SPRiNG 2009
Class Notes In order to ensure that your news will appear in a given issue, please submit it according to the schedule below:
Fall 2009 issue: June 15, 2009 Winter 2009-10 issue: october 15, 2009 Spring 2010 issue: January 10, 2010 Please send news to: Alumni Services Office P.o. Box 1002 Millersville, PA 17551-0302 Phone: 800-681-1855 Fax: 717-871-5050 Email: mualumni@millersville.edu online community: www.villealumni.com
CLASS NOTES
clock collector if there is one thing that George Schwab’s fascination with clocks has taught him, it’s that time goes on. As president of the Class of 1946, he is making plans for their 65th reunion in 2011, but admits pensively, “there are not many of us left. “No longer can we return to our alma mater on homecoming or Alumni Day and visit with our professors because they have all now gone to their last reward,” says Schwab. “instead we look at the many buildings that have been named in their honor.” Schwab looks back fondly to his days as a Millersville student. By attending summer school, he graduated in just three years, earning his bachelor’s degree with majors in industrial arts and in science. he earned his own tuition of a little less than $300 a semester by working as the student postman, serving as a student janitor in the elementary training school and by fixing clocks, radios and anything else that needed fixing for both classmates and faculty. when he graduated, he was hired as a science and shop teacher at Quarryville High School (later Solanco) for an annual salary of $1,850. After serving in the army in Japan under General McArthur, Schwab earned his master’s degree at temple University and took a position as assistant to the superintendent at Neshaminy School District in Langhorne, Bucks County, Pa. he later became the business administrator of the district and retired in 1988. he and Joan, his wife of 54 years, are thinking of moving to Florida where three of their four children now live, but one thing stands in their way. Or maybe 100 of them. Clocks, that is. he has been collecting clocks for some 75 years and isn’t sure what to do with all his wonderful clocks.
“My interest in clocks began when i was in elementary school. My grandmother had an antique mantle clock that no one could fix. i took it apart, cleaned it and reassembled it only to find that it worked perfectly,” recalls Schwab. “At Millersville, the master clock in President Biemesderfer’s office controlled the secondary clocks in the Old Gym, the training School, the dormitory, Old Main and the elementary school. it was a challenge, but i was able to get them all synchronized and working.” he recalls how Miss Powell, dean of women, was horrified when she discovered Schwab taking the grandfather clock in the women’s lounge apart—until she realized he had fixed it perfectly. his roommate was less than impressed with Schwab’s love of clocks. the constant ticking and striking the hour of Schwab’s many clocks kept him awake, so that Schwab finally had to turn them off at night. George Schwab may be retired, but he keeps very busy. Each year, he accompanies some 100 junior and high school teens on a church mission trip, doing construction projects in places such as Nova Scotia and Mississippi. Deep down, he is still a teacher at heart. A teacher who appreciates the steady ticking of time.
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