I’ll be sharing the life of a very interesting Tyrone area resident with you in this issue. She’s someone who’s endured one century of living and still smiles when she looks back in time. The person I’m describing is Esther (Irvin) Miller — who’s experienced more in one lifetime than anyone I’ve talked with.
Esther’s grandfather was William David Irvin, whose family came to America from Holland settling in the Janesville area. William met and married Amanda Carolina Harf, who was born in Janesville. Amanda’s ancestors were of Dutch and German descent and lived on the ground her great-grandfather bought when he came to this country. The area once was known as the German Settlement and was located above where the Tyrone reservoirs are today.
Esther’s father was William David Irvin Jr. He was an engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad until it was discovered that he was color-blind, forcing William to choose another line of work. He decided to open a plumbing business in Tyrone.
Esther’s mother was Elizabeth Forcy, who also was from Janesville. After she and William married, Elizabeth became a homemaker and the mother of six children.
Esther was born on September 16, 1901 and was Elizabeth and William’s fifth child. After high school, Esther continued her education at Juniata College and St. Francis School of Nursing.
Elizabeth and William lived on Pennsylvania Ave., near the paper mill (where the Blair Square housing development is presently located) until 1907. They then moved to 455 Park Ave.
Esther’s full name is Gulie Esther Irvin. She told me her father named her Gulie after his first love, Gulie Flinn. His old girlfriend jilted him to become a nun. Esther recalls her mother telling her about how William always carried a torch for Gulie, and when they had Esther, he pleaded to use his old girlfriend’s name.
Esther recalls her early days in Tyrone as full of fun. The Irvin children were involved in the same activities as most of the kids of that day. One activity they all enjoyed was the winter sport of ice-skating. When the Little Juniata River became frozen, the kids on Park Ave. went ice-skating from 9th St. to a pond in Grazierville.
Esther remembers going to Granny Irvin’s farm on Janesville Mountain for summer vacations. Esther loved the country life on the farm and never wanted those summers to end.
Horse and buggy was the mode of transportation used in Esther’s early life. Later came the trolley that went from Tyrone to Bellwood and to Pemberton. When the automobile became popular, Esther was one of the first women in the area to learn how to drive.
She and her siblings attended the Park Ave. School, later known as the Washington Elementary School. Esther went there from first through eighth grade and then to high school on Lincoln Ave., graduating in 1920 with high honors. She was a very good student and, at times, taught Mr. Ralph Wolfgang’s class when he needed her to. Esther was somewhat of a tomboy and was involved in many school sports. She played basketball for Tyrone High.
Esther told me that before there were streetlights, a man would drive a wagon around town hanging up oil lanterns. Esther still has one of these old oil lanterns. She also recalled that after darkness settled in over town, the “street fakirs” would move in and set up their wagons. They were peddlers.
After finishing high school, Esther taught in the one-room schools at Gypsy Camp Hollow and Northwood and went to Juniata College in the summers. After completing one year of credits at Juniata, Esther went to the St. Francis School of Nursing, in Pittsburgh, where she specialized in maternity and psychiatry.
She returned to Tyrone in 1922, taking an internship position with Dr. William Lowrie, whose office was located on the corner of 9th St. and Washington Ave. Esther served as office girl, chauffeur, and nurse for the doctor. She helped to deliver many babies in Tyrone and at times delivered them herself when the doctor was delayed at another home. Esther fondly remembers Dr. Lowrie; the two were very close. In 1923 he died in his attending nurse Esther’s arms.
On September 28, 1924 Esther married Jesse Dayton Miller, better known to many in town as “Hap.” They honeymooned in Alliance, Ohio. Hap owned the Park Avenue Auto Service, where he sold and repaired vehicles of all makes. Esther did the bookkeeping for the business.
When Esther married, she also became an instant mother. Hap’s two children, Rhoda and Gerald, had been living with their paternal grandparents on the J.M. Miller farm, located between Tipton and Fostoria. The new family lived together above the service station business at 450 Park Ave.
On May 13, 1933 Esther gave birth to her daughter, Yvonne Eleanor Miller. Esther then slowed up with some of her outside jobs for a few years to enjoy her little girl nicknamed “Bonnie.”
While working at the auto service one day, she met a very interesting and famous woman — Amelia Earhart. This was a chance meeting for two reasons: (1) at that particular time in the summer of 1928, the trolley tracks on Washington Ave. were being replaced, which meant that traffic had to be rerouted down Park Ave. past the Miller’s service station, and (2) Amelia’s chauffeur was one of Hap’s old friends and he often stopped at the service station when he was in town. Esther doesn’t recall the friend’s name but did remember that he lived in Williamsburg. The friend’s car pulled up to the gas pump and out jumped Amelia to use the rest room. Esther smiled as she was describing the visitor who looked like a tomboy with a head full of curly hair.
Esther didn’t like a woman to use the station rest room since it was used mostly by men, so she took Amelia upstairs to use their facility. She invited Miss Earhart to have lunch with her. The two free spirits talked a great deal over lunch. Esther learned that Amelia’s purpose of being in the area was for the dedication of the new Stultz Airfield (in Tipton, where PPG now is located) on July 18, 1928. After this meeting Esther and Amelia became friends; she was very sad when her friend was lost on that famous flight around the world.
Esther’s life moved on as her children grew up. Rhoda married Barron Gunsallus and moved to Bellwood. Gerald went into the army after high school making it a career. While stationed in Africa, he met the famous German field marshal, Erwin Rommel. Gerald was given a ring belonging to Rommel, which he gave to Esther. Bonnie married Paul Cameron Ward on August 27, 1966.
Hap was eleven years older than Esther, and he had a hard time keeping up with her. Esther went to the Penn State football games with her friends and to dinner-dances after the games at the Nittany Lion Inn. On one of these outings, Esther met Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower. Dwight’s brother, Milton, was president of the university during the early 1950s. Esther saw the Eisenhowers on other occasions at Penn State and once in Gettysburg. On this occasion Esther and a friend drove a new car, which the Eisenhowers had purchased in Tyrone, to their home in Gettysburg. Before leaving that day for their return trip home, Mamie had tea with Esther.
After Hap’s passing in 1960, Esther moved from Tyrone to Janesville on ten acres acquired from the Westley Irvin homestead. Westley was her uncle and was known by many as “Pete.” Esther always wanted to move to the mountain, and now she would have her wish. With the help of her two brothers, Harry and Willis, she built her new home in the area where she loved to go as a child.
Esther was involved in many organizations, but the two she is most proud to have been a member of are as a charter member of the American Legion Auxiliary and as a life member of the Pennsylvania State Grange.
Esther and a group of granger friends bought a Winnebago motor home and traveled throughout the United States, touching all of the states except Hawaii. The most outstanding place she visited was the Mormon Tabernacle, in Salt Lake City.
Esther had the honor of meeting President Jimmy Carter at a friend’s home in Warriors Mark while he was there on one of his fishing trips. Esther and Jimmy chatted for awhile, and she invited him to come hunt on her property on Janesville Mountain. He accepted, and hunted there on occasion.
After Esther fell and fractured her hip in 1997, she was forced to leave her home. Esther now resides at Epworth Manor.
There was an interesting event that happened a long time ago that Esther’s family talked about — one that was told to her by her great-grandmother, Amanda, wife of Jaqker Campbell. A man was found leaning against the Jaqker Campbell home on the top of Janesville Mountain one bitter-cold, winter morning. The man had apparently wandered to the door of the Campbell home during the night, and due to the cold temperature, he froze to death. The Campbells didn’t know him, so they took him to Tyrone. The undertaker in town had an unusual way of trying to find out the man’s identity. He put the body of the deceased in the front window of the Miller Hotel and advertised in the area papers for someone to come claim the corpse. After a week, the Campbells retrieved the body and buried him on their property, but outside the gate of their family cemetery.
I haven’t met anyone quite like Esther, with her love of life. I thank you, Esther, for the privilege of hearing “your story.”
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