SANATOGA PA – Recent jottings from a reporter’s notebook:

Compassion Flies On Angel Wings, From Spring City To Johnstown

Until earlier this month, Stephen Pohlit, formerly a life-long resident of Johnstown PA, and Richard Simeon, who lives in Spring City, had never met. Then Pohlit, a 92-year-old veteran of World War II, developed an emergency need, and Simeon flew to his aid.

Literally.

Pohlit had lived on his own in the “City of the Great Flood” for decades until mid-May, when he became ill. The illness was debilitating, and he and his family members – they live in Reading – determined it was time he moved closer to them. They faced a problem, though: Pohlit would have difficulty making the almost four-hour, 196-mile trek by car from Johnstown.

Enter Simeon, a pilot who volunteers with Angel Flight East. A non-profit organization headquartered at the Wings Field airport in Blue Bell PA, it has about 350 member pilots in 22 states, and another 100 people who donate time on the ground.

Simeon clambered into his private plane July 1 (2012; Sunday) at about 9 a.m., and flew to Johnstown for an appointment to pick up Pohlit. They packed Pohlit’s belongings into the plane and him into a comfortable seat, and left John Murtha Johnstown Cambria County Airport only an hour later, at 10. Then they flew to Reading’s regional airport, Carl A. Spaatz Field.

Pohlit was in the company of his loved ones by 11 a.m., according to Judith Eckles, a spokeswoman for the national Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, who relayed the story to The Post. Simeon’s efforts shaved three hours off the trip.

Like all Angel Flight volunteers, Simeon covered his expenses himself: fuel, landing fees, time with his own family and friends. He and his colleagues most often serve as transports for men, women and children to reach specialized medical care, but Eckles said they occasionally fly compassion missions, too, like the one for Pohlit.

His family was delighted to see him and, of course, Pohlit and Simeon are strangers no longer.

• Watch a video (above) in which Angel Flight describes what it does and how, or see it on the organization’s YouTube channel, here.

Surely You Didn’t Expect Hanna To Take It Easy

Hanna Hartman

Retired Sanatoga banker Hanna Hartman isn’t. Retired, that is.

Yes, she left National Penn Bank in June after many years of daily service to the company as former manager of its Sunnybrook and downtown Pottstown offices. She and her staff provided financial services to tens of thousands of customers during her tenure. Hartman also spent countless hours as a community volunteer for almost every local organization of prominence you’d care to name.

You could definitely describe her as well-connected across greater Pottstown … which makes her a natural for her next career: real estate.

Sanatoga real estate broker Greg Herb, the head of Herb Real Estate Inc., 2500 E. High St., this month announced Hartman had become an associate with his firm. If you’d like to offer best wishes and congratulations, call her at 610-327-0900 Ext. 229, or send an e-mail to her, here.

By the way, real estate marketing is nothing new to Hartman. She’s been a state-licensed salesperson since July 2005.

Undoubtedly, It’s Not What Pop-Pop Expected

Conversation overheard Tuesday (July 17, 2012) while dining in the Hibachi Grill and Supreme Buffet at Upland Square Shopping Center, Pottstown.

Young girl: “I went to the Burr-er-town car museum last week, Grandpa.” (This, we eavesdroppers assume, is a reference to the Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles).

Proud grandfather: “You did? What did you do there?”

Young girl: “I finally touched something older than you!”

Editor’s note: Notebook Worthy is a series of occasional articles; find others like it, here.