A Look Back, May 8

50 Years Ago

■Charles L. Johnson, controller of Smith College, does not look like a lovesick maiden. But tomorrow night the broad-shouldered athletic-looking Johnson, along with biology professor George W. de Villafranca, will don velvet and ruffles, squeeze into lace bodices and petticoats, and melt demurely into the chorus of 20 lovesick maidens in the Smith faculty production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Patience.”

■Five hundred young Chinese chestnut trees, offered free to local residents by the Florence Civic and Business Association, were given out at the Florence Civic Center grounds on Sunday afternoon. The project was in observance of Arbor Day.

25 Years Ago

■The 8-year-old Words & Pictures Museum of Fine Sequential Art will close this summer, removing an eclectic landmark and regional tourist destination from the heart of downtown. The decision to close the museum comes after several years of intensive fundraising and a series of budget cuts, the most recent a 20-percent trimming, according to Director Fiona Russell.

■A “pedestrian-oriented” village of houses and businesses that mimics historic parts of Northampton is envisioned for the former campus of Northampton State Hospital, according to the consultant hired to draw up a master plan for the site. The village would include 180 new housing units and development of close to 400,000 square feet of commercial property, enough to generate some 700 jobs.

10 Years Ago

■Mayor David J. Narkewicz is creating a new chief of staff position to coordinate the daily work of his office and provide assistance on all aspects of city operations, just one of several moves as part of a larger reorganization within his office. Lyn Simmons, who has served as mayoral aide to Narkewicz and former Mayor Clare Higgins since 2011, has been promoted to fill the new position.

■An Amherst police officer retiring from the force after 27 years says he feels fortunate to have worked in a department with a high level of professionalism. “I can never remember waking up and saying, ‘I don’t want to go to work,’” said Sgt. Charles H. Nelson III. Nelson, 57, retired Thursday, after working mostly night shifts and holidays through the years and maintaining a low public profile.