last employed as a machinist with the Celanese Corporation in the Cumberland area.
He died in 1971 and his wife died in 1992.
Theodore Joseph (“Josie") Wallace, born February 1899, died at the age of
about three.
Kathryn Ann Wallace, my mother, was born April 22, 1901. Some of the
events of her life, my views and attitudes concerning her and her influences on
me are described elsewhere in these reminiscences. In summary, she married
Charles Webster Rohrer in 1920; they divorced in the early 30’s. She married
G e o rge Michael Habig January 17, 1945; he died April 4, 1953. She married
Albert Dexter Hunter January 7, 1956; he died September 25, 1957. Kathryn
died November 1, 1992.
Francis J. (“Bud") Wallace was born in 1904. He attended Saints Peter and
Paul’s elementary school. As a young man he worked as a carpenter, a steel mill
worker and as an apprentice baker. For 38 years he was a firefighter, retiring as a
captain. He and his wife, LaVerna Karns, who were childless, then moved to
Bradenton, Florida, where he died in 1983. He was a president of both Cumberland’s
and Bradenton’s Eagles fraternal organizations and a member of the Elks club of
Cumberland. He was an avid hunter and fisherman and performed most of his own
household carpentry.14
His wife died in about 1985.
Margaret Josephine Wallace was born August 6, 1905. She was a graduate of
Saints Peter and Paul’s school and of the commercial program of the affiliated
Ursuline Academy. She worked in the offices of the Peoples Life Insurance Company
and the Kelly Springfield Tire Company, both in Cumberland. She studied voice
under the Ursuline nuns and sang for many years in Saints Peter and Paul’s choir. She
married Benjamin Aemmer in 1939 and moved to Akron, Ohio, returning to
Cumberland after her husband’s death. They had no children. She died in 1981.
George Anthony (“Pete") Wallace was born December 28, 1907. He finished
elementary school at Saints Peter and Paul’s and went on to LaSalle Institute in
Cumberland until the eleventh grade, when (according to one of his sisters) he got
into trouble with some other boys and was suspended and refused to return. He got
a job and at some point bought a Maxwell, the first car in the Wallace family. As a
young man he was in amateur boxing. For most of his life he was employed by the
Celanese Corporation in its fabric dying department, becoming a foreman. He
worked for a period with Celanese in Mexico City. Later he was transferred to
Hopewell, Virginia, then Charlotte, North Carolina, in supervisory positions. He was
married to Ruth Bageant of Cumberland and their children are Janet (m. Francis
58
14 Cumberland Evening Times article, Local Fireman Retires after 38 Years’ Service, March 27, 1968.
