News

Tavern Founders Pass On....

2003 brought some bad news to the Tavern Family with the deaths of the Tavern founders John C, "Jace" O'Connor and Ralph Yeager.

Jace O'Connor recieved a petroleum and natural gas engineering degree from Penn State in 1938, Following service during World War II, Jace returned to Penn State for graduate work and lived at the Kappa Delta Rho fraternity, where he met Ralph Yeager. They became roommates and friends and soon discovered they both had a desire to open a restaurant. Thus, the beginnings of the Tavern Restaurant were formed. Their interest in music and art (aside from good food) is expressed in the collection of original Pennsylvania Town Prints and other antique items they collected and the music that is played at the Tavern Restaurant.

In 1980 Ralph and Jace decided to sell the Tavern to previous waiters Pat Daugherty and the late Bill Tucker, who had shown an interest in buying it for many years. After 32 years of developing and enlarging the Tavern, of collecting and framing the prints and collecting antiques, and of working on menus, the first era of the Tavern Restaurant was ended.

Their Obituaries

John C, "Jace" O'Connor died Thursday April 10, 2003.

Ralph Yeager followed one month later on Sunday May 25, 2003.

During their years at the Tavern, Ralph and Jace built up an extensive collection of Pennsylvania prints.

In 1986, they donated over 300 prints to the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State.