A 30-year resident of Sayre, Henry G. Farley was born in South Towanda at the Mills Community Hospital. He is a graduate of St. Agnes School, Towanda High School and the State University of New York at Delhi. He has been employed at Guthrie Healthcare since 1977 and serves in the role of Director of Food and Nutrition.

At Guthrie, Henry has been active in maintaining of the Guthrie historical archives, and in a group of Guthrie employees who produced through Arcadia Publishing a pictorial history, titled 100 Years of Health Care, to commemorate in 2010 the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Robert Packer Hospital and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Guthrie Clinic.

He was instrumental in planning the day-long festivities in January 2010, including the portrayal of the “arrival of Dr. Donald Guthrie by train” at the former Lehigh Valley Passenger Station, now the Sayre Historical Society Museum, the procession of attendees to the Guthrie Clinic and the ceremony in the Guthrie Atrium complete with celebratory cake for the large crowd of visitors. The celebrations continued throughout 2010.

He is active in many community organizations:

• In his fourteenth year as an elected councilperson on the Sayre Borough Council, in 2011, Henry is currently serving as Council President.

• A trustee for 14 years on the Sayre Public Library Board, he currently serves as President of the Board.

• A trustee of the Bradford County Historical Society for 21 years, Henry served as president for 10 years. He was president of the county historical society during the multimillion dollar conversion of the former Bradford County Jail to the State of the Art museum that is now operating in Towanda. In 2011 he is serving as president and as editor of the society’s quarterly publication, “The Settler,” a position he has held for many years. He is chairperson of the committee to plan the bi-centennial of Bradford County which will occur in 2012.

• He serves as a board member of the Bradford County United Way; he was the last president of the Valley United Way and a part of the group that merged the two county organizations to create the current agency.

• A Charter Member of the Sayre Historical Society, Henry served on the Board of Directors for 13 years, as president for three of those years. In 2002, Henry was involved in the plan to lease the former Lehigh Valley Passenger Station from Sayre Borough to the society for their hometown museum. In 2007, he also was instrumental in acquiring a $50,000 donation by Guthrie Healthcare to renovate and construct the displays for the museum’s first gallery to be named the Guthrie Gallery, thus jumpstarting the three-year plan, “Telling Sayre’s Story.” He retired from the Sayre Historical Society board at the end of 2008 to free up time to work on the upcoming bi-centennial of Bradford County.

• As a direct descendant of Captain Thomas Farley who fought in the Virginia Militia, Henry is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.

• He is a past board member of Penn York Opportunities, having served that agency for nine years. He is also a past board member of the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society.

• A member of the Bradford County International Management Council for 27 years, Henry was in the first group to complete the education and exam requirements to be called Certified Manager, a designation which he has held for the past 18 years. In 1993 he was named “Manager of the Year.”

• Henry is a member of the Quarry Glen Club in Towanda, the Sayre Elks, the Sons of Italy in Sayre and a member-at-large of the Loyal Order of the Moose since the closing of the Waverly Moose. He has been a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America, twice selected as its president.

A member of Epiphany Parish in Sayre, Henry is active there as a member of the Art and Environment Committee. He is an authority on Bradford County Roman Catholic history. In this capacity, he has been called upon by the Diocese of Scranton on several occasions to provide historical information that he has researched during his quest to preserve the history of the Irish immigrants to Bradford County during the days of the construction of the North Branch Canal. His family has been members of Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in Towanda since it was founded in 1841.

A firm believer in preservation, in his free time, Henry can usually be found doing research for historical events or stories, many of which he has contributed to the local newspapers for the enlightenment of the public.

In recognition of his long standing interest in and contributions to the Sayre Historical Society, the Board of Directors of the Society announced the naming and dedication of the museum’s meeting/community room as the Henry G. Farley Community Room.