After I graduated from high school I went to business school not far from
where Jeanette lived. Now alone since Ma’s death in January of 1940, she asked me
to come for lunch each Monday. I would, gladly. She made the best macaroni and
cheese! She undoubtedly knew then that she had breast cancer and was creating these
last opportunities to reminisce about the old days.
Jeanette had radical surgery but it was apparently impossible to stem the
cancer completely. A few months later her condition was terminal, irreversible. As
she lay dying, under sedation, her sister-in-law Florence was with her much of the
time, doing what she could to make her comfortable. The last time I visited her she
was comatose. I said a prayer aloud on the chance that she could hear me and perhaps
make the prayer her own. She had told me once that she believed “when a person
dies that’s it" - no afterlife. On January 13, 1941, she died.
In my diary I expressed my remorse in sentiments that I could not possibly
voice to anyone: She looks very beautiful in a white dress, lace jacket and orchid and
sweet-pea corsage from me. Poor Nets - some old memories are sure suggested by that
name!...I saw my “little Nets" for the last time on this earth today. In death, as in life,
she lies right next to her mother, dear Ma, in Rose Hill. What a day it was - cold, rainy,
s
l
u
s
h
y. Nets did like the snow, but not quite so inclement as today’s weather was.
v - George, Florence and Pershing Rohrer
Will and Claribel's firstborn, George
Lorenzo, was born February 11, 1891. Details
of his childhood and education are unknown,
but apparently he had adequate training to
serve first (before 1913) as a stenographer and
by 19l7 as treasurer of his grandfather L. D.
Rohrer's milling company.
In 1915, the "prominent young
business man," as he was described in the
local newspaper, married Florence Elizabeth
McDonough at his parents' home in
Cumberland. Florence was born in
Lonaconing, Maryland, a tiny town a few
miles from Cumberland, on May 11, 1895.
Her parents were Charles M. McDonough and
the former Sadie Berkenbaugh.
16
George Lorenzo Rohrer, CWR’s uncle.
