Miscellaneous Info/Articles

  Miscellaneous Info/Articles  

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The Dixon Telegraph, Dixon, ILL., Saturday Aug. 28, 1852

Remarkable Case of Longevity

An old lady, named Mrs. Mc Elory, is now living in Philadelphia, who will be 108 years old on the 26th inst. Twenty-one years ago she received what is termed second sight, and can now see as clearly and distinctly as ever. She does all her housework; waits upon her youngest daughter, fifty-one years of age, who has been blind for three years past; and attends a store or shop they keep in the front room. She was married in 1790, when forty-six years of age, and is the mother of seven children, three of whom are dead. She has a distinct recollection of George Washington, and various scenes of revolution. Her father, who was a German, lived to be 107 years old. She was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

(contributed by Elsie Harmon)

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Funeral on Saturday For 'Scotty' Parr, 67 Famed Golf Pro

Private funeral services will be held Saturday for George William "Scotty" Parr, former golf professional at the Lehigh and Willow Brook Country clubs who listed among those he taught to play many of the front page personalities of our time. He will be laid to rest in the Arlington memorial park after services in the Zimmerman funeral home, 1124 Walnut Street.
Parr, who was 67, died yesterday in the Allentown hospital after an illness of three months. He resided at 229 N. 10th Street.
Learning the game as a caddy in his native England, the veteran professional instructed thousands in the sport during his long and interesting career. His nickname was traceable to his Scotch and English ancestry. He served as professional at the Lehigh Country club when it was a nine-hole course on Union Blvd., from 1917 to 1926 and at the Willow Brook club, Catasauqua, from 1932 to 1934.
Born in Leicester, England the son of William and Janet (Dunn) Parr, he came to America in 1897. By the time of his arrival here, he had become an expert in his hobby - and decided to make his hobby his vocation. Among the more famous of his pupils can be found Al Singer, former world lightweight boxing champion. Lucrezia Bori, retired Spanish Metropolitan Opera star; the father of Henry Morgenthau Jr. the present secretary of the treasury, who was once ambassador to Turkey; young Prentice, son-in-law of the late John D. Rockefeller Sr.
Harry Launder, famous Scotch singing star, was a frequent golfing companion of Parr before the latter came to the United States.
In 1898, the year after he landed here, Parr became golf pro at Williams College in Massachusetts. He held that position until 1914 - a period of 16 years.
From 1915 to 1916 he was the pro at the Lake Placid Country Club and in 1917 he became the pro at the Lehigh Country club. He was the golf teacher of many Allentonians for nine years. Leaving here he became pro at the Eagle Nest Country club in New York State until 1929.
Appointed to the pro post at the Willow Brook Country club in 1932, he stayed for two years and then returned to the Ye olde Country club which was at one time the Lehigh Country club course. After that he was pro at the Indian Maiden country club in the Poconos.
Allentonians will remember him more recently as the instructor at several golf driving ranges in this city. His most sensational victory was the winning of the Vermont open state championship title a number of years ago. He won the crown by scoring an eagle 2 on a par 4 425-yard hole. Five times in his life he made holes in one, once negotiating a distance of 185 yards in one stroke. Parr's best score, he told a reporter several years ago, was a 67 on a par 72 course. He had a bag of tricks, which amazed most golfers. He could drive 200 yards without looking at the ball. At times he would place six balls side by side on the ground and then drive each one over a nearby tree without as much as looking at the ball or the ground.
One of his favorite tricks was the neat scheme of sticking two golf balls together with chewing gum and setting them up, one on top of the other. He would slam the bottom ball straight for 50 yards; simultaneously the top pill would spring straight into the air - into the waiting arms of Parr.
Survivors include his wife, Mary E. (Page) Parr; four sons, William, George, Herbert, Richard Parr, all of Allentown; two grandchildren; two sisters, Mrs. Gertrude Yerrell, England; Mrs. Alice Lewis, New York City; three brothers, William, England; Jack and Harry Parr, New York City.
He was a member of the Episcopal faith.

(Excerpted from an Allentown Paper Oct 16, 1941?

contribued by William Parr

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