John Edward Engle

I was born in Thomas, Oklahoma, on February 18, 1939. My father was teaching at the Jabbok Bible School, and my parents were good friends of Kenneth and Esther Hoover. The doctor arrived shortly after I was born in the Hoover's apartment, and my parents loved to tell me the story, emphasizing their worry that I took my time in starting to breathe. Several months later, when the school term was finished, my parents moved to Campbelltown, Pa., where my brother James was born in 1940.

The first home that I remember was in the tiny village of Upper Lawn, in the southwest corner of Lebanon County, Pa. My memories of this home include my brother James going to the doctor to have stitches for a bad cut, sister Marilyn's birth in 1942, and later, of a frantic search for Marilyn who was calmly sitting on some steps behind the house. I remember walking to visit the Lawn School with a neighbor girl who was in first grade, and wishing that I could be in school too, and I must say that I always enjoyed school.

In September 1945, we moved to a farm on Route 117, near Colebrook, and several weeks later, sister Joanne was born. I started school that fall at the Lawn School, and with the exception of part of a year in the Campbelltown School, had my entire elementary education there. In the summer of 1950, my father spent 10 weeks in Europe as an assistant leader of a work tour. While he was gone, my mother told me that we would have a new brother or sister in December. After I told her that she should write the news to Daddy, she assured me that he already knew. And that's how I found out about Eugene. In 1951, I finished eighth grade and enrolled in the Hershey High School. Throughout elementary school, I took piano lessons, which I really enjoyed.

I don't remember very much about Grandpa Kreider, but I have many memories of Grandma Kreider, my aunts and uncles, and my cousins. We often visited with Grandma Kreider, Uncle Ethans and Uncle Herberts in Campbelltown. Ray had paper cars, cut out of brochures from the local Chevrolet dealer (Millers). We would make play money, and buy and sell these "cars". Visiting Uncle Herberts and playing with Dale was memorable. We frequently visited Uncle Joes in Adams County. Several summers I spent a week or so there and observed farm life first hand. I remember the music they played for the cows to help them "let down" their milk. Ronnie had a wonderful collection of books, and I think I read all of the Sugar Creek Gang books there. I rode my bicycle from our farm to Campbelltown to mow the yard for Grandma, after which she served me delicious lemonade.

In the summer of 1953 and 1954, I lived with Uncle John and Aunt Anna and worked on their farm near Elizabethtown. I helped with milking, haying, the wheat harvest, and tomato picking. They had several migrant workers from Puerto Rico, and I enjoyed learning Spanish words and phrases from them. Henry was home and was very kind to me, but he was a great tease. We had tomato fights, in which we threw ripe or over-ripe tomatoes at each other. Lois Jean and I would play the piano, and I enjoyed the hymnals and oratorio scores in that house. The Brethren Hymnal had nice hymns that were not in the B.I.C. hymnal, and I especially remember "Lovely Appear Over the Mountains" from Mendelssohn's Elijah. Aunt Anna always made sure that we were well fed. However, one time when Uncle John and Aunt Anna were away Henry and Lois Jean cooked a groundhog and led me to believe that it was chicken, since I had declared that "I would never eat a groundhog". Well, the trick worked, and I told them the "chicken" was delicious. Henry never let me forget that story.

At Hershey High School, I made good friends. Cousin Ray was the quarterback for the football team and was a track star. Dale was in the band. I enjoyed my four years in the High School Chorus. My favorite teachers were Viola Dietrich for English, Joseph Rhen for Latin, David Chestnut for French, and Eugene Herr for Chemistry. In April 1954, when I returned from a high school exchange with Newton, Massachusetts, my exchange partner and I visited my mother in the Hershey Hospital. That's when I first saw Richard.

I was baptized in a stream near Palmyra while in High School. We attended the Palmyra Brethren in Christ Church, with Sunday School and church services in the morning, Sunday evening youth group and church service. On Wednesday nights we went to Prayer Meeting, and I remember many times when songs were sung in German, as well as the testimony time.

During my senior year in High School, I bought my first car, a green 1939 Pontiac coupe, for $75. I have many fond memories of that car. The summers after my junior and senior year, I worked in the shipping department at Continental Press, where Daddy was the foreman. My thoughts turned to college, and since I had received a scholarship to Lebanon Valley College I was planning to attend there, along with cousin Dale. However, about two weeks before school started, I was visited by Dr. C. N. Hostetter, Jr., who was President of Messiah College. He encouraged me to attend my own denomination's college, and promised to look into a half-tuition scholarship. After thinking long and hard about this, and as I recall, without pressure from my parents, I decided to attend Messiah.

At Messiah, there were only about 35 students in our freshman class. My roommate the first year was Wayne Cassel, and the second year was Ron Stoner. I was good friends with David Eshelman, and through him got to know Ruth Anna Lady from Kansas. Ruth and I were "going steady" by the end of the first semester and were inseparable during the rest of our two years at Messiah. We both enjoyed music and sang in the Choral Society. We toured with the Choral Society both years.

Because Messiah College did not offer four years in pre-med or elementary education, we transferred to other colleges. Ruth returned to Kansas to complete her studies at Emporia State Teachers College (now Emporia State University). I studied at Elizabethtown College, where I majored in biology and chemistry. I lived at home, and remember getting up early in the morning to milk our cow before driving to school. I had a part-time job cleaning printing presses at the Continental Press, and enjoyed the income from that. Ruth and I kept in close touch by mail.

After graduation, I entered medical school at Temple, and Ruth taught at Franklintown, Pa., for a year. On June 18, 1960, we were married in the Zion Brethren in Christ Church near Abilene, Kansas, and made our home in Philadelphia near the medical school. Ruth taught first grade in Elkins Park, going to work by bus, as we had no car at that time.

In 1963, after finishing medical school, we moved to Lancaster, Pa., where I completed a one year rotating internship at the Lancaster General Hospital and Ruth taught second grade at the Buehrle Street School. We were neighbors to my Grandma Engle, and Aunts Alma and Marion Engle who were obstetrical nurses at LGH.

After my internship, Ruth and I served under the Mennonite Central Committee in Whitesburg, Kentucky, from 1964 to 1966, and stayed there an additional year on our own. This I-W service fulfilled my military obligation. I worked as a family physician in the Daniel Boone Clinic, and Ruth taught school in Eolia. After we adopted Jennifer and Susan, Ruth stayed at home to take care of the family. The work there in Appalachia was very interesting, and we made good friends with others who were working there, as well as with people in the community.

In 1967, we left Kentucky and moved to Palmyra, Pa., where I spent three years in family practice with my Uncle Harold Engle and Glenn Hoffman. During this time the new medical school at Hershey was built. The medical school's decision to not allow local family doctors to be on the staff prompted me to return to Temple in 1970 for a two-year residency in internal medicine. We lived in Willow Grove, north of Philadelphia. Following this, we moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where I completed a two year fellowship in nephrology, the subspecialty of internal medicine that deals with kidney diseases. It was during my time there that Congress passed a law entitling patients needing dialysis or kidney transplant to qualify for Medicare benefits. This greatly increased the number of patients who were able to obtain treatment, and there was a great need for specialists in this field.

From 1974-1979 our family lived in Hershey, Pa., where I was on the faculty of the Pennsylvania State University at the M.S. Hershey Medical Center. My colleague and I set up the new dialysis unit there and it was an exciting time to be in medicine. We attended the Derry Presbyterian Church. Ruth and the children made many good friends there. However, I was forced to look for a job as I was unable to obtain grant funding for my research, and thus was denied tenure in the Medical School.

So, in 1979, I took a job in Waterville, Maine, as the first nephrologist in a fine community hospital. Ruth and the girls were sad to move to Maine at the beginning of November, changing schools and leaving friends behind. It was to be the last of many moves for our family, and eventually we made new friends and put down roots in this small New England city. The dialysis unit grew and after a few years, I was able to recruit a colleague. We were and continue to be active in our local Congregational Church, United Church of Christ. I retired in 2001, at the age of 62, and although I enjoyed my years in medicine, in a variety of settings, I was glad to be finished with the responsibilities of night and weekend call. My patients and staff were great, and I have many fond memories of this time.

Ruth and I enjoyed camping and backpacking with the girls. Later we had the opportunity to travel in Europe, as well as Africa. I became very interested in learning about my Engle and Kreider ancestors and this lead to studying German to read the old church records and court records about these families. After I retired, I studied Russian at Colby College in our city. I became involved with a sister city relationship with Kotlas, Russia, which Ruth and I visited in 1996. We hosted various visitors from Kotlas in our home over the years.

Ruth has been active in volunteer work and crafts. We enjoy hiking and snowshoeing.

Jenny graduated from the University of Vermont, and worked in banking until seven years ago when she accepted a position in media relations with Fidelity Investments in Boston. We enjoy visiting her there, and take advantage of the Boston Symphony and the Red Sox baseball team. Susan worked for American Airlines in their reservation center in Hartford, then in the travel industry, and now works for the UBS financial firm in Hartford. So our family is now all in New England, and it's good to have the chance to be together several times a year and during holidays.