A Look Back: Jan. 3

50 Years Ago

■Electric power has been restored to at least 12,000 homes in 18 Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire County towns after a new year came in under the shroud of darkness. A major ice storm on Sunday wiped out electricity in homes in various sections of the towns and kept 45 crews as well as 12 tree crews on the job throughout New Year’s Eve and into the early morning hours on Monday.

■The latest in a series of building projects for Florence will be the Florence Mini-Mall to be built near the old office building of Pro Brush. The old structure will be renovated, and a 9,000-square-foot addition built to accommodate five stores in a neighborhood service complex.

25 Years Ago

■Realizing a dream nurtured for several years, members of the Pathways CoHousing Inc. are working to build an innovative, 24-unit housing development on land off Florence Road in Northampton. A group that has been meeting steadily since 1995 has found a 40-acre plot on which they hope to create the city’s first cohousing community.

■Retiring city treasurer Shirley A. LaRose received a farewell send-off yesterday when friends and acquaintances dropped in at City Hall to congratulate her on her 25 years of service to the city.

10 Years Ago

■Kathleen M. “Kay” Sheehan, a retired educator whose indefatigable contributions as a civic leader during the past five decades touched thousands of lives in Northampton, died Monday at the Linda Manor Extended Care Facility in Leeds. She was 85.

■The former Northfield Mount Hermon campus has a new foster parent, continuing the property’s ownership limbo with possible new tax implications for the town. Recent owner Hobby Lobby Stores has donated the campus to the nonprofit National Christian Foundation, according to an announcement from the Northfield Mount Hermon School.

]]>