Dispatch from Donora, Pa.

Ninety-one years ago today, Stan Musial was born. Forty-four years ago today, Ken Griffey Jr. was born.

That’s what we call, in the business, a coincidence.

Both were also born in the town of Donora, Pennsylsvania. That’s what we call cosmic convergence on a scale heretofore unseen by mere earth-bound mortals. Or just coincidence, maybe.

Anyway, as you might recall, last summer I visited Donora and wrote an essay about that.

Earlier this week, I received a gracious message from Mark Pawelec, who performs volunteer work for the Donora Historical Society at the Smog Museum. Here are the best bits of Mark’s note:

We will make no excuses for what Donora is today, but do our best to promote our town.

The local bridge was recently renamed after Stan Musial. We would like to put up a state historical marker but that has to wait 10 years after the death of whom you are honoring, so we have another 9.5 years.

While the smog of 1948 was a disaster, it does give us exposure from all over the world. In October we conducted two events: our third annual Cement City Walking Tour and an Environmental Conference geared toward school students as part of our participation with the “Teaching with Primary Sources” program - something we take great pride in. We had panel discussions led by esteemed professors from our local universities along with people from industry to discuss past and current environmental issues and to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the 1948 Smog and the more than 20 people who lost their lives. Cement City was built in 1916 and was the invention of Thomas Edison. We have original blueprints and numerous pictures during construction.

The bleacher picture in your article was the football field where the likes of Joe Montana played football for Ringgold HS (Donora and Monongahela) as well as Ken Griffey Sr. and other Donora legends like Arnold “Pope” Galiffa (Army) and “Deacon” Dan Towler (LA Rams).

As I mentioned in my essay, I would love to visit again someday.