New Brighton remembers favorite son

Residents of Beaver County are remembering Ray Tannehill as a “local guy made good.” The longtime KDKA-TV (2) anchor and reporter died in New Mexico on Wednesday night after a heart attack at age 73.

Bob Bauder of the Beaver County Times says Tannehill moved West only last year to be closer to his children, but never forgot his roots in New Brighton, where he kept a running tab at one local restaurant for a man who couldn’t afford to pay the bill. One Christmas he anonymously bought groceries and gifts for a family that had fallen on hard times.

“He would never tell you about those things,” Tannehill’s former KDKA colleague, Mary Robb Jackson, tells Bauder. “Ray would never, ever draw attention to something like that.”

The New Brighton High and Geneva College graduate worked in radio in nearby Youngstown, Ohio, before breaking into television.

Funeral services were private and were held in Santa Fe, N.M., where Tannehill’s daughter lives. In addition to his daughter and son, Tannehill is survived by his wife, Catherine.

(Hat-tip: Pittsburgh Radio Nostalgia)