GEN 1: JOSEPH 1914, MARY 1919, CHARLES 1921 and JOHN HOLZINGER 1924

Joseph Rose Holzinger BIRTH 30 SEP 1914 • Annville Lebanon, Pennsylvania DEATH 17 JAN 1999 • Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania	Irene Lydia Girvin BIRTH 29 APR 1916 • Lancaster, Pennsylvania DEATH 17 MAY 2007 • Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Mary Holzinger BIRTH 30 MAR 1919 • Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania DEATH 19 MAY 1920 • Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Charles Henry Holzinger BIRTH 17 APRIL 1921 • Lancaster, Lancaster, Penn. DEATH 6 JANUARY 2013 • Lancaster County, Pennsylvania	Millicent Morgan Brott BIRTH 29 APR 1918 • Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut DEATH 17 JUL 2010 • Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
John Richard Holzinger BIRTH 28 JUN 1924 • Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania DEATH 24 JUL 1990 • Collier, Florida	Edith Elizabeth Walton BIRTH 11 DEC 1924 • Christiana, Pennsylvania DEATH 7 JUL 2006 • Fort Myers, Lee, Florida

Joe, John and Charles Holzinger

EARLY LIFE

The Rev. Charles Henry Holzinger and his wife Emily Rose Holzinger had four children: three sons (Joe, Charles and John) who lived to adulthood and a daughter (Mary) who died of pneumonia at the age of thirteen months. When the children were young the family lived at 727 North Queen Street in Lancaster, next to the Otterbein Church of the United Brethren in Christ where Charles Henry was minister until his death in February 1928.

In April 1930, according to the US Census, Emily and her boys lived at 203 Ruby Street in Lancaster, and Emily was not employed outside the home, however she served as a Sunday school teacher at the Otterbein Church for 51 years. Emily was also active in the Williard Chapter of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Emily’s sister Mary Rose (Aunt Mary) was listed as living nearby at 120 Ruby Street with their mother (Mary Emma Smith Rose) and was teaching school. At some point, Aunt Mary moved to 203 Ruby Street to live with her widowed sister Emily and her sons. In the 1940 US Census, Emily was still at 203 Ruby Street with the younger two boys. 

Brothers John, Charles, Joe and mother Emily Holzinger, c. 1935

MILITARY

Joe

John

Joe, Charles and John served in the military during World War II. Their mother Emily wrote them letters every Sunday night.

Joe was a lieutenant in the Navy and taught navigation while stationed in Portland, Maine and Asbury Park, New Jersey.

Charles

Charles was a captain in the Army with the 37th Infantry Division and fought in the Northern Solomon Islands and Luzon-Philippine campaigns. He met his wife Milly while serving in the Philippines.

John was a private in the Army with the 127th Airborne Engineer Battalion, 11th Airborne Division, that fought in New Guinea, Leyte, and Luzon.


EDUCATION

Joe earned a B.S. at Franklin and Marshall College in 1935, and a M.S. at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in 1948.

Charles attended Franklin and Marshall College before World War II and earned his Master's degree in anthropology from the University of Chicago in 1949.

John earned a B.S. in Education from Millersville State Teachers College in Lancaster County. He later earned a Masters in Education at Penn State in State College and an Ed.S. from the University of South Florida in Tampa.


CAREERS

Their father’s last will stated that the only two professions he wanted his three boys to consider were the ministry or teaching. All three became teachers.

Joe was Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy and Director of the Daniel Scholl Observatory at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Charles was Professor of Anthropology at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He was also curator of  American Indian archeology at the North Museum.

John was an industrial arts teacher in Pennsylvania and Florida and retired as the Principal of Bayshore Elementary in North Fort Myers, Florida.

SPOUSES

Joe married Irene Lydia Girvin on 22 Dec. 1939, in Lancaster. Irene was born in Lancaster and had attended the Otterbein Church of the United Brethren in Christ when Joe’s father was minister. Irene was the daughter of Alfred S. Girvin and Maud C. Herr. She had a brother John and a sister Beulah.

Charles met his wife Millicent “Milly” Morgan Brott during World War II while she worked for the Red Cross field offices in New Caledonia and in Guadalcanal. They married in 1946 and were active in the Lancaster Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Milly was the daughter of Irving and Olive Brott. She was born in Hartford, Connecticut, but grew up in Buffalo, New York. Her mother died when she was very young and she had a sister Cynthia.

John met Edith Elizabeth Walton when both were students at Millersville State Teachers College. Edith grew up on the family dairy farm in Colerain, Lancaster County, with her four brothers Lewis, Leigh, Harold and Kenneth. Her parents were Howard K. Walton and Alice L. Kirk. Her Quaker Walton ancestors settled in Byberry Township, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, in 1683. Edith taught elementary school until her retirement. John and Edith divorced in 1978.

CHILDREN

Joe and Irene had three children and lived in Lancaster at the 203 Ruby Street house when the children were young. They then moved to Landisville and finally to Newton Road near the college observatory.

Sylvan Retreat

Charles and Milly lived at Sylvan Retreat in the country west of Lancaster. Sylvan was a one-room schoolhouse they converted into their home, where they raised their five children and a bountiful garden.

John and Edith left Pennsyvlania in 1956 with their four young children and moved to Florida. They lived in Nokomis and Boca Grande before settling in Fort Myers in the early 1960s.

Charles, Joe and John c. 1925

The Three Brothers--Small (John), medium (Charles) and large (Joe)