A Look Back, March 12

50 Years Ago

■The first student-run credit union in the Northeast, organized by University of Massachusetts students, was granted a charter yesterday by the National Credit Union Administration in Washington, D.C. The University of Massachusetts Student Federal Credit Union will officially open its doors on March 31.

■Applications are being accepted by the Northampton Housing Authority for the 192 apartments in the new housing for the elderly on Conz Street. The project will almost double the number of NHA apartments for the elderly in the city.

25 Years Ago

■State engineers have ordered that the top five to six feet of a cracked chimney at the power plant of the former Northampton State Hospital be knocked down, to eliminate a danger of the structure falling onto Earle Street.

■The winner of numerous honorary doctorates and prizes over the years, University of Massachusetts English Professor John Edgar Wideman can now add two more honors to his distinguished curriculum vitae. Wideman’s short story Weight has been named the best story by the prestigious O. Henry Awards for the Year 2000. And he has been named the subject of a literary conference at the University of Virginia.

10 Years Ago

■Juanita Nelson, an ardent pacifist, war tax resister, civil rights activist and supporter of local, organic agriculture, died peacefully Monday at Poet’s Seat Health Care Center in Greenfield following a period of declining health. She was 91.

■Northampton Police Chief Russell P. Sienkiewicz announced Tuesday that he is retiring in June after 37 years on the city’s police force, including 21 years as chief. A city native who helped modernize the county’s largest police force and raise its professional standards over two decades, Sienkiewicz, 59, said he has accomplished his career goals and is ready to move on.