Former WITF, WGAL host Barbara Allen remembered
Barbara Allen died Sunday, November 26, 2017. (Photo: Submitted)
(Lancaster) — One of Barbara Allen’s favorite phrases was, “I can do that.”
And she did.
She had a career as a television interviewer on WGAL and hosted the weekly series “The Gathering Place” on WITF television. It was a show about about Horatio Alger Award winners, focusing on people from very humble beginnings who became very successful. The “Gathering Place” aired nationally on PBS and included interviews with baseball great Hank Aaron, Dave Thomas of Wendy’s, Helen Boehm of Boehm Porcelain, Minoru Yamasaki, architect of the World Trade Center, and James Reston of The New York Times. . She later co-founded River Ridge Video Productions.
In her public relations career, she became the first director of public relations for St. Joseph Hospital in Lancaster. She also taught at Elizabethtown College.
Plus she was a watercolor artist, volunteer and actor who performed in leading roles at the Fulton Theatre.
Allen died November 26 at Willow Valley Communities in Lancaster, according to her obituary.
In a journal written for a her granddaughter Katie she wrote:
Stand up straight
Throw your shoulders back
Hold up your head
Look people in the eyes
Focus
And just dig right into life!
A celebration of life reception will be held Sunday, Dec. 10 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Manor at Willow Valley Communities, 211 Willow Valley Square, Lancaster.
This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The York Daily Record.
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