road, History Throughout Union County, and for her important contributions to the 2006 Heritage book on the Federal penitentiary at Lewisburg.

            Diana has been involved with the work of the Society for many years: as a school student helping in the office, and taking part in oral history interviews throughout the county with her mother, Jeannette Lasansky.  She was instrumental in developing the car tour CD, which takes the visitor on a drive through Union County to historic sites described by local narrators.

            A primary author of the 2006 Heritage: The History of the Federal Penitentiary at Lewisburg, Diana's chapter on the architecture of the Penitentiary is truly extraordinary. 

            Diana is an associate professor in the Department of Art, Architecture and Planning at Cornell University.  She has written several books and numerous articles in academic journals that focus on the architecture of tourism and the Italian Renaissance.