December 23, 1961 City Officials Ad

Here's a vintage holiday newspaper ad full of good old Lorain political names that many of you will certainly recognize, even though the ad dates from the Journal of December 23, 1961. Back then, Woodrow "Woody" Mathna had just been elected Mayor of Lorain, and he shares billing in this ad with outgoing Mayor John C. Jaworski.

Mayor Mathna was the mayor that I associate with my youth, probably because for years we had nail files emblazoned with his campaign slogan in our desk drawer!

There is one gentleman listed in the ad that I had the pleasure of knowing: Frank Katrick, the Clerk of Courts. From the mid-1980s on, I sat right behind him in the Biz Grove Orchestra and several of its later incarnations. (I played trombone, he played sax.) Besides being a great guy and musician, he was a talented artist as well.