Kenneth Melvin Brooks

Born: February 26, 1911
Address: 281 E. Fairview Avenue, Connellsville
Nickname: Kenny
Job title: Foreman
Employer: West Penn Power 7th Street, Connellsville
Years employed: 25 Years
Community: Elder in Connellsville First Christian Church
Past President of the local Lions International
Hobbies: Enjoys sports in general particular fondness for bowling: member of the West Penn Men’s Bowling league
Death: July, 1978

From Daily Courier, Jan 2 1975
West Penn Honorees
Two veteran Connellsville area employes of West Penn Power Company are retiring January 1. Kenneth M. Brooks of 102 Robbins St. is just a few months short of completing 40 years with the company. Now materials inspector on the company’s general storeroom staff at Connellsville, he started in April, 1935 as a warehouseman. Brooks has served as vice president of Connells-vile Community Nursing Service, president of Connellsville Lions Club, and as an elder in the Christian Church. His hobbies include sports and travel.

Hired as warehouseman in West Penn general storeroom in Connellsville (1935) promoted to sub foreman in 1939.

West Penn Power

West Penn Power had roots that were 76 years old when it was formed on March 1, 1916, from 53 local companies. The oldest ancestor to West Penn Power, Brownsville Gas Co., was founded in 1860 and in 1901 merged with three other companies created the year before to form Brownsville Light Heat & Power Co. West Penn Power had 25,918 customers in 1916, using on average 51.7 megawatts of power each hour, with residential use averaging 217 kilowatts per hour, at a cost of 9.02 cents per kilowatt-hour for revenues of $3,019,761. By 1951 the cost of each kilowatt-hour had decreased to 2.71 cents. In the early days of West Penn Power there was a retail sales and marketing subsidiary, which launched a major electric refrigerator campaign in 1926. West Penn Appliance Co.’s inventory also included such items as lamps, ranges, waffle irons, toasters, heaters and vacuum cleaners. “In 1952 on Aug. 9, the last trolley run was made on the Greensburg-Connellsville-Uniontown line, marking the end of a transportation era,” Meyers said. “Then buses began to replace the old orange trolleys.” https://www.heraldstandard.com/news/mon_valley/west-penn-power-marks-centennial/article_06aafc6e-8808-524c-a4d8-fca01166d412.html

West Penn Veteran
West Penn Power Company’s Veterans Association honors another longtime Connelistlle resident as Kenneth M. Blooks, 102 Robbins St, passes the 35-year mark in his employment with the electric utility firm. Brooks, material inspector at West Penn’s general storeroom here, joined the company on April 17. 1935. as a warehouseman at the general storeroom He was promoted to sub-foreman in 1939 and to his present position in 1960 He is a member and past president of Connellsville Lions, a director of Connellsville Community Nursing Set-vice a member and former elder of the First Christian Church, and a member, of several Masonic lodges

West Penn Bowlers Make Two New Marks As Rivalry Warms

The West Penn Bowling League snapped into its regular stride at the West Penn alleys Thursday night and hung up two new season marks. Walt Lindsay of the Volts team had his strike ball landing consistently in the pocket and emerged with a 205 score for his first game. This record had been held previously by Howard Wamhoff at 204. The Volts, captained by Art Ward, were spurred on by Lindsay’s fast pace and piled up the handsome total of 853 sticks. The boys responsible for this feat, in addition to Walt, were: Jeffreys 187, Brooks 156, Gallagher 155, and Fox 150. The previous high team score was held by the Amps at 826.

Each week, the local league is comparing, with considerable enthusiasm, its high scores with those of the West Penn League at Pittsburgh. To date, this comparison shows the following: Connellsville — one game, Lindsay 205; three games, Sapanara 503; one game (team), Volts 853; three games (team), Amps 2,291. Pittsburgh — one game, Gulyas 236; three games, Madden 582; one game (team), Volts 852; three games (team), Cycles 2,202.

For the second successive week, a total of 20 men chalked up three-game scores in the 400 class. These were: Condiff 464, Lindsay 460, Ward 457, Jeffreys 445, Blue 445, Hess 442, Menefee 440, Sapanara 439, Mongell 437, Wamhoff 436, Gallagher 432, Black 423, D. R. Jones 423, Godfrey 417, Bertram 416, Murray 414, Moorman 413, Sticox 408, Pierce 402, and Kuhns 400.

The Motors, Meters, and Volts each succeeded in taking the odd game from the Watts, Ohms, and Amps, respectively. This broke up the three-way tie of the previous week and left Tony Mongell’s Motors in undisputed possession of the coveted top position. However, it resulted in the Amps and Meters being deadlocked for second place, while the Volts and Ohms are tied up for the fourth berth.

The close competition indicated by this standing will ensure plenty of noise and fireworks next Thursday evening, with the following line-up scheduled: Meters vs. Volts on alleys 1 and 2, Ohms vs. Watts on alleys 3 and 4, and Amps vs. Motors on alleys 5 and 6.

Daily Courier, 1936 May 20

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Brooks,•Jr., visited Mr. Brooks’ father, Kenneth Brooks, at his summer cottage, “Almo-Ken,” at Normalville Sunday.