Mildred Jane Riggeal 1 2 3
- Born: 31 Dec 1905, Orrtanna, Adams, PA 1 2 3
- Marriage (1): Owen Herbert Bucher on 25 May 1942
- Died: 16 Jan 2004, Gettysburg, Adams, PA at age 98 1 2 3
- Buried: McKnightstown: Flohr's Lutheran Church, Adams, PA 1 2
Another name for Mildred was White.
FamilySearch ID: LW1Y-4LQ.
General Notes:
This story was written by Mildred's grandson: Seth Bucher Ritzman
My grandmother was born December 31, 1905 on a country farm along OrchardRoad between Cashtown and Orrtanna, PA. She had two brothers and fivesisters and she was number five. Her full name is Mildred Jane RiggealBucher, but everybody called and still does call her "White" because ofher hair. All of her other brothers and sisters had dark hair like theirfather, while Grandma and her mother both had light hair. She said thatthe dark hair came from an Indian ancestor. She liked her position inthe family, but Grandma said it didn't matter because they were alltreated alike. Grandma said the things she most remembered doing wasgoing fishing on Ascension Day, having picnics with two other families,and the family reunions her famiy would have where all their relatives onboth sides of her family would come to her family's farm.
There they would hitch up a two horse wagon with hay, put a blanket onthe floor and two stools along the sides. Then they would go toCaledonia, which is a state park near Chambersburg. Sometimes they had asix person toboggan at school and they could get only one ride in perrecess because on that sled they could travel a half mile or more. Herfirst chore was to shut the chickens in at night. While she did this shewould wear a red scarf. An old rooster would get after her because hedidn't like her in the red cap. To get away from him she would go aroundthe back of the coop and come in the back door of the house, but therooster would be right on her tail. When she got a little older she alsohad to "slop the hogs."
Grandma's family was not exactly poor, but when one person,(who wasusually her brother Bill, the oldest) got something they all had toshare. For example, they all learned to ride a bike on the same bike,and when Bill got his Lightning Glider sled, they all used it.
She said when she was young all the kids were made to work, unlike today. They wre all taught a trade. She was taught to sew and to quilt. Shesaid all the children had to work in the fields and the job she dislikedthe most was pulling weeds. She got a penny for each dozen of weeds thatshe pulled. One thing that stands out in her memory was going to churchevery Sunday. Grandma's family would take a two seated surry. Herparents, the baby and the second youngest sat in the front, the rest ofthe family sat in the back, using the stools. Once they got to churchthe family would take up two entire pews and they weren't allowed to turnaround. If they did, they would get snapped behind the ears. Anotherthing that stands out is their Christmas recital at church. On the nightof the recital they would take off their long underwear and winter boots,and they would put on their summer dresses and summer shoes to put on theprogram because everyone wore white and that was their white dress. Toaccent their dresses they would wear a big ribbon in thier long hair.
My grandma's first school was a one room school house with anywherebetween 50 and 65 students ranging in age from five to eighteen ornineteen. The name of the school was Bingaman School, and her firstteacher was Miss Nellie Starner and she was afraid of her. Grandma saideverybody was afraid of Miss Starner, because she would walk up and downthe isles. While in school her favorite subjects were English, Readingand spelling. She enjoyed working with English because she felt thatbreaking apart sentences was a good way to learn to read. She felt thatmath was her hardest subject because she couldn't understand how muchwallpaper to use for a room of a certain size, and she also couldn'tunderstand word problems. Sadie Hartman stands out as one of her mostremembered teachers because she got grandma ready for her high schoolentrance exam. Grandma was proudest of passing all her classes so shecould go on and teach. In high school, grandma enjoyed pole vaulting,and in college she enjoyed field hockey. Also, in elementary school theyplayed a version of stick-ball.
The only thing that grandma regrets is that because she lived so far fromGettysburg High School she could never go to any school activities oreven to the library, because when school let out they had to go home withtheir ride or be left behind.
When she was at Shippensburg College she and a bunch of her friendswould go to the movie or play tennis. My grandma chose teaching as acareer because thirteen other girls from her high school class went intoteaching and she says she didn't know of anything else. In 1926 Grandmagraduated high school and went to Shippensburg for nine weeks. Shetaught the remainder of '26 and the summer of '27, when she went toElizabethtown College for three weeks and then back to Shippensburg foranother nine weeks. She taught the rest of '27. In '28 she went her fullyear to college. Her first two years of teaching were in a one roomschool house and for one of those years she had two make the fire forherself.
During the summer she would work in the fields for fifty cents a day, atthe Graeffenburg Inn for five dollars a week, take care of older peopleto repay famiy favors or as a waitress she worked at Piney Mountain Innfor five dollars a week. People from the city would come to these inns.To make extra money she would take care of the kids if the people hadany.
She taught at New Oxford for three years, then at Cashtown for threeyears, then at the Sanatorium for four years. She didn't teach thenuntil '51 because her husband didn't want her too. In '51 the Cashtownprinciple couldn't get a substitute and grandma was asked to substitute.She then substituted for twelve years. She said she never had a badclass, but some of the kids wre just pushed along through the grades.
Her proudest accomplishment was to see some of the people she taughtgraduate for most of them didn't. Another fulfilling thing was recentlyone of her former students came back and invited her to their sixtiethclass reunion this summer. She would not advise young people today totake up teaching because there is no discipline and the teacher doesn'tget any respect from the kids.
Grandma says that she likes the middle of the day best now because shecan't do anything before about ten in the morning. She says that she hasno favorite season and she likes them all. She likes to eat soup andsandwiches, chicken, and stove top stuffing.
The modern convenience she appreciates most is the indoor bathroom,because when she was young they had to take the lantern along with themto the out house and they were always scared so a whole troop would endup going to the out house. She also greatly appreciates the electriclight.
Grandma is an avid genealogist, she enjoys her sewing group, homemakers,senior citizens, fire auxiliary, and her church. She likes to readnewspapers, quilting magazines, and her Sunday school book.
She has been in all the states except Maine, North Dakota, Alaska andHawaii. She most enjoys picnic, parties, sewing, and visiting withfriends.
Her eighty fifth birthday party is her most memorable recent experience.Her personal psychology for getting along with people is not to argue.Believe what you think is right but you don't have to voice it. Shedoesn't think that in elementary schools they should have as many thingsthat take away from thier class time, also that the teacher should havemore support from the administration in administering discipline to thekids. She believes that Sunday should be kept holy. She would like toteach kids to sit up, not slouch and to walk standing up straigt. Shealso says that kids shouldn't chew gum in church. Her advice for youngkids is to respect your elders and to speak when you are spoken to.
Noted events in her life were:
1. Residence: in 2000 in Cashtown, Adams, PA. 3
2. Obituary: The Gettysburg Times on 17 Jan 2004 in Gettysburg, Adams, PA. Children: Metha R. Williams and Mary E. Ritzman. Predeceased: by husband, Owen H. Bucher; and 7 brothers and sisters, Hilda Andrew, Esther Diehl, Hazel Kimple, Mary Cole, william Riggeal , James Riggeal, and Inez Riggeal. Interment: Flohrs Cemetery, McKnightstown, PA.
Mildred married Owen Herbert Bucher, son of George B. McClellan Bucher and Sarah Catherine E. Deardorff, on 25 May 1942. (Owen Herbert Bucher was born on 19 May 1907 in Cashtown, Adams, PA,1 2 4 died on 23 Sep 1985 in Cashtown, Adams, PA 1 2 and was buried in McKnightstown: Flohr's Lutheran Church, Adams, PA 1.)
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