Page 20—SUSQUEHANNA BULLETIN
Adam and Eve
Sweethearts
It was March when Leona
Speicher’s family moved to
Johnstown, Pa., and she
entered a sixth grade class
of pupils who all knew each
other but to whom she was a
total stranger.
Although she didn’t no-
tice him on that first day of
school, Frank Rogers notic-
ed her. He especially
noticed her long black hair.
It wasn’t long before
Leona became good friends
with Frank’s sister. Then
Leona and Frank not only
saw cach other in school but
also 2‘ his house after
school.
In a few weeks Leona and
Leona and Frank
sweethearts.
They're still sweethearts
more than twenty years
later.
There were a couple times
when they stopped ‘‘going
steady.”” Frank wanted to
get aquainfed with some
other girls, or thought he
was depriving Leona of the
chance to get to know other
boys. But those break-ups
didn’t last long. After every
agreement to stop seeing
each other Frank came back
to Leona—as soon as she
went out with another
fellow.
“I'll die an old maid”’
When Leona was only
thirteen she told her mother
marry Frank, I'll die an old
maid.”’
They got more and more
serious about each other.
After Frank got a driver's
license when he was six-
teen, he started taking
Leona out in his car. One
night they were parked in
his car on a hill overlooking
a lake. They both were tired
and fell asleep in the car.
When they awoke it was
3 a.m.; Leona’s mother was
upset when Leona came
home close to four 0’clock.
Married at 17
Their parents weren’t so
keen about their deepening
romance.
But love has an irresist-
Frank and Leona quit
school and were married
when they were seventeen.
The wedding, a simple
ceremony, was paid for by
Frank, five dollars to the
preacher, which left him the
sum of S50 cents for
beginning his marriage.
Economic problems
A year after their wedding
they had a daughter, Janice.
Unfortunately, Janice was
born with club feet, which
required expensive medical
care and special shoes to
correct.
To pay all the bills Frank
worked as a carpenter’s
helper, helped his father-in-
law by driving a truck, and
spent three hours every day
mining coal. His pay for coal
mining was enough coal to
heat his family’s house.
When he heard about a
good-paying job in Buffalo,
N.Y., Frank moved his wife
and daughter there. The job
only lasted six months,
however, and he was unable
to take a good job his new
employer offered him in
Arizona, because Leona was
about to have her second
child. The Rogeres got back
to Johnstown three days
before their second daugh-
ter, Hazel, was born.
Helps father-in-law
Three years after their
marriage Frank and Leona
had Donna and next, Susan.
They were still paying
medical bills for Janice
when Susan was born.
Again, Frank was working
at three different jobs.
When his father-in-law suf-
fered a heart attack, Frank
kept Mr. Speicher’s busi-
ness going until he recover-
ed six months later.
‘Not many sons-in-law
would do that,” Leona says.
She adds, “But it worked
both ways. They helped us
too when we needed it.”
Frank got a better paying
job, but it was out of town,
so that he could see his
family only on weekends.
Neither Frank, Leona, nor
their four daughters liked
that schedule.
When Leona’s brother
found out that Pennsylvania
Malleable in Landisville,
Pa., was hiring, he and
Frank came to Lancaster
County, and both took jobs
here.
A pretty town
Frank had noticed a pretty
town nearby which looked
like a nice place to raise a
family. It was Mount Joy,
and Frank and Leona’s
brother went to the Bulletin
office to ask where they
could find a temporary
room. ‘‘A nice lady’ (Ruth
Rainbolt?) told them that
Mrs. Barbara Fellenbaum
was renting rooms.
It wasn’t long before
Leona’s brother found a
house in Manheim, and
Frank rented a house on
Main Street from Jay
Lonaw.
A new life
Frank brought Leona and
their four daughters to their
new home, which he had
furnished with bunk beds
and a borrowed lamp. They
moved here just in time for
Janice, her feet perfectly
straightened now, to start
kindergarten at Grandview
School.
The family joined Gloss-
November 5, 1975
brenner United Methodist
Church.
A new life had begun for
the Rogerses.
For their four daughters,
Mount Joy is the only home
they can remember.
Janice and Hazel now
attend Donegal High
School. Their principal, Mr.
Donald Drenner, was their
parents’ biology teacher at
Conemaugh Township High
School near Johnstown.
Frank and Leona now own
their own home on Main
Street, a double house;
Leona’s parents, John and
Hazel Speicher, live next
door.
On their vacations the
Rogeres camp and see the
U.S.A. The girls are good
water skiers.
“God made us for each
.other”’
Leona Rogers does not
want her daughters to marry
as young as she and Frank
did. She says that there
aren’t many early marriages
which last.
But she never once
doubted that hers and
Frank's marriage would
last. Not even during those
early years when the going
was ‘‘tough’ did she ever
doubt. “We never gave up.
We stuck it out.”
“We tried to raise the
girls the right way. That’s
the most important thing.”
Asked why she and Frank
became attached to each
other when they were so
young, Leona says, ‘‘God
made us for each other...We
loved each other.”’
Her daughter Janice,
listening, murmurs, ‘‘I think
that’t cute ”’
Frank were childhood very seriously, “If I don’t able momentum.
In 1908, Mount Joy Vo-tech was the Brenneman farm
Mount Joy Vo-tech stands on the site of the old
Brenneman farm. Mel Hoffman, grounds maintainance
man at the school, lent the Susquehanna Bulletin this
picture of his grandfather's baler—separator at work on
the Brenneman farm.
The Hoffmans did custom work on area farms for many
years. Mel’s father, Harvey G. Hoffman, still owns a
mint—condition steam baler.
The picture above was taken in 1908. The equipment
includes a 1895 model T steam engine, an Eli baler and a
Peerless seperator.
Mr. Brenneman is at far right. Mr. Hoffman is standing
on the baler.