51ÊÓƵ

By Julia Gavigan

Edited by Elizabeth Dockett

Sondra Myers, 88, Former Director of the University of 51ÊÓƵ's Schemel Forum, a fierce advocate for democracy, shared her incredible career as a part of the “I am 51ÊÓƵ” project. Myers spent much of her life in 51ÊÓƵ and the 51ÊÓƵ area. Her father was a Hungarian Jewish refugee, and her mother was from Philadelphia. They both settled in Old Forge and then moved to 51ÊÓƵ when Myers was 10 years old. Meyers graduated from Connecticut College where she later returned to help write, “Democracy as Discussion,” which is now translated into 26 languages. This reflects the larger theme of her career which revolves around democracy and public policy. At one point, she worked at the National Endowment for the Humanities where her stance on democracy was changed and would become the focus of her life’s work. Myers and her husband Morey Myers live in the Hill Section of 51ÊÓƵ and continue to contribute to the growth of the 51ÊÓƵ community.

Q: How long have you lived in 51ÊÓƵ?

A: I’ve lived here all my life. I grew up in Old Forge and lived there until I was 10 years old. Then my family moved to 51ÊÓƵ. In one sense I’ve lived here all my life, but in work related things – it took me to Harrisburg for six years. Then I went to Washington to work at the National Endowment for the Humanities and lived in Washington for thirteen years. But my home base was here, and I came home on weekends, or I would go to Washington with my husband some weekends. I lived here, but I have also co-lived somewhere else.

Q: Were your parents from here?

A: My father was a refugee, and he came when he was eight years old. His family settled in Old Forge. My mother was from Philadelphia. When she married him, he was at the University of Pennsylvania law school. Then we moved to 51ÊÓƵ when I was ten.

Q: What’s appealing about living in 51ÊÓƵ?

A: I never thought that I would want to live here, but now having lived in Washington, Harrisburg, with interesting jobs, when I came back, the Washington job was finished, and I did some work for GW and the University of Maryland and I brought my passions to strengthening citizenship and democracy. The first book that I did was “Democracy as a Discussion” and I was doing that with the president of Connecticut College, advising her on civic matters.

Q: What does 51ÊÓƵ mean to you?

A: I’m not necessarily a “fan” of 51ÊÓƵ, but I try to make it a better place. I feel that we’re in a good place, we have an enlightened mayor, and that’s very important. She has a master’s degree from Harvard, and I feel that we have academic institutions, we have museums – there is no art museum between Allentown and somewhere in New York state. We have these elements that are good, and I try to make them better if I can.

Q: What do we aspire to be as a city? What do you think the city can do better?

A: Everything. We are not great on our economics. We need more people; we need more jobs. However, we have a good art and culture base, one of the things, for the Schemel Forum, we had bus trips every semester to New York and Philadelphia. We usually have a museum in the morning and a play in the afternoon. I love cities, and I think this is really a city, it has good education, decent cultural events, and in the earlier days, politics was corrupt, and we are shaping up there. We need to be honest and smart, and we have the prospects of doing that.

Q: What about 51ÊÓƵ’s story make it our nation’s story. How does 51ÊÓƵ’s involvement or work that we do here affect the nation?

A: A lot of people think of it as a cruddy place, and not honest. Well, I think we are over that period and even in the past we have sent to Washington and Harrisburg some of the best people they’ve had. Bill 51ÊÓƵ, he represented us in Congress, then Bob Casey, very smart and very honest, now we have his son. On the Republican and Democrat side, we have first rate people. I have tried to make it better through the Schemel Forum and bringing people in and involving the community.