Kratzer sisters, Part 2: Friends Judson Miller, Ann Sholter, Jane Hottenstein, Harold and Marjorie Roush, Charles Kantz
- Photos Without Families
- 5. Feb.
- 3 Min. Lesezeit
In my last blogpost I wrote about the Kratzer sisters from Shamokin Dam, Pa., whose family photos I was fortunate to snatch at an Instagram sale. Click HERE to read my previous blogpost.
But there were also many photos of the Kratzers’ friends in the photo lot. Let’s take a look at some of them, shall we!
The first friend is Judson Miller. I zoomed in on the plate number, it says “G-265-J Ohio”.
Was this Judson's car, and had he travelled from Ohio to visit the Kratzers in Shamokin Dam, in Sunbury, Pa?
Ohio was the key clue! Judson Miller was from Niles, Ohio. His father, Clyde Miller, had been born in Sunbury, Pa., where Judson visited his grandmother, Mrs. Albert Miller, every summer. This is likely how he knew the Kratzer sisters and how his photos ended up among the Kratzer family’s collection. He seemed to have been friends (or perhaps more?) with Amy Kratzer.
And then I found this in The Daily Item of April 12, 1945….
Oh, poor Judson! Such a brave and handsome young man… it's just heart-breaking. This photo of Judson might be one of the last ever taken of him, and I am honoured to share it with you so that his bravery will never be forgotten…
I have uploaded his photos to FindaGrave.com.
The next special person in the Kratzer family’s life, especially for Margie Kratzer, was Jane Cyrene Hottenstein, who was born on March 14, 1931, in Sunbury, Pa., to parents Franklin William Hottenstein and Daisy Burdessa (née Rebuck).
By 1940, the family had moved into the house at 209 Walnut Street in Shamokin Dam. Remember, the Kratzers lived at 212 Walnut Street at the time! So the girls were neighbors, and since Jane was an only child, she likely enjoyed the company of the Kratzer girls, especially Margie.
Jane married Robert Eugene Benner in 1952, but the couple divorced in 1970. They had three children. Jane passed away in June 1993.
I wonder if she and the Kratzer sisters remained friends for many years?
Then there were two photos of the Roush family.
The first one is labelled “Harold Roush“. “Roushie”, as he was called by his friends, was not hard to find. I will let his obituary published in The Daily Item of September 12,1997, tell the many interesting details about him. I will add his photo to FindaGrave.com.
The second photo of the Roush family in the Kratzer family collection is labelled “Roush girl“:
I wonder if she was Marjorie Roush, Harold’s sister. Looks like Marjorie E. “Toot” (Roush) Loudy passed away just a few years ago, in September 2018. There is a FindaGrave memorial for her. Her obituary, published in The Daily Item of September 30, 2018, also includes a photo of her:
I love that the obituary says she loved “birds, cats, dogs, and all animals” cause this one photo of her among the Kratzer family collection is one where she was holding a dog! I will add this photo to her FindaGrave.com memorial.
The next friend whose photo the Kratzers kept all these years was Ann Sholter. She was Nancy Kratzer’s friend and classmate at Shamokin Dam School.
Ann L. Sholter was the youngest child of Andrew S. Sholter and Laura (née Stiles). She was born in 1935, and her brother, Russell, was 12 years older. In 1940, Ann lived at 131 Main Street in Shamokin Dam.
Ann married Maynard Franklin Aungst and passed away in December 2021. According to her obituary, she worked as a secretary, bookkeeper, and business partner with her husband, owning the former Jersey Shore Hotel, the Ice House, and the Grey Stone Inn near Piper Field in Lock Haven.
She enjoyed reading, crocheting, caring for nature, and feeding deer in her beloved Pine Creek and Little Pine Creek valleys. Her obituary also includes her photo—still with that same smile!
The last photo shows a man named Jr. Kantz standing in front of a sign for “Chestnut Apartments.” I’m not sure who he was. Perhaps he was Charles Junior Kantz (1922–2007), born in Snyder, Pa., who married Amanda (née Reichenbach) in 1944.
Reichenbach is the same surname as the Kratzer sisters’ mother’s maiden name—was that the connection? I really can't be sure about this one, so I’ll leave it as is for now. Perhaps one day, we’ll know more!
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