Canon-Mac benefactor display honors Bernard Singer
Daniel McPoyle, 65, stands with the personal artifacts of Bernie Singer he lobbied to have displayed inside Canon-McMillan High School.
From the 1961 yearbook, Mr. Bernard Singer, who retired in 1985.
The other display cabinet in the main atrium of Canon-McMillan High School.
Bernard Singer had no children of his own, yet still made youth a priority after setting up at least $500,000 worth of grant programs at Carlow and California universities for Canon-McMillan graduates. The day after Veterans Day, Canon-McMillan Senior High School principal David Helinski unveiled two display cases containing artifacts that belonged to the late Singer, who was a tech shop teacher at the school, and an Army veteran who served in World War II and the Korean War. It was the insistence of fellow veteran and friend Daniel McPoyle that made the displays a reality.
“Without his entrepreneurship and generosity, a lot of kids wouldn’t have gone to college,” said McPoyle, a 65-year-old Navy veteran who served aboard the USS Niagara Falls during the Vietnam War.
McPoyle worked with the district for over a year to have Singer’s Army artifacts – uniforms, letters and photographs – displayed in the main atrium of the high school. The items are from his years of service, 1943-46 and 1950-53. McPoyle said they’re a testament to his service and to remember the kind of man he was.
“He even paid for a woman’s tuition at Carlow he didn’t even know. He paid for her last two years after he got a call from the University saying she was going to drop out because she couldn’t pay it because she was taking care of two kids,” McPoyle said.
According to personnel records, Singer worked as a industrial arts teacher from 1961-1985. He made impressions on students that sometimes led to life-long friendships.
“I was one of his ‘first sons’ some people have said, and that was for a lot of kids in his early classes. He pushed young boys who didn’t have direction into technology and building classes. I wouldn’t have gone on to work in electronics and eventually for Westinghouse and the University of Maryland without him … He was my adopted daughter’s godfather, and he helped me get the paperwork done to get her out of China,” said 67-year-old alumnus Vince Crider.
Singer, who was 88 when he passed away in 2011, died two years after his wife Marguerite. Both are buried in the National Cemetery of The Alleghenies, according to McPoyle and the Veterans History Project.
Helinski said current industrial arts teacher Pat Hudock built the cases to preserve the artifacts – an appropriate homage to Singer’s craft and work in education.
“It’s critical to remember people like Bernie. He not only helped this school tremendously, but he was part of an era that we all need to reflect on and not forget.”
McPoyle added that Singer was an active man of faith and the two knew each other primarily through fellowship at St. Benedict the Abbott Church in Peters Township.
“He was loyal to God, country, his wife and obviously the children here in this district. He was a great man.”