Looking Back at Homer and Irene’s 60th Wedding Anniversary

Love grows more tremendously full, swift, poignant, as the years multiply – Zane Grey

On December 21st of this year, Linda and I will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. Because of my precarious health the last eight years, I wasn’t sure I would get there. But, here we are only a few months away. We are hoping to have a small immediate family celebration. This article is about a milestone wedding anniversary, although not for Linda and me!

On March 22, 1939, my parents, Homer Hagenbuch (b. 1916) and Irene Faus (b. 1920) were married. It wasn’t a church wedding and only a few people attended. They had “sparked” since 1937. After their wedding, they moved to a small farm near Limestoneville, Pennsylvania. That location made sense, since several farms in that area were owned by Hagenbuchs. They rented the house from a cousin.

By 1953, they had four children: Barbara, Robert, David, and Mark and lived on a farm that actually abutted where they first “took up housekeeping.” Dad farmed, Mom kept house, we children grew. In 1964, they decided to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. I was 11 years old and remember very little of that day. I do remember that they received a lot of silver (plated) wedding gifts like trays, tea pots, and salt and pepper shakers.

Their 50th wedding anniversary came up in 1989. An additional twenty-five years makes a big difference as now we four children were married and had children of our own. The anniversary event was held at our family church, Oak Grove Lutheran. Again, I can’t say I remember a lot of details about that day. I know there were many people who came for the buffet meal catered by the church ladies. My mother wanted a head table where she, Dad, and her mother, Minnie (Hilner) Faus (b. 1889) sat and looked over all their guests.

Mom and Dad were feeling very fortunate in 1999, when they could celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. This time it was to be held at their home near Montandon, PA. We children and the older grandchildren helped our parents get the house and yard in order for a large crowd where they would be served cake, ice cream, and some other snacks. Invitations were sent out and on that day, by my count, 119 people were present to celebrate a milestone in my parents’ life! Dad was 82 years old and Mom was 79. They were still healthy and spry. It was a perfect-weather day on June 20, 1999.

My sister, Barb, was lucky enough to find the sign-in book for that day. And, as you recently read, Andrew has digitized videos which are from that era. As a result, we have a list and video evidence of who attended. Looking through the video for the first time a few weeks ago, I could identify more than 80 of those people attending. Once I had the list of attendees from the sign-in book of names, I could identify almost everyone.

The following are key moments from the 60th wedding anniversary video, the minute/second when each appears in the video, and details about the friends and family who are on screen. Skip to the end of this article to watch the full video.

Hiram, first cousin to my father, lived on the same farm that his father, Franklin Walter Hagenbuch (b. 1890), had owned which was located near Oak Grove Lutheran Church. Stanley’s father, Cyrus (b.1905), is a first cousin to my father. Cyrus and his wife Cleota (Marr) (b. 1914) lived on a farm close by Oak Grove Lutheran Church. Stanley was featured in our first article in October 2014. He recently died. Hiram’s father Franklin (b. 1890), Stanley’s grandfather Percy (b. 1880), and Homer’s father Clarence (b. 1889) are brothers.

Bob is Homer’s eldest son and my brother. Mary is Homer’s youngest sister and was married to Grendon Taylor (b. 1927), who passed away in 1992.

Butch Shuler is married to Kathleen (Robb) Shuler  (b. 1952), daughter of Florence (Hagenbuch) Robb (b. 1925), who is Homer’s sister. Justin is the son of Gary, whose father is Charles Hagenbuch (b. 1915), eldest brother of Homer. Charles and his family lived in Massachusetts. Joe is the son of Florence and John Robb (b. 1924) and he is Homer’s nephew. Joe, Gary, and Butch (through marriage) are my first cousins.

Ann is the wife of Stanley Hagenbuch. Tom Huffman, who died in 2021, was married to my sister Barbara (Hagenbuch) Huffman (b. 1941), daughter of Homer and Irene Hagenbuch. Larue is the son of Raymond Hagenbuch (b. 1896), whose father, Joseph Hagenbuch (b. 1852), is the brother of Hiram Hagenbuch (b. 1847), grandfather of Homer. Homer and Larue are 2nd cousins.

Tom is Homer’s son-in-law. Bob Chaapel was a neighboring farmer to my family, when we lived near Limestonville, PA. Bob and his wife, Phyllis, were very good friends of Homer and Irene Hagenbuch and our families.  With other neighboring farmers, we shared many summer picnics together. Here, Tom and Bob are certainly talking about farming!

As mentioned, Larue and Hiram are cousins of Homer. Ralph Swartz was a neighboring farmer who lived just south of Limestoneville, PA. He and his wife, Mamie, were good friends of Homer and Irene.

Married couple, George and Fran, always attend the Hagenbuch Reunion, Fran being in charge of the “adult games” (“guess the candy in the jar” and so on). Fran’s father is William “Billy” Hagenbuch (b. 1924), a first cousin to Homer and a brother to Hiram Hagenbuch.

Harold Sechler has had several articles written about him, although he is not a Hagenbuch. Harold and his first cousin, Myron Cromis (b. 1918) are first cousins of Homer. Harold’s father and Myron’s mother are siblings of Homer’s mother, Hannah (Sechler) Hagenbuch (b. 1889).

Randy Durlin was my best friend when I was growing up, as his family had a neighboring farm. His parents, Bob and Lois Durlin, were steadfast friends of my parents, Homer and Irene, along with the Chaapels and other neighboring farm families. Picnics, card parties, square dancing, and similar events were the social occasions that were an important part of farm life.

Brad Faus is the son of Elmer Faus (b. 1936), youngest brother of my mother, Irene (Faus) Hagenbuch (b. 1920). George Bower was a very good farming friend of Homer, who had his hands and part of an arm taken off in a corn picker. George and his wife Hattie were staunch members of Oak Grove Lutheran Church. George taught the adult Sunday School class for many years. Unlike many folks his age, he had a college education. When I went off to pursue my undergraduate degree at Lock Haven College, he sat me down and gave me good advice. After retirement, my father, Homer, would visit George at least once a week. My father missed him greatly when George died in 2007.

Tom Huffman, Jr and Butch are looking at one of Tom’s Silver King tractors, which he collected at one time. The Silver King had been owned by Bruice Hagenbuch (b. 1913), son of Homer’s uncle Israel (b. 1883). Tom is the son of Tom Sr. and my sister Barbara (Hagenbuch) Huffman.

Mildred and Gladys are sisters, their parents are Harvey (b. 1901) and Annie (Hilner) (b. 1900) Gardner. Annie is a sister to Irene’s mother, Minnie (Hilner) Faus (b. 1897). Mildred, Gladys, and Irene are first cousins and were all good friends, especially Mildred and Irene. As a boy, my mother and I would often visit with Mildred at her home in Jerseytown, PA.

As for Irene and Ken: Irene (Runyan) (b. 1919) was first married to Luther Hilner (b. 1906). Luther is the youngest brother to Irene’s mother, Minnie (Hilner) Faus and according to Irene, her Uncle Luther and Aunt Irene were her favorites! Uncle Luther Hilner died in 1987 and Aunt Irene was remarried to Ken Leighow.

Lera was married to Lee Hagenbuch, Sr. in 1946. Lee (b. 1924) is Homer’s youngest brother, and he died in 1985. Lera was remarried in 1987 to Larue Hagenbuch, Lee’s 2nd cousin.

Mamie was the wife of Ralph Swartz, and they owned a farm just south of Limestoneville, PA. Mamie was a very close friend of Irene. They worked together as cooks in the California (Limestoneville) Elementary School for several years.

Louise Clark is the sister to the Durlin men (Bob, Bill and Fred) who were all neighboring farmers and close friends of Homer and Irene. She is the aunt of Randy Durlin.

Edith and her husband, Jimmy, were good friends of Homer and Irene. “Ede” and Jimmy lived near Geisinger Hospital, Danville, PA. Edith was Homer’s 8th grade teacher before he dropped out of school to help his family on the farm near Limestoneville, PA. Edith, Jimmy, Homer, and Irene would spend one day every year at the cottage of good friends, Nevin (b. 1913) and Ruth (Eyer) (b. 1916) Rovenolt. The cottage was located near Orangeville, PA along the Briar Creek. As a young woman, Irene worked at Ruth’s parents’ general store in Turbotville, PA. My mother, Irene, also worked for Edith’s parents at one time: Nathaniel “Than” (b. 1877) and Harriet (Lazarus) (b. 1887) Keefer. The Keefers are also family with Israel (b. 1883) and Minnie (Keefer) (b. 1886) Hagenbuch.

David is my brother and the son of Homer and Irene

As written earlier, Harold Sechler is a first cousin to Homer and lived with his first cousin, Myron Cromis, on Myron’s family farm near Washingtonville, PA. Robert Sechler is the oldest brother to Harold. He was a World War II veteran and was highly respected by Homer. In fact, Homer and Irene’s son, Robert “Bob”, is named for Robert Sechler.

Melitta was the wife of Lee, Jr. Lee’s parents are Lee, Sr. and Lera (Laidacher) Hagenbuch, making him a nephew of Homer, and my first cousin. Sadly, Lee Jr. sadly died of cancer in 2012 within a few days of Homer’s death.

Hazel was married to Howard who was one of Irene’s brothers. Uzinus (Howard’s middle name) is his grandfather’s name (Uzinus Zacharias Faus [b. 1867]), and Howard’s father’s name is Odis (Odis Guy Faus [b. 1899]) which is my middle name. Uncle Howard and I would tease each other by me calling him “Uzinus” and he would call me “Odis.”

Elmer Faus is the youngest brother of Irene. Scott is his son, along with Brad. David’s granddaughter, Taylor, is the daughter of Jennifer (Hagenbuch) (b. 1976) and Scott Blakely.

Carey and Crystal were married in 1985. Carey is the son of Clyde Hagenbuch (b. 1920) and Jean (Ulrich). Clyde is a first cousin to Homer. Clyde’s father is Hiram “Harry” Hagenbuch, Jr. (b. 1886), a brother to Homer’s father, Clarence (b. 1889). Carey is my 2nd cousin. Phyllis Chaapel is the wife of Bob Chaapel. As written previously, the Chaapels were neighboring farmers to Homer and Irene, part of the group of neighbors who were often together for summer picnics.

There are so many other people that I wish I had the space to write about that appear in the video: my mother-in-law Ethel (Brandt) Gutshall (b. 1918); Irene’s sister Catherene (Faus) Lowe (b. 1922); good church friend Lavona (Pursel) Robenolt (b. 1932) and her family; church friends Roger (b. 1931), wife Esther (Cotner) Payne, and their son Randy; and many more.

Without Andrew’s work digitizing this 25-year-old video, it would be impossible to view moments from a day that surrounded Homer and Irene with so many of their friends and family. Yet this video—an important family record—is so much more than its visuals. It captures the voices, gestures, fashions, relationships, and conversational topics of people we knew and loved.

Not only must we preserve and identify photos for future generations, but we must now save videos that document our lives too. As in so many other aspects, we Hagenbuchs are fortunate to add more family history items to our growing archives.