Express readers seem to enjoy hearing about notabilities in Church’s “Old Town,” renamed Lock Haven. These are personal memories about Havenites who may be gone, but not forgotten.

We once had accessible doctors McDonough, Triers, Delgrippo, Brickley, Long, Dolan, Myers, Clover, Lindsay, Teah, Adams, Brandt, Hoberman, Thomas Dicuccio and a host of others, including Michael R. “Mickey” Greenberg.

Prepared with his fresh basil spice, we were enjoying a late-night pizza when Mickey’s Sunset Pines phone rang and he had a long dialogue with an ill patient.

I met Mickey at age six when he played coronet in “The Teen Tones,” a local musical group along with my brother, Ken, former LH Police Chief Jay Frazier and Jim Chapman. Mickey and I later went to the LHU Price Auditorium to hear Jim play soprano sax with the famous Glenn Miller Orchestra.

I sold Mickey a hand-crafted coronet and he played shows with me at times. A jazz aficionado, he was not only a skillful physician, but mastered the French language, learned to fly, was a Major in the Medical Corps and was awarded an MBA from the Wharton School of Business.

Dr. Greenberg devised the LHU PA program and last year I presented business topics in the “Greenberg Lecture Auditorium.”

One day after leaving City Hall, Mickey drove up in a Rolls convertible with his Schnauzer, Wellington, sitting on its yellow leather seat. When asked, “Where you goin?”, His reply, “Wellington and I are headed to Philadelphia to study finance.”

Another time Mickey called to say he was the speaker at a physician conference in Sarasota, Fla., and we flew down in a plane he shared with local master bridge builder, Eddie Nestlerode.

Mickey’s dad owned the Keystone Motel (now Dunnstown Diner) and cared for his mother, Helen, in later years.

It was an honor to give the eulogy in 2018 when he passed. Mickey was a Havenite many came to love.

Another notable doctor was Forney “Fred” Winner, a Lock Haven Hospital surgeon for 20 years when it was skillfully managed by the late icon Al Speth.

Once charged with the assessment of California nursing homes, I retained Al to travel with me.

We had dinner with San Francisco’s Mayor Willie Brown and Al coached me regarding nursing home management.

Tall and distinguished, Dr. Winner invited me to his apartment on his Opera Building third floor, still standing.

I noticed a taxidermist’s Cocker Spaniel by the fireplace.

A colorful character, Fred said, “That was my dog.”

Clearly another brainiac and Clearfield County’s largest landowner, Dr. Winner authored seven books and his family owned Winner’s Packing Plant.

By age 97, Fred had studied at Dartmouth and attained a Masters Degree in Psychology. In 1968, he wrote “Surgeon’s Blue Coal” with themes of psychology, relations and sex as a satirical book that revealed explicit stories about Clinton County residents, without divulging names.

After encouraging me to write a book, Fred suggested I buy a copy of his latest release entitled Genetic Basis of Society.

Adopted as a university textbook, it was written for the abstruse psychology scholar.

Fred’s sister, Isabella Miller, wrote “Old Town: the History of Early Lock Haven 1769-1845. ”

Doctor Winner had a home in Dunedin, Fla., and invited my wife and I down for New Years Eve. We enjoyed a tour of his dazzling horticultural garden and viewed his collection of seven pristine Lincoln Mark V autos. The home resembled a museum and we visited his Country Club for the celebration.

Upon returning, I, along with neurosurgeons Dr. Rajjoub and Dr. Tuffaha, purchased Fred’s historic Jacob Grafius building across the street from our Courthouse and next to Veterans’ Park.

Grafius operated the first retail store in Lock Haven and sold provisions to Susquehanna River travelers. Local folks may recall that Fred owned the famous Lock’s Restaurant in that very same building.

Visit the Clinton County Historical Society or Ross Library to hear more about your heritage and Old Town.

The next Notable Havenites will be Castanea’s musician, Karl Keller, and local drug store magnate, Lester Widmann.

Stephen Poorman is a longtime area resident and business consultant.