418 Peach Street, Erie Pa
The house at 418 Peach Street in Erie, Pennsylvania was built by
Milan Fletcher circa 1910. Milan's son was a military aviator in WWI who
died of influenza in the epidemic of 1923. When Milan died the home
passed to his wife, Maud (Boor) Fletcher.
When my paternal grandmother's husband, Jacob Openlander, died, my paternal grandmother, Mae (Boor) Openlander, moved to Erie to be with her sister. Then, when Mae's daughter and my aunt, Kathryn (Openlander) Gurwell, divorced her husband, Kathryn moved to the 418 house with her son LaVon.
Kathryn is my my father's sister.
In 1946 my mother, Francis (Riblet) Openlander, died of influenza in Cleveland Ohio. My father, Willard, then packed me up and moved to Erie and the house at 418 Peach.
Here's how the ownership proceeded: Milan to his wife, Maud. His wife to his wife's sister, Mae. Mae to her daughter Kathryn. Then in the mid 1960's, when the house was empty of all the roomers and relatives, Kathryn sold it to Gannon College where it is now a sorority house.
At one time or another there were up to nine people living at the house. My grandmother and her brother, Freedom Wayne Boor, my father, Willard, and his sister, Kathryn, Kathryn's son LaVon Gurwell, three room renters, one of them a nurse at the nearby hospital, and of course myself.
I lived at 418 from 1946 to 1951 and then intermittently weekends and summers from 1951 to 1961 when I moved to Chicago. During those years my primary residence was at 418 California Drive. In 1964 I married my wife, Angela and established a permanent residence in Chicago.
In the apartment house next to 418 there lived an older boy, Jon Gerbracht, whose father was an engineer at the General electric plant in Erie. Jon's father had held an amateur radio license in the early days of radio and his son picked up the hobby and bullied me into getting a license.
Said apartment house is now a small park.
Across the street, at 417 Peach lived my best friend, Pat Barron. Pat's father was an entrepreneur who owned an automated screw machine factory, the James T. Barron Company. The 417 Peach house is now a parking lot.
I listed the 418 address for my amateur radio license W3ELR and also as my residence when I registered for the draft in 1961.
When my paternal grandmother's husband, Jacob Openlander, died, my paternal grandmother, Mae (Boor) Openlander, moved to Erie to be with her sister. Then, when Mae's daughter and my aunt, Kathryn (Openlander) Gurwell, divorced her husband, Kathryn moved to the 418 house with her son LaVon.
Kathryn is my my father's sister.
In 1946 my mother, Francis (Riblet) Openlander, died of influenza in Cleveland Ohio. My father, Willard, then packed me up and moved to Erie and the house at 418 Peach.
Here's how the ownership proceeded: Milan to his wife, Maud. His wife to his wife's sister, Mae. Mae to her daughter Kathryn. Then in the mid 1960's, when the house was empty of all the roomers and relatives, Kathryn sold it to Gannon College where it is now a sorority house.
At one time or another there were up to nine people living at the house. My grandmother and her brother, Freedom Wayne Boor, my father, Willard, and his sister, Kathryn, Kathryn's son LaVon Gurwell, three room renters, one of them a nurse at the nearby hospital, and of course myself.
I lived at 418 from 1946 to 1951 and then intermittently weekends and summers from 1951 to 1961 when I moved to Chicago. During those years my primary residence was at 418 California Drive. In 1964 I married my wife, Angela and established a permanent residence in Chicago.
In the apartment house next to 418 there lived an older boy, Jon Gerbracht, whose father was an engineer at the General electric plant in Erie. Jon's father had held an amateur radio license in the early days of radio and his son picked up the hobby and bullied me into getting a license.
Said apartment house is now a small park.
Across the street, at 417 Peach lived my best friend, Pat Barron. Pat's father was an entrepreneur who owned an automated screw machine factory, the James T. Barron Company. The 417 Peach house is now a parking lot.
I listed the 418 address for my amateur radio license W3ELR and also as my residence when I registered for the draft in 1961.
Photographs and Obituaries
This page and its contents copyright 2012 Wayne Openlander and may be reproduced with proper credit.