CURWENSVILLE – Curwensville’s first African American Mayor was sworn in during a special ceremony on Jan. 10 at Irvin Manor.
Donald “Bear” Stewart said he had over 60 people attend the event including family members that came from Washington D.C., Virginia, Delaware, Niagara Falls and others from New York state, as well as Williamsburg and Pittsburgh.
“It was humbling,” he said.
Stewart who grew up in Arnoldtown, graduated from Curwensville Area High School in 1975. He is the youngest of six children and retired from the municipal authority in 2009. He now drives a school bus.
Others may know him best as a sports announcer on WOKW, a position he has had since Dec. 1989. He is also known for being a High School baseball coach for almost 30 years.
Stewart explained in a recent interview that his family has been in the area for centuries. His great-great-grandfather was William Jones who is buried in a cemetery on Ridge Avenue. His great-grandmother, Anna Jones was a mid-wife in Curwensville who delivered over 300 babies.
His mother, Clarabell Johnson Stewart, was also well known in the area. In 2021, the area of what was Arnoldtown, adjacent to the David S. Ammerman Trail, was dedicated as a park for her.
Adding more amenities to the park is a goal for Stewart. He stated that putting a pavilion and more benches in that spot will make it a perfect place to stop to rest or picnic when walking on the trail.
As for his political career, he served on the Curwensville Borough Council in the 1990’s and on the Curwensville School Board briefly in 2015.
The idea of running for mayor was not his own.
He said was in his backyard on a Sunday afternoon when Tom Carfley went by and suggested he run for the office.
“I didn’t want to do it, but I talked it over with my wife (Teresa). I realized they needed someone and decided to give it a try.”
Stewart looks at the job as a chance to serve the public in the old fashioned sense of how politics in the United States originally was designed.
“The men were to serve a term or two, and then go back to their farm” or other original job instead of making a career of it, he noted.
Stewart was unopposed during the November election.
“I knew if I got 10 votes I would win.”
He received 583 votes of the 600 cast for office.
Because he is now 68, he hopes that after his term is up, someone else, someone younger will step up.
“I am stabilizing the position until someone wants it.”
He noted there have been only 27 or 28 African-American mayors in Pennsylvania since the year 2000 which is surprising.
At this point he has not had any problems with anyone questioning his ability to do the job.
“I have received 100% positive feedback with people wishing me well.”
Teresa has also been very supportive of his pursuit of the office, and patient with him having to attend so many meetings already, he laughed.
His plans for the town include expanding the police force, starting with adding another patrolman and then another a few years down the line.
Even though Curwensville is a small community, “we have more problems (crime) than we did 40 years ago.”
The area’s drug problem is a big part of the increase in crime. Although he can’t solve that problem, he stated that his overall goal is “I want people to be safe.”
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