Life Story

John Springer was born in Lock Haven in 1926.  His father and mother William and Ilse emigrated to the United States from Germany following the end of WWI.  His family moved to Philipsburg in 1928, residing at a house no longer there,  on 4th Street below Spruce.  In 1932, William purchase the property at 130 N. Centre St. from the estate of Frank Webber.  After significant renovations to the property the family moved there in 1933.  His father had become the owner and operator of Philipsburg Marble & Granite in 1930.  John was a musician in the Philipsburg HS band and orchestra, achieving a first chair in clarinet.  He became active in Boy Scouts and as a young scout was involved with the scrap metal drive which his father was the head of in Philipsburg during WWII.  Scouting was the ultimate joy of his life and he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in 1944 in a time when few Scouts reached this goal.  He enlisted in the military upon graduation from high school in 1944.  He was initially in a pilot training program at Gettysburg College, but due to medical issues was unable to complete the training.  He was sent to San Antonio, TX, where he became an airplane mechanic in the Army Air Corps.  He specialized in radio equipment which he would later use to land a job with Electric Supply after the war.  He was in route to England when the war ended and became part of the Army of the Occupation.  While stationed in Germany he visited the concentration camps and attended the Nuremburg trials with his friend Ken Dahlgren.  Upon returning to Philipsburg in 1947, he landed a job utilizing his radio repair skills from the military to become the repairman that brought vacuum tubes to your house to repair those early radios and televisions.  In 1948, he married Barbara (George) Springer.  The wedding reception was held in the ballroom of the elegant Hotel Phillips.  Initially they lived in the Laundry Apartments on 6th St.  In October of 1950 a son Paul was born.  In 1951, John and Barbara built a house at 102 S. 9th St.  Much of the work on the house was performed by John, Barb and their friends.  In the late 1950s, after the closing of Electric Supply, he worked for Irwin's Stationery repairing office equipment and selling office supplies.  In 1959 his father William retired from Philipsburg Marble & Granite and John took the business over, operating it until he was forced by cancer to retire in 1984. John loved the beach and all of his adult life vacationed at Ship Bottom on Long Beach Island, NJ.  In 1972, John and Barbara had a European vacation that they took along her sister Judy Beskett and her husband Joe.  They also took numerous trips with friends to Florida in the winters.  During the late 1960's and through the seventies, he enjoyed the new sport of snowmobiling.  Many winter afternoons found a large group of friends riding snowmobiles at Jonse's camp at Black Moshannon.  In 1980 he became a grandfather when his son Paul, and his then wife Barbara, became the parents of Dana. He became the most devoted of Opas, who found an excuse almost every day during the short time he had with her to visit Dana. He was active in the Presbyterian Church, where he served as a deacon and a trustee, Philipsburg Chamber of Commerce, Boy Scouts, and the Philipsburg Rotary Club where he was the organizations secretary and treasurer for many years.  In the spring of 1984 he was diagnosed with Multiple Myloma, a fatal diagnosis at that time.  He passed away in January of 1985.  He was a good Christian and a wonderful man, father and grandfather.