Sara Roberta Getty with cumberland evening times behind her

Voice from the Queen City of the Alleghenies

Posted by

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Sara Roberta Getty (1880-1973) served as Woman’s Editor for the Cumberland [MD] Daily News from 1924 to 1942. She wrote four books of poetry, including Little songs of every day, (1924) and Maryland Melodies, (1930), the latter dedicated “to the Queen City of the Alleghenies and her warm hearted people who to me have been a never failing source of encouragement and inspiration.”

portrait of Sara Roberta Getty

Photo: from the program of the Cumberland Sesquicentennial in 1937. Sara was among the Board of Directors.

Her husband, Charles, was not overly fond of the idea that Sara worked. Despite this, she continued her career. After her husband’s death in 1917, she moved to Wellersburg, PA where she again became a columnist, this time for the Somerset Daily American. Sara continued to work until she was 88 years old, regardless of the fact that she was hit by a car in 1965 and broke her hip.

During this time she raised her two surviving daughters (her twin sons both died within a year of birth) as a single, working mother. She had help from her family, which is why she returned to Pennsylvania.

sources: Western Maryland Regional Library
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~victagg/47.htm
Davis Anthology of Newspaper Verse for 1938, by Athie Sale Davis, self-published, Oklahoma City, OK

More articles on Cumberland, MD:

Consigned to live like a brute among savages(Opens in a new browser tab)

Cab Calloway plays Cumberland(Opens in a new browser tab)

The number of railroad accidents made the need for a hospital strongly felt(Opens in a new browser tab)

3 comments

  1. Sara Roberta Getty was a reporter for the Cumberland News in 1925 when my grandmother Congresswoman Winnefred Mason Huck traveled to Cumberland. Sara befriended her and showed her a kindness that led to a friendship that lasted until Winnefred’s death in 1936. Sara and grandmother corresponded for several years. For reasons to complex for this short note my grandmother was first known to Sara as Elizabeth Sprague. Only later did Sara know her real name. Of course, when Sara discovered the full story their friendship was much enhanced. Should this note be received by anyone know more of Sara, I would love to know more of this relationship. I was lived in Cumberland from 1949 to 1957 and graduated from Fort Hill HS. My dad, also Bob Huck, owned the Canteen Company in Cumberland before he retired to Vermont in the late 70’s. I lived most of my adult life in Alaska and now live in Charlotte, NC

  2. Hi Bob

    Sara was my Great Grandmother — I did a lot of research on her geneology.

    I did read an article about the relationship you described. Maybe you have it or if not I’ll look for it. Sara was born in Wellersburg, PA – one of 20+ kids, but I do not think she returned to live there when she was widowed, she lived in Cumberland City when she was working for the Newspaper there.

    Would you have access to the correspondence between Sara and your grandmother? I would be very interested in whatever you would chose to share if it is not sensitive to your family.

    Gini Galvin

Leave a Reply