Meals on Wheels and a Science Discovery Center. Oneonta became a bit of a better place to live with these two organizations among our daily lives, thanks to a couple named Hazel and Albert Read.

From 1972 to 1996, a Meals on Wheels program existed in Oneonta to serve elderly residents and patients discharged from the hospital who needed time to recover before they could return to making their own meals. The program debuted Jan. 10, 1972.

The late Hazel Read was president of Church Women United at that time and chaired the project along with Sue Gibbs and Mary Hulbert, representing the Fox Hospital Guild as co-sponsors of the project.

On that first day, three sets of two volunteers "" a driver and another person "" from the First United Methodist Church picked up the meals at A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital and delivered them. Other churches in the area provided volunteer teams in following days, which eventually turned into many years.

The Meals on Wheels program was created in Great Britain during World War II. After the war, the U.S. embarked on its experimental program. The first American home-delivered meal program started in Philadelphia in 1954. Rochester was second, in 1958.

Hazel Read’s last day on the program was March 1, 1996. At that time, the Otsego County Nutrition Program for the Elderly took over.

"I am kind of proud "" we haven’t missed a day," Read said. Weather was sometimes a challenge, she recalled. A particular May snowstorm came to mind that took down trees and wires. Volunteers had to "tiptoe through sparks" to deliver meals, she said.

Another time, the snow was so bad she asked a man with a four-wheel-drive vehicle to help. Read was surprised to find out the driver was 91 years old.

While Hazel was busy with coordinating meal deliveries, her husband, Albert, was busy teaching physics at the State University College at Oneonta from 1957-85. During his career, Read received a National Science Foundation fellowship in 1959-60 and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1974.

Shortly after Read’s retirement in 1985, he conceived, designed and planned a hands-on science museum. On a very limited budget, Read turned a room with a dirt floor, formerly used for batting practice in the basement of the SUCO Physical Science Building, into an educational asset to the community known as the Science Discovery Center.

"There seemed to be a need for a facility where people could interact rather than read from books," Read told The Daily Star.

A dedication ceremony Jan. 21, 1990, drew nearly 160, including Penny Bellinger, a science teacher at Charlotte Valley Central School. "This initiates questions," Bellinger said as she gestured toward the numerous lights, prisms and mirrors that filled the hands-on museum.

Guest speaker Sheila Grinnell, co-founder of San Francisco’s Exploratorium and adviser to the Science Discovery Center, said students would find learning could be fun.

"Together, the museums and schools will be able to show children that they can do science," Grinnell said.

The Science Discovery Center opened with nearly 40 exhibits. Under Read’s leadership, the number had passed 80 by the time he retired in 2005.

Hugh Gallagher, who worked with Read as assistant director, assumed the leadership that year.

Gallagher is a physics professor at SUCO.

"This institution was built by a very gifted individual," Gallagher said of Read. "He understands physics more than anyone I’ve ever met."

Read still volunteers occasionally at the center.

From now until the end of August, the Science Discovery Center is open Monday through Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. For details and directions, call 436-2011.

This weekend: The first night baseball game at Doubleday Field.

City Historian Mark Simonson’s column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com.