Old friends and new gathered in downtown Tyrone yesterday to honor one of Tyrone\u2019s most well-known residents \u2014 Morris Levine. Levine is best known for his show store, a fixture of the downtown for over 60 years, but he has also given back, along with his late wife, Bess, to the community many fold through years of service in such organizations as the Tyrone Kiwanis Club.
\nTyrone Mayor Pat Stoner called him \u201ca cherished friend\u201d as she proclaimed yesterday a day for Tyrone to celebrate the birthday of a man who has given so much to the community.
\nTyrone\u2019s two state representatives, Representative Larry Sather and Representative Jerry Stern were also on hand to honor Levine.
\n\u201cHe is a friend,\u201d Sather said. \u201cHe is someone that many in marketing could look to and, if you will, look up to. He sets an example \u2014 a high standard.\u201d Sather then read a part of the citation issued by the Commonwealth\u2019s House of Representatives paying tribute to Levine.
\nStern, who is relatively new to the community, said that although he had just met Levine, his reputation had preceeded him.
\n\u201cAll the people and all your friends that I have spoken with have just said about what a great individual, what a great man and a true gentleman that you really are,\u201d Stern said as he presented a card to Levine, along with a certificate honoring his 66 years of \u201cdedicated service to the Tyrone Community.\u201d
\nChamber of Commerce President Jim Phillips presented a letter of commendation from the Chamber and recalled trips to the show store as a young boy \u2014 trips that ended with everyone\u2019s favorite \u2014 the pretzel stick.
\n\u201cMorris has been a vital part of Tyrone\u2019s business community. His quality products and friendly demeaner helped to build a reputation that continues to reach far beyond Tyrone\u2019s Borough limits,\u201d Phillips said as he read the letter.
\nTodd Lewis, who now owns the store that still bears Levine\u2019s name \u2014 Morris Levine\u2019s Shoe Fly \u2014 welcomed folks to the store on Pennsylvania Avenue to pay tribute to Levine and shared his appreciation for his mentor Levine.
\n\u201cI searched my heart for words to really describe my relationship with Morris and how much I appreciate him. In lacking my own words I searched the Scripture for some words eternal \u2014 words that were before us and words that will continue on after us,\u201d Lewis said before he read Psalm 112.
\n\u201cIn reality, Morris\u2019s generousity and service goes far beyond the walls of this store, far beyond the shoe business and far beyond our community,\u201d Lewis concluded. \u201cWe\u2019re blessed with him in our presence.\u201d
\nAfter a rousing \u201cFor He\u2019s A Jolly Good Fellow\u201d and the traditional birthday song, Levine spoke briefly.
\n\u201cI\u2019m a little lost for words at this time,\u201d he said. \u201cI am grateful to be back in Tyrone, I really am. I didn\u2019t know if I was going to make it back for a while, but thank God. He was with me and I am so happy to be back with my friends and former customers.\u201d Levine thanked everyone for their kind words and support. He also introduced his daughter, Ida, and two granddaughters who traveled from New Jersey to celebrate with him.
\n\u201cI just had to come back to Tyrone,\u201d he said. \u201cI honestly did. I was homesick.\u201d Levine recalled the few years he was away, staying with his daughters as he recovered from illness. \u201cBut now I\u2019m on my way. As my friend George Stever said this morning, \u2018We\u2019re playing golf tomorrow morning.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Old friends and new gathered in downtown Tyrone yesterday to honor one of Tyrone\u2019s most well-known residents \u2014 Morris Levine. Levine is best known for his show store, a fixture of the downtown for over 60 years, but he has also given back, along with his late wife, Bess, to the community many fold through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}