Lori M. Zentz

Most people who have lived in Thurmont for many years know George Wireman.

If you know George, you know that he loves Thurmont.

He has lived here his entire life and at age 86, George continues to be a community leader, a role he has played for many years of his long life in Thurmont. An author, radio talk show host, newspaper columnist, railroad enthusiast and local history buff, George knows just about everything and everyone in Thurmont and his community pride is unending.

When George’s is not hosting community leaders and business owners on his Saturday morning talk show on WTHU radio station of Thurmont, he’s writing.

He’s been writing about Thurmont for nearly 70 years!

George has been writing for The Catoctin Banner for over 10 years and writes a monthly column for the Thurmont Times Monthly. His trademark column This and That has appeared in the Banner, the former Glade Times - Mountain Mirror, and the Catoctin Enterprise, the Catoctin Clarion and the Emmitsburg Chronicle.

George also created a "Then and Now" photo feature for the Banner which will return as a monthly item beginning in March. George has also authored a book on Thurmont called Gateway to the Mountains. His real passion lies in preserving Thurmont’s history - perhaps not so much the strongly researched historical data, but the day-to-day people stories of those who lived in Thurmont.

"It all began when I wrote a history on Thurmont for my school newspaper," said George. George was business manager for the Thurmont High School monthly newspaper the Pied Piper. "I realized there was no source to turn about Thurmont history. My dad gave me most of the information for my story," he said. "It bothered me that there was no complete history of Thurmont, so I started my own," said George. That fueled his desire to gather more stories and history.

George went to every special event and talked to people everywhere to get his stories. In 1939, he graduated from high school, got a local job in customer service and kept up his writing. His writing was in high demand and his column This and That was featured in the local newspaper. He also wrote for his company’s monthly newsletter. George was the Thurmont Topics editor for 11 years during his

34-year career at Moore Business Forms (now RR Donnelly) in Thurmont.

The company newsletter featured regular history articles and community news and events in addition to company news.

In 1951, George served as secretary for the Town of Thurmont’s 200th Anniversary of the Town of Thurmont.

The committee had planned two weeks of events during the summer of 1951 for the community to enjoy. "It was almost like a homecoming," said George. Long-time residents who had moved away came home to enjoy town-planned activities. That summer, George interviewed everyone he could.

In April of 1969, nearly 30 years later and after a good 16 years of research, George had enough information to publish the book and Gateway to the Mountains was in circulation.

No longer in circulation, you can’t purchase Gateway to the Mountains at the bookstore. And, you’d have to sift through a lot of microfilm to find George’s many articles over the years. However, thanks to Michael Hillman, Emmitsburg Historical Society President, you can now begin to read George’s history articles, including the complete Gateway to the Mountains, via the mythurmont.net and emmitsburg.net Web sites. Hillman plans to get all of George’s work uploaded to the site.

Hillman is also Webmaster of both sites. Hillman has been transferring all of these articles to the Web sites through his work. "I think these stories need to be out there for people to read and I’m glad to make that possible through my Web site," said Hillman.