Copyright Reading Eagle
For information on submitting an obituary, please contact Reading Eagle by phone at 610-371-5018, or email at obituaries@readingeagle.com or fax at 610-371-5193. Most obituaries published in the Reading Eagle are submitted through funeral homes and cremation services, but we will accept submissions from families. Obituaries can be emailed to obituaries@readingeagle.com. In addition to the text of the obituary, any photographs that you wish to include can be attached to this email. Please put the text of the obituary in a Word document, a Google document or in the body of the email. The Reading Eagle also requires a way to verify the death, so please include either the phone number of the funeral home or cremation service that is in charge of the deceased's care or a photo of his/her death certificate. We also request that your full name, phone number and address are all included in this email. All payments by families must be made with a credit card. We will send a proof of the completed obituary before we require payment. The obituary cannot run, however, until we receive payment in full. Obituaries can be submitted for any future date, but they must be received no later than 3:00 p.m. the day prior to its running for it to be published. Please call the obituary desk, at 610-371-5018, for information on pricing. Newspapers have been an integral part of the information chain since well before the digital age, as an upcoming program at the Berks History Center makes clear. The Eagle Eyes program will showcase the power of photojournalism in chronicling Berks County life and connecting generations through the stories captured by the camera over six decades. But it is more than just a walk down memory lane, said former Reading Eagle feature writer Bruce Posten, one of the program moderators. “It’s to show where the evolution occurred, how we got to now, and hopefully, to draw young people in so they can learn from it as they pursue what they’re doing in the technological media age,” he said. Eagle Eyes will feature about 100 archival images published by the Reading Eagle and Reading Times between roughly 1950 and 2010. The photos document everything from presidential visits and major weather events to the people and places that shaped the community over the decades. Posten, who will co-moderate the discussions with former colleagues Donna Reed and Bill Uhrich, said the program’s foundation is the work of Tony Miccicke, a former volunteer firefighter, Reading Fire Department photographer and county dispatcher. Over several decades, Miccicke scanned hundreds of thousands of photographs from the Eagle and Times archives. His dedication preserved an invaluable visual record of Berks County history that otherwise might have been lost during ownership changes at the newspaper, Posten said. “It’s through his work that the history center saved many of the photos that the Eagle and Times ran over the decades,” Posten said. The photos, now part of the history center’s collection, trace a sweeping visual history from the mid-20th century industrial city through Reading’s social, cultural and political transformations. The idea for Eagle Eyes emerged when Charles “Chuck” Gardner, a former Eagle photo editor, shared a presentation of his vintage photography with the Spring Township seniors group that Posten coordinates. The enthusiasm that presentation generated inspired Posten to collaborate with Gardner and others on a broader program that would highlight the newspaper’s photographic legacy. “There’s a core audience of people who like to see how things were, how buildings have changed,” Posten said. “The Reading Eagle-Times was our Berks County Bible. There are pictures of all types of themes over the decades.” That concept evolved into the program, which Posten describes as part nostalgia, part education and a celebration of photojournalism and the people behind it. The event will include commentary from former photographers and those who worked closely with them, including William Rehr, a retired Reading fire chief and history center volunteer. Rehr played a key role in selecting the photos for the presentation and will help share the stories behind the stories, Posten said, especially about breaking news coverage such as fires, accidents and natural disasters. Themes will include presidential visits to Reading from Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy to Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, as well as weather events like Tropical Storm Agnes and the blizzard of 1996. Sports, too, will be represented, with photos of hometown heroes such as Betsy King, Donyell Marshall and Roger Penske. “There will also be a category of enterprise,” Posten said, highlighting the artistic work of photographers whose creative shots filled and anchored the newspapers’ pages. While Eagle Eyes will likely appeal to longtime residents who remember the events pictured, Posten said, he hopes the series will resonate with younger generations. “I see it as an intergenerational bridge with media, especially in this day of polarization and fracture,” he said. He envisions it connecting those who grew up reading the Eagle with those whose news comes primarily through digital platforms. Ultimately, Posten said, he hopes this will be the first of several programs exploring how local media from newspapers and television to podcasts and social media have evolved while continuing to tell Berks County’s story. If You Go What: Eagle Eyes, a photojournalism retrospective featuring about 100 historic Reading Eagle and Reading Times images and a panel discussion with former journalists and photographers. When: Nov. 6, 5:30 p.m. – Evening session with light supper and beverages. Nov. 7, 10:30 a.m. – Morning session with coffee and donuts. Virtual options also available. Where: Berks History Center, 940 Centre Ave. Tickets: Nov. 6: $15 for BHC members, $25 for nonmembers Nov. 7: $10 for BHC members, $15 for nonmembers Tickets, information: berkshistory.org.
