Rep. Phyllis Mundy

Sept. 22, 2007

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(Appropriate greetings.)

Thank you for inviting me to celebrate Luzerne’s 125^th anniversary with you.

We’ve come a long way from the late 1700’s and early 1800’s when settlers first arrived to live here, along the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains… when this area was untamed wilderness.

In the early years, Luzerne was home to millwrights, tailors, gunsmiths, wagon makers, butchers, coopers, teachers, preachers, farmers and miners… and women who worked equally hard at home.

They needed and depended upon each other for the goods and services necessary for survival, and their courage, hard work, and tenacity established a foundation for the thriving community that we belong to today.

Some of the livelihoods that were vital to our earliest years as a community have indeed gone the way of the horse and buggy, but Luzerne is just as vibrant and diverse now as it was back then.

Lady Bird Johnson once said “While the spirit of neighborliness was important on the frontier because neighbors were so few, it is even more important now because our neighbors are so many.”

Luzerne is a community that is home to industry and businesses – but more importantly, it is home to men and women who continue to watch out for their neighbors and nurture the sense of community that has helped Luzerne not only survive, but thrive for more than a century.

It’s the people who make a community what it is, and you all have created a community with many economic, social, recreational, and cultural opportunities that not only enrich your own lives, but also contribute to the quality of life of people from surrounding areas.

Today’s events are a celebration of community, family, and history – all things that would not be possible without each and every one of you. I wish you all the very best in the years to come. Thank you.