By Gil and Sondra Parthemore

George Bruaw and Mary Elizabeth (Prowell) Parthemore

The Parthemore family and staff congratulate our hometown of New Cumberland on its upcoming 175th Anniversary. We are so proud that this wonderful community has been home for five generations of Parthemores! While our family history here does not go back to 1831, we wanted to share with you some of the Parthemore Family's experiences getting a start and growing up in New Cumberland.

Gilbert Jacob and John Alfred Parthemore

Gil:
The Parthemore family first came to New Cumberland in 1914, starting with my grandfather, George Bruaw Parthemore, originally from Fairview Township in York County. He, along with my father, Gilbert Jacob, and my uncle John Alfred, opened a dairy. G.B Parthemore and Sons Dairy offered door-to-door service by a horse-drawn milk wagon. The wagon bore the slogan, "Yours to Love. Ours to Protect." and was pulled by a horse named Old Joe. The wagon would follow the streetcar tracks and served the communities of New Market, New Cumberland and Lemoyne. Unfortunately, in 1939 Old Joe perished in a fire in the barn where he was kept. Two horses and an additional wagon followed, until eventually the horse drawn wagon was replaced by a milk truck.

G.B Parthemore & Sons Milk Truck

Sondra:
Both Gil and I were raised in New Cumberland. (Park Avenue divided uptown and downtown, and uptown was the newer section). As you can imagine in a small town, you knew a lot of people and everyone knew you, so you couldn't get into a lot of mischief.

Gilbert Walter Parthemore

Gil:
Things were very different from today. New Cumberland had a streetcar until the late 1930s – the turnaround for the street car was at Bailey Street to Carol Street right off Bridge Street. And then Valley Bus came into town. When we were growing up New Cumberland's population was 3,500. My high school graduating class in 1952 had 84 kids. Because of being a smaller town, there was an emphasis on personalized service. In the 1930's, 40's and 50's, the grocery store clerks would do your shopping for you, selecting the cans and produce after you told them what you wanted. The town doctors were also very important. Back when Sondra and I were growing up there were three doctors in town: Dr. Walter Burgin, Dr. Harry Brooks and Dr. William Dietrich. They held office hours from 7:00am to 1:00pm and then made house calls. Office hours resumed from 5:00pm to 8:00pm and afterward they made some more house calls.

Sondra:
There was also a strong sense of public service among the community. We were all very active during World War II. My father was an air raid warden, and he made sure everyone had lights out and that we were using the black out blinds. Unfortunately, New Cumberland lost two men in Pearl Harbor (13 died in World War II).

Gil:
Also, the kids would look for scrap metal at the local dump to aid in the war effort. If you collected enough you would get into the movies for free. They would also save enough stamps to fill a book to get a bond.

Sondra:
New Cumberland was also a wonderful place to start our family business. Gil was 15 when he first starting working at the cemetery – cutting the grass and digging graves. Years later, in 1968, we bought what is now Parthemore Funeral Home. Originally built in 1928, it had been a funeral home from 1949-54 and had been owned by Raymond Atland. The community really welcomed us. While we were getting the home ready, people would stop in and help us with painting or scraping off the many layers of wall paper. We held our first funeral before we even had the carpet laid.

Gil met with the families, and I worked behind the scenes, handling flower arrangements, writing the obituaries and tending to other details. When there was a viewing, I would greet the visitors, while Gil worked to direct and park the cars.

Gil:
Our son Gib was nine when we moved into the home, and he became interested in the business right away. And his brothers, Bruce and Steve, followed soon after.

Sondra:
The people here have always been warm and friendly. Back then, New Cumberland High School and the churches played a big part of everyone's lives, including the children's, and formed the hub of the town. Gil played in the Sunday School Orchestra and sang in the Choir. He was also a member of the New Cumberland Town Band, which was founded in 1946 as the American Legion Post 143 Band. Today the town continues to be very supportive of youth activities. Gil was the commissioner and president of New Cumberland Youth Baseball and and of New Cumberland Youth Football. Gib is a coach for New Cumberland Youth Baseball. And many of our eight grandchildren are active in youth sports. We all think it's a great place to raise the next generation of Parthemores!