Thirty years ago — 1989

About a dozen employees of the Excelco Developments plant in Silver Creek decided to try a course in sign language offered in the adult education program at SUNY Fredonia this fall. Because Excelco has a deaf employee, company president Russ Newman offered to pay the course fee for any employees who wanted to enroll. The group members got more than they bargained for — an education, a social meeting for friends and a second language.

Forty years ago — 1979

John M. Williams, formerly of Dunkirk, has been named director, corporate information, for CBS Inc. A graduate of Syracuse University where he received a bachelor’s degree in English in 1966, Mr. Williams lives in Manhattan with his wife, Donna. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. MacLeod Williams of Shorewood Drive East, Dunkirk.

Fifty years ago — 1969

The Boorady Reading Center in Dunkirk was recently featured in “American Education,” the national magazine of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.