Charles Manfro Jr. has been named the Kingston Veterans Association 23rd veteran of the year. A testimonial dinner will take place on Sept. 17 at 6 p.m. at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1386 on East Chester Street Bypass. The public is invited.
Asked what the honor means to him, Manfro said, “A lot of guys shed a lot of blood for a lot of different reasons. You can put plusses and minuses with each country but there’s no question we add up to a lot more than any place in the world, I don’t know where else I’d like to live but here. Everybody’s got negative. I’m sure there are even people in communist China who love it there. They’re probably the ones pulling the strings.”
Manfro, 69, is a 1960 Kingston High School graduate. He served in the Army Reserve from 1963 to 1969, stationed at Fort Dix, N.J. He and his wife Susan are the parents of three children, Lisah, Kevin and Stephanie. He retired from Dyno Nobel in 2004.
An immediate past-commander of Kingston Post 150 American Legion, Manfro is a member of the Post color guard. He has been Post athletic officer for the past six years. He has been county Legion baseball director and is currently District 3 baseball manager.
Manfro managed a Legion Babe Ruth team for a year before coaching the Post 150 Legion team from 1992 to 2008.
Tickets are $20 for a roast beef dinner and available at Post 150 or the American Legion. Deadline for reservations is Sept. 14.
Previous honorees in chronological order were Tony Crespino (1990), Bob Delanoy, Joe Misasi, Jim Noble Sr., Dick Peters, Joe Forte, Fred Bayona, Kate Krajick, Lew Brooks, Don Quick, Joe Scholar Jr., Larry Scanlon, Joe Sills Jr., Fred Johnson, Jim Longendyke, Leroy Ness, Fran Humphrey, Bill Forte, Ron Chrisey, Ken Boughton, Jim Sillik and Vince Auletta (2010).
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