(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part 1 of a 2 part series)

TURBOTVILLE — A century will have passed this October since the Turbotville Community Hall was completed and dedicated in 1922. Recently, many gathered the week of June 6 through the 11 to see and hear the history of the hall honoring 33 local WWI veterans.

Some attendees, especially those related to the late veterans, may have had feelings of deja-vu, contemplating if they occupied the same seat or walked on the same floor as had their relative.

Nightly, the hall opened with displays provided by locals, as well as the Endless Mountain War Museum from Sonestown.

One visitor was heard to say, “the hall is like visiting a museum. Its rare for private family collections to see the light of day.”

Programs over three evenings included: the hall’s history; accounts of the lives of several local veterans; and General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s participation in the Great War.

On Tuesday Leon Hagenbuch spoke of the hall’s history conveying as to the cost, involvement of individuals and businesses, along with a synopsis of events held at the hall during ensuing years.

Hagenbuch said, “Except for churches, the Turbotville community had no space large enough to gather.”

The hall provided extra space for the nearby Turbotville-Lewis School, having a cafeteria, additional classrooms, and an auditorium hosting the  North-Mont High School graduations, the final one being the class of 1958.

The site served as an exhibition area for the Turbotville Fair Association, civic organizations, scouts, alumni banquets, reunions, wedding receptions, the borough’s polling place, and hosted Red Cross blood drives.

By the 1990s, the deteriorating hall brought talk of demolition. The citizenry mobilized by establishing the Turbotville Community Hall Corporation, a group to oversee restorations, make improvements and additions.

VETERANS’ BIOS SHARED

Thursday’s program revisited the lives of several local veterans. Cynthia Pfleeger spoke of her great-uncle, Dr. G. Walter Muffley; Leon Hagenbuch’s shared information on his grandfather, Lester Laidacker; Donna Yoder’s told of her grandfather, Edwin Cromis; Carl Bieber with a biography of his uncle, William Wilbur Bieber; Tom Benfer’s represented his grandfather, Ralph Baylor. John Marr referenced fatalities listed on the hall plaque including Lester Boyer and Earl Mohr. Also, he spoke of John Reynolds, Raymond Miller, Dr. Burgess Gibson, and fatality, Nurse Helen Fairchild.

Ralph Baylor, grandfather of Thomas Benfer, a farrier with the 314th Infantry, shod horses and mules. Dealing with a kicking, defiant mule, Baylor did away with the animal, replacing it with one from a nearby company. As the equines had serial numbers stamped on their hooves, Baylor was obliged to give the replacement steed the mule’s number.  

Benfer said, “It was rare for veterans to talk of their war experiences. I was 14 when my grandfather began sharing stories with me. ‘Mud and blood’ was his general overview of the war.”

EISENHOWER AND THE FINALE

From a cylinder placed on an antique table top Victrola, came the the sounds of “Over There.” The WWI era song was shared by John Bower of Watsontown. Following the interlude, Bower introduced his son Daniel Bower, a researcher at the Carlisle War College. The uniformed feature speaker, told of Dwight D. Eisenhower and his assignment to Camp Colt at Gettysburg. He was to oversee the newly established tank corp.

The finale, a tribute to “Flanders Field,” was made by Boy Scout Troop 622 of Turbotville. A drummers cadence announced the scouts as they marched single file to the front. A spray of poppies was laid at the foot of a white military cross. Poppies are a symbol synonymous with the Great War. The poem “Flanders Field,” was penned by Captain John McCrae, a Canadian doctor serving at a hospital in Belgium. Looking out over a cemetery where a colleague was recently interred. MacRae’s poem  has been set to music with one of various renditions sung at the hall’s observance.   

The event’s planning committee included Leon Hagenbuch, June Kline, Loretta Mabus, Allen Neyhard, Cynthia Pfleegor, Carol Shetler, Betsy and Randy Watts, and chairman John Marr.