Published Friday, June 21, 2002
Herald Staff Writer
Gene Vish, of Beaver, says his wife Mickey loves to shop. About 20 years ago, when the two decided to go shopping for a picture frame, Vish said he and his wife eventually found the perfect one. They went to several flea markets in the Beaver area before they found the antique frame.
Vish bought the frame, which had a picture inside. He said he doesn't recall what type of picture it was, but he did notice what was behind it: a Sharpsville high school diploma had been used as backing. It dated back to 1901.
Vish decided to throw out the picture and save the diploma. He stashed it at his home in the rafters above his furnace area.
"I put it away and completely forgot about it," he said.
That was 20 years ago. One year ago Vish ran across the diploma again.
"I knew I had to do something about it when I came up with it the second time," he said.
He decided to contact Sharpsville school officials to see if they wanted the diploma. They did and Vish and his wife traveled to Sharpsville to hand it over.
"He wanted to do it and he invited me to come along," Mrs. Vish said. "He was a little dubious. He thought maybe they didn't want (the diploma) and I didn't want him to be embarrassed."
The diploma belonged to John Cleary, the grandfather of Joyce McCracken-Bortner of Sharpsville.
"It's amazing," Mrs. McCracken-Bortner said. "It makes you wonder how (the diploma) got behind the picture."
She said she received a call from Donna Murray of the Sharpsville Historical Society regarding the diploma. Mrs. Murray, who is a friend of Mrs. McCracken-Bortner, recognized the last name of Cleary and knew Mrs. McCracken-Bortner had ties to it.
"As soon as (Mrs. Murray) saw Cleary she contacted me. She said 'guess what we've found,' " Mrs. McCracken-Bortner said.
She said the date on the diploma is amazing in itself because many people did not graduate from high school in the early 1900s. She had no idea how the diploma ended up in Beaver, except that her grandfather lived in Mars and worked on bridges for awhile in the Beaver and Allegheny county area.
"It would be interesting to know how it got there. We have no idea how," she said.
Mrs. McCracken-Bortner, who has four sisters and a brother, plans to show them the diploma before donating it to the Sharpsville Historical Society.
Mrs. Vish said returning the diploma was "absolutely" worth it.
"It's great just seeing her joy," she said.