Family Farm

In recent weeks, I have had the pleasure of showing off our county to nearly two dozen foreign visitors. They hailed from China and Germany, two very different cultures, but what struck me was the similarity of their questions. Their first question was the state and fate of the family farm. What did the future hold for the family farm and would such a thing survive? While the question was the same, the view point was different. You need to remember China has a communist form of government and Germany being in Europe is more environmentally minded.

Obituaries NOTE: herald-mail.com publishes the obituaries that run in The Morning Herald edition. To view previous obituaries, please see our archives section. Sunday, October 19, 1997 Edition Walter F. Misner WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Walter Francis Misner, 83, of 208B Elder Ave., died Friday, Oct. 17, 1997, at Quincy United Methodist Home. Born Nov. 11, 1913, in Tomstown, Pa., he was the son of the late Almay and Rebecca Welsh Misner. He attended Quincy area schools.

With spring, tractors return to the fields and with them arrives a fading conflict of contrasting lifestyles - the slow, rural pace of our agricultural heritage up against a rat race of harried people who are so busy that a few minutes spent behind a piece of farm machinery can send them around the bend. We say the conflict is fading because the rats are winning. Agriculture is becoming a large-scale industry in sprawling complexes, while the storied family farm is in danger of extinction.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Chambersburg School Board member Robert Helman on Wednesday produced three bills and a copy of a canceled check indicating that his family farm had paid for work done at the Franklin County Career and Technology Center. At the Thursday, Oct. 27, meeting of the career center's Joint Operating Committee, Marlin Wagner of Chambersburg produced copies of three bills totaling $1,219.92 he said he received anonymously. Wagner said the three bills were not among the six the center had turned over after he and Carl Barton of the Chambersburg Area Taxpayers' Association filed a Pennsylvania Right to Know request for all unpaid vouchers from committee members.

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. - Daryl E. Cowles will seek re-election to a second two-year term to the West Virginia House of Delegates. In 2006, Cowles was elected to the state Legislature representing the 51st Delegate district, which covers most of Morgan County and a portion of Hampshire County. "Although the state government is moving in a positive direction, there remains much work to be done," Cowles said in a news release. "Tax reform and stimulating the West Virginia economy are critical to improve the daily lives of our citizens, especially in the Eastern Panhandle.

JULY 25, 1925-FEB. 2, 2009 BOONSBORO - Ralph Leon Jones, 83, of Amos Reeder Road, Boonsboro, went home to be with his Lord and Savior on Monday, Feb. 2, 2009, at Reeders Memorial Home in Boonsboro. Born July 25, 1925, at Zittlestown, Ralph was a son of the late Luther Martin and Mary Etta Long Jones. He had attended Park Hall School. Ralph had helped farm his family farm and was then employed by R.F. Kline in Frederick, Md. He retired in 1992 as a custodian at Boonsboro High School.

MARCH 2, 1914-JAN. 2, 2011 Gareth S. Flook, 96, of Myersville, Md., went home to be with the Lord on Sunday, Jan. 2, 2011, at Meritus Medical Center, Hagerstown. Born March 2, 1914, in Myersville, he was the son of the late Jacob E. and Vergie I. Pettingall Flook, and was the last surviving member of his immediate family. Gareth attended the New Well Ministry Church in Myersville. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, as a construction worker, he helped build the Washington National Airport, Pennsylvania Turnpike and U.S. 40 in the Frederick County area.

Lorraine A. (Baker) Baechtel, 84, of East Wilson Boulevard, Hagerstown, passed from this life Monday, Sept. 19, 2011, at Meritus Medical Center near Hagerstown. Born April 24, 1927, in Downsville, Md., she was the daughter of the late Raymond L. and Lillian R. (Davis) Baker. Lorraine attended the old Fairplay School and Boonsboro High School. When she was younger, she worked on the family farm in Tilghmanton, Md., and later was employed as a presser at the Londontown Corporation factory in Boonsboro.

MAY 29, 1929-MARCH 11, 2009 CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Betty E. Sollenberger, 79, who had been living with her daughter and son-in-law, Mary Alice and James Eaton of 4625 Railroad Road, and formerly of 3583 Buchanan Trail West, Greencastle, Pa., died Wednesday March 11, 2009, at her home. Born May 29, 1929, in Chambersburg, she was the daughter of the late Edgar Bruce and Mary Jones Rupert. Her husband, Roy L. Sollenberger, died May 29, 2006. They were married Nov. 18, 1949.

The Maryland Farm Bureau has announced the hiring of Michael Amoss as a regional director in field services, covering Howard, Montgomery, Anne Arundel, Prince George's, Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's counties.  Amoss grew up on a family farm in Harford County, Md., and recently graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, with a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics. His farm bureau roots run deep as he has been involved in the Maryland Farm Bureau Young Farmer program, worked at the Maryland State Fair as a U-Learn Farm coordinator and a Dairy Bar manager, and interned with Maryland Farm Bureau assisting in the government relations and field services areas.