A bridge that connects Routes 973 and 87 over Loyalsock Creek could be named after a man with strong community and business connections to the area.
State Rep. Garth Everett, R-Muncy, said he introduced legislation Wednesday that would name the Slabtown bridge in memory of George E. Logue Sr.
Logue, who made a career in construction and engineering, passed away in October 2012 at age 85 just before the bridge that was destroyed during Tropical Storm Lee in 2011 was finished last November.
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Family members said it was Logue's funeral procession that first used the completed bridge, as employees from his company held their hats over their hearts.
"It was just awesome how that was able to be arranged," said his daughter, Amy Logue-McNamara. "I know my dad would be so pleased. He loved the community."
In another bit of fate, Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc., of which Logue's son Herman is the vice president, served as the main contractor for the bridge construction.
"I really appreciate that they're doing this to memorialize my father," Herman said. "The family certainly is proud of our father's accomplishments."
State Sen. E. Eugene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, who grew up near the Logue family, said he has a close connection with them.
Like George Logue, Yaw's father operated a small excavating business in the Wallis Run Road area. He also drove several of the Logue children on a school bus while he was working his way through college, Yaw said.
Yaw remembers Logue as the local historian who always liked to tinker with projects.
"I always told him he knew more about my ancestors than I did," Yaw said. "He was just a great person to talk to. You couldn't find a more appropriate recognition of someone who has made a significant impact in that community of Gamble and Cascade townships."
Logue, a Williamsport native who resided in Trout Run, was a U.S. Army Air Corps World War II veteran who started his own construction and contracting business. He held five patents for heavy construction equipment and dump truck bodies. He also developed a remote-controlled surface and subsurface vehicle for the U.S. Navy to recover underwater armaments.
In addition to those achievements, Logue worked to memorialize the crew of the U.S.S. Wahoo, a World War II submarine that was lost in the Sea of Japan in 1943. His brother, Robert, was a member of the crew.
"It is fitting that this bridge be named after George Logue Sr., as he dedicated himself to a career in engineering and was an expert in the construction and heavy equipment fields," Everett said in a news release.
"I worked for the George E. Logue Construction Co. in the mid-1970s when I was in college and many others in the area worked for the company from the late 1950s until the early '80s when George Sr. owned and ran the business," he added. "He started off his construction company in 1957 with a truck-mounted backhoe he built in his basement and turned into the largest construction company in the area - he was truly one of a kind."
Everett said the naming legislation should move through the House Transportation Committee and the House of Representatives this spring.
