Veterans memorial dedication kicks off Miles Township bicentennial events

Ed Mahon

REBERSBURG — Wearing a SpongeBob SquarePants T-shirt, Dylan Treaster, 7, ran his fingers along the granite monument.

CDT/Michelle Bixby

American Legion Keystone Post 444 of Millheim performs a 21 gun salute during the Miles Township Bicentennial dedication of the Veterans' Monument Sunday, July 5, 2009. CDT/Michelle Bixby

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He found the names of his great-great-great-grandfather, Jacob Hubler, several feet above his head. Another relative, World War I veteran Samuel Hubler, was within reaching distance.

Dylan was one of about 300 people to attend the kickoff to Miles Township’s weeklong bicentennial celebration Sunday afternoon. Community members dedicated a monument that honors all veterans, living and deceased, since the Revolutionary War. The three slabs, weighing 800 pounds each, bear the names of 388 veterans with ties to the township.

And there’s room for more.

“We need your help,” Jeff Wert told the audience during the dedication ceremony, which was followed by a worship service. Wert, one of the bicentennial committee members, said they’ve recently learned of at least 25 names to add to the monument.

Jack Fye, who moved to Rebersburg 15 years ago and served in the Navy from 1983 to 1987, is one of those names. He admired the structure afterward, spotting the names of neighbors and friends’ parents.

“When you recognize the names, it means a lot to you. It gives you more pride in your community and your country, too,” he said.

Bob Schultz joked that he’s old enough to be under the Civil War section. Schultz, who lives in the State College area, was drafted into the Navy in 1943, and served in the Pacific theater. He attended to see his wife’s father and brother be honored.

“They haven’t forgotten,” Schultz said.

Dylan’s grandmother was 16 years old, and riding a horse down Main Street, when the township celebrated its 150th anniversary.

“I remember the 1959 sesquicentennial, and I wanted to be part of this,” said Peggy Treaster, whose maiden name is Hubler. And although she now lives in Centre Hall, and gave up horseback riding, she’s pleased that some things remained the same in her hometown.

“I think it’s changed for the good,” she said. “It still has rural America.”

The ceremony and worship service took place at St. Peter’s Lutheran and Reformed Cemetery, across the street from Rebersburg Elementary School, where many of the guests attended. American flags marked the field. Among the speakers were Centre County Commissioner Jon Eich, state Rep. Mike Hanna, D-Lock Haven, and state Sen. Jake Corman, R-Benner Township. In a nod to the state’s ongoing budget deadlock, Corman said he’s had to work during the July Fourth holiday the past two years.

“Although we’re not done with our work yet, we did the get the day off today. So I’m thrilled to be here,” he said.

The Rev. Lewis A. Parks, a Mechanicsburg resident, spoke during the worship service about how he grew up working on his grandfather’s farm between Rebersburg and Millheim. They’d take wheat to Coburn and wool to Centre Hall.

He said the township’s first residents cleared the way, literally, for farming in Brush Valley.

“The people who came to this valley struggled with the brush and the thick trees and the rock. It took me a long time to realize on my grandfather’s farm that those limestone rock piles didn’t come with creation,” said Parks, who teaches at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. “They came from years and years of people picking rocks out of fields, and piling them up and clearing the land.”

Bernie Reider recalled being able to sled almost anywhere in the hilly valley, driving a Cadillac convertible during the 150th parade and playing baseball behind what’s now Rebersburg Elementary School. “Young Sammy Bierly always hit them over that roof, and landed right about where I’m standing now. He was the best player of my generation,” he said.

He moved to Jackson, N.J., in 1963 for a teaching job.

“I left Rebersburg, but it never left me,” he said.

Ed Mahon can be reached at 231-4619.