WEST PITTSTON – Paul Marranca is a name that is synonymous with the Wyoming Area football program going as far back when he played on the very first team when the school district was formed in the fall of 1966.

After college, Marranca coached football under his mentor, legendary high school coach Jack Henzes at Dunmore High School, before making his way back to Wyoming Area to assume the head coaching job where he had a successful career.

Marranca over 27-years as a head coach, amassed a career record of 230-98-2 with a winning percentage of .703, was the 1980 PA Coach of the Year, a 12-time Wyoming Valley Conference Coach of the Year and a Big-33 coach in 2000.

When the Wyoming Area Football Alumni Association was formed, Marranca was onboard with Lou “Bikes” Ciampi over 25-years ago.

On Thursday, July 18, the Wyoming Area weight room, located across the street from the Anthony “Jake” Sobeski Football Stadium on Boston Ave., will be dedicated in Coach Marranca’s name and will forever be known as the Paul J. Marranca Performance Center.

According to Ciampi, the dedication will take place, open to the public, at the weight room parking lot at 4 p.m. followed by a cocktail reception at The Banks Waterfront Venue, Kennedy Blvd, Pittston, starting at 5 p.m.

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Nestled in the Snowy Range Mountains sits a quiet mountain chapel.

With stunning views of the range and the Centennial Valley, St. Alban’s Chapel near Little Brooklyn Lake draws outdoor enthusiasts, engaged couples and parishioners of St. Matthew’s Cathedral to the site year after year.

“It’s this little chapel on a hill, but it overlooks the big vast valley,” said photographer Rick Osborne. “It’s just beautiful.”

One-of-A-Kind Wedding Venue

Osborne and his wife Stephanie of Ardent Photography photograph at least two or three weddings at the chapel every summer. He said it’s one of the couple’s favorite places to capture ceremonies in the Snowies.

“I think there’s not really anything that compares to St. Alban’s Chapel in that area,” Osborne said. “It’s unique in the fact that you can have your ceremony right there in the Snowies. You don’t have to bring in your own seating. It’s extremely affordable. And so I think that’s why it’s always so busy and booked out. It’s beautiful. It’s accommodating. It just kind of checks all those boxes.”

Sara Haugen decided St. Alban’s Chapel was the perfect spot for her mountain wedding after several hiking, camping and fly-fishing adventures in the Snowy Range with her future husband.

“I loved the idea of bringing our flatlander extended families into the mountains if they were already flying all the way to Wyoming,” she said. “My ceremony was July 13, 2013, and I’d say that’s about the earliest I’d recommend a wedding up there. Up until about a week before the wedding, there were still road drifts heading up to Little Brooklyn Lake. There are probably drifts up there right now that’ll be gone by next week.”

The morning of the ceremony the weather looked like it wasn’t going to cooperate, with black clouds hanging low over the peak. Haugen’s parents, who were there to set up early, were dealing with hail and rain around 11:30 a.m.

“Our ceremony was at 1 p.m., and by then it was sunny and blue skies opened up,” she said. “It was picture perfect, but I was mentally preparing to be soaked the whole time.”

Haugen said it was a dream wedding. The wooden benches were just enough for her 85 guests. And a harpist set up under the cover of the chapel, something that had always been on her wish list since she was a little girl.

“The ceremony was just beautiful, and the wildflowers were popping,” she said. “We still go visit St. Alban’s each summer around our anniversary, now with our two kiddos.”

Created As A Memorial

St. Alban’s Chapel was built in 1940 as a memorial to Lutie Stone by her son, Dr. Ferdinand Fairfax Stone, according to an informational pamphlet from St. Matthew’s. It was consecrated in 1941 in dedication to St. Alban.

The chapel’s name harkens back across the Atlantic to the grand Anglican St. Alban’s Cathedral in Hertfordshire, England, and is named after the country’s first Christian martyr of 304 A.D.

The authentic log structure of the open-air chapel reflects the skill involved in its hand-hewn log construction. This traditional Scandinavian craftsmanship was commonly used by work crews for President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps of the Great Depression.

The chapel’s log walls shelter the simple, hand-hewn lodgepole cross within the open window. The altar beneath the cross reflects the CCC skill of stone masonry, using the variegated hues of granite up on The Ridge — bold rose, delicate pinks, turquoise and crystal white, literally bringing the mountain to the altar.

The granite rocks of the altar have an inscription referring to Psalm 121, “I will lift mine eyes up unto the hills.”

The congregation of St. Matthew’s Cathedral gathers at the spot every summer from July through August for worship and invites others to, “Come experience peace and God’s blessings at this quiet, mountain chapel on the Brooklyn Lake Road.”

Peaceful, Beautiful Place

When David Vernon proposed to his wife in 1988 using the scoreboard at the University of Wyoming, they considered the chapel as a potential wedding location.

“We had both spent time in the Snowies and really like St. Alban’s as a location,” he said. “But our wedding was scheduled for Memorial Day weekend in 1988, and we were actually worried about snow still being up there and having to drag my grandparents through that, so we got married at Ivinson Mansion instead.”

However, St. Alban’s and Little Brooklyn Lake have always been beloved by the couple, and when they were last up there in July 2017 on a visit from their home in Illinois, the wildflowers were in full bloom.

“It was beautiful, but sadly we were surprised by how much pine beetle damage there was and how the trees were just so barren,” Vernon said. “It’s still a lovely place with a lovely view, and we miss the Snowies so much to this day. We’ll be back in southeastern Wyoming in September, and if we get up to the Snowies, we’ll definitely pay another visit to the little chapel on the hill.”

A few years ago Rose Brackett was also looking at possible wedding venues, and St. Alban’s was on her list. So she made a trip up in July 2022 and took a few photographs, which she shared on the Wyoming Through the Lens Facebook page.

“My then-fiancée and I had just gotten engaged, and I had been looking for unique wedding venues in the area, and I’d heard about that place, but I’d never been there, so I wanted to go and see what it was like in person,” she said.

She thought the location was perfect for a small ceremony with a rustic, Wyoming vibe. And while the couple didn’t end up getting married at the chapel because they decided to have the ceremony in October, she enjoyed being there so much she made a return trip later with her sister.

“It’s just a peaceful site — just the little chapel, then the wildflowers and down a little bit further there’s a lake,” she said. “It’s off the beaten path just a little bit. It was just a gorgeous view.”