William Penn Life, 2000 (35. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2000-08-01 / 8. szám
UpgradeA.M Best increases WPA’s rating to ß++ Article on cancer prevention gets under reader's skin In regards to your "Skin Deep" article (WPL, July 2000): I do not agree. Pale is ugly. It looks ghostly and sick. Be careful in the sun; use protection. But sunkissed skin is much healthier looking. Even my doctor has told me that people are so afraid of the sun that their vitamin D is getting too low. At least 20 minutes a day in the sun is a must all year round. Quit making people afraid to go outside! Judy Magyar-Davis Akron, OH Thanks to modern science—and modern cosmetics—you can be healthy and look healthy, as both sun protection and a suntan are available in bottles. Our humblest apologies to Steven F. Beke of Branch 13 Trenton, N.J. It was he (not his brother Brian) who won $200 in the Lucky Strike Contest at this year's Annual Bowling Tournament, and it was his photograph which appeared in our July 2000 issue. PITTSBURGH - The WPA is moving toward the head of the class. A.M. Best Company, widely recognized as the world leader in rating the financial strength of insurance companies, recently raised its rating of the WPA from "B+" to "B++." Best classifies this rating as "very good." According to Best's definition, this rating is "assigned to companies which have, on balance, very good financial strength, operating performance and market profile.. .These companies, in our opinion, have a good ability to meet their ongoing obligations to policyholders." The addition of one "+" mark to our rating may not seem significant to the average person. But, ask people SPRINGDALE, PA — Boris Gosciejew recently threw a party to celebrate his golden anniversary. No, he wasn't marking his 50th year of marriage to his wife, WPA member Helen Gosciejew. Instead, he and about 80 relatives and friends were celebrating his 50 years of freedom. Gosciejew, 74, was bom and raised in eastern Poland. He came to the United States in 1950, after living through first the Nazi, then the Communist occupation of his homeland. He was just a teenager when, he says, the Nazis shot all the Jews in his region and deported all the non-Jews, including himself, to what he called "slave camps." He was sent to a camp in Hamburg where he worked 10 hours a day on an assembly line making airplane parts for the Luftwaffe. After the U.S. bombed Hamburg, he was moved to a farm 50 who work in the insurance industry, and they will tell you such an increase is something to boast about. "It takes a lot for A. M. Best to increase a company's rating," said WPA National Vice President- Treasurer Diane M. Torma. "Our new rating reflects well on the effort and dedication of everyone at the WPA." Among our efforts noted in Best's report were our recent recruitment of agents in areas where the WPA has not been represented, new programs to attract young members, and improved policy benefits. "These initiatives had a positive effect on premiums and membership growth in 1999," Best reported. "A.M. Best anticipates that.. .growth will continue." miles from Hamburg. When the war ended, Gosciejew moved to a British-run camp for eastern Europeans who did not want to return home to now Communist countries. He stayed in the camp for five years, before coming to America with the aid of the Russian Orthodox Church Association. He lived for a month in Slippery Rock, Pa., before moving to Blawnox, Pa., where he worked in a steel mill. He became a U.S. citizen in 1960 and later took a job as a maintenance worker for Golf Research in Harmar, Pa., where he retired in 1983. He met his wife Helen at what was the Hungarian club in Springdale, Pa. That club is now the Springdale Hungarian Reformed Church, where Gosciejew hosted his party. What was the highlight of the past 50 years? "To get married, have a family and live a happy life," he said. Nazi ‘slave camp’ survivor celebrates 50 years of freedom in America 2 William Penn I,iff, August 2000
