From Find a Grave Contributor AprylZA (47950867):
Beards necessary In North Atlantic, County Sailor Finds
It gets cold in the North Atlantic—so cold that most of the sailors try to grow beards, says Gunner's Mate Third Class Bruce Merlo Witmer, 629 West Main street, Palmyra, who has returned home on a 15-day furlough wearing a full, luxurious beard.
Witmer says he has helped to sink at least one submarine and on one return trip in his convoy eleven submarines were believed to have been sunk. As for a man's reaction when the warning signal is given, he says, "Your knees start to quiver as though nothing is there and your heart seems to go up in your throat."
One of two sailors on his ship allowed to wear his beard ashore, 22-year-old Witmer resembles a sea-faring man of old. Most of the men had merely stubbles, but as Witmer says, "If you have a full beard, you can wear it. A beard keeps your face warm—you can't laugh though when there's ice on it. In fact, it feels funny, because when you open your mouth the cold makes the hairs pull."
It seems the main trouble in a sailor's sporting a beard is the attention he gets from women. "Girls go crazy and whistle when they see a beard," Witmer says. The answer to that is an attractive wife, the former Verna May, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William May, Hershey R. D. 1. She says, with a note of hesitancy in her voice, mat she ratner likes the beard, but adds, "I'm glad to see him, beard or no beard."
Hunting Favorite Sport
Witmer, son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel E. Witmer, Hershey R. D. 2, hopes to be a taxidermist when the war is over, hunting and: fishing being his favorite hobbies.
Days aboard ship sometimes, seem long and sailors often get "channel fever" when they come into a port. The cure for that is a trip home because it's nothing more than a seaman's form of nostalgia. Being home, Witmer says, "I don't enjoy myself right because I'm afraid the time will go too fast."
His convoy travels in the Atlantic ranging from the jungles South America to the frigid seas of the north, Witmer tells of pushing icebergs for over two hours one day in February. "They're nothing like what you think," he says, "they look like rolled ice."
By the time a ship, is out to sea a while, Witmer says, "each man knows the other guy's life from beginning to end; everyone tells of funny coincidences and how he met his wife; stories are swapped from every port and by the end of a trip there isn't a story you don't know."
CLIPPED FROM Harrisburg Telegraph Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 18 Aug 1943, Wed • Pages 1, 18
Bruce Witmer
July 22, 1921 — Dec. 13, 1999
HARRISBURG - Bruce Witmer, 78, a longtime resident of Harrisburg, died Monday.
Mr. Witmer was an artist and craftsman. According to City Administrator Bruce Cleeton, "Many would have called him cantankerous and perhaps eccentric. Mostly, he was city treasure."
Cleeton also said that Mr. Witmer "had his opinions and was not afraid to share them," and added that "he will truly be missed."
Mr. Witmer's artistic talents led him in many directions, and he was best known for his meticulous construction of miniature buildings. Recently the Harrisburg Area Museum, began to build an addition to display some of his miniature creations, including the lodge at Crater Lake, Noah's Ark and many Harrisburg historic buildings.
Mr. Witmer made historically accurate street scenes of Harrisburg for hanging on walls, "like paintings made out of wood," said Cleeton. He also made wooden furniture, most including delicately connected inlays of cubes.
He also was known for his green thumb, growing flowers from bulbs and sharing them with others and providing bouquets for the reception counter at City Hall.
He joined others in planting bulbs along Highway 99E for several miles.
Mr. Witmer helped create the Harrisburg Area Museum and did most of the construction of the display building. He also helped build the decorative roof at the entrance to Meier and Frank in Valley River Center, Eugene.
A burial service for Mr. Witmer was this morning at Alford Cemetery. A memorial service will be at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Harrisburg Methodist Church. Murphy-Musgrove Funeral Home of Junction City is handling arrangements.
CLIPPED FROM Albany Democrat-Herald Albany, Oregon 15 Dec 1999, Wed • Page 11
A legacy in full bloom
Bruce Witmer died this winter, but his love of daffodils lives on
By Les Gehrett, Albany Democrat-Herald
HARRISBURG - Bruce Witmer died this winter, but a small part of his life is blossoming this spring along Highway 99E between Harrisburg and Halsey.
Witmer loved daffodils and in the last years of his life was the central figure in the planting of daffodils along the west side of the road.
Harrisburg resident Paul Cullop, a friend of Witmer's, said the planting effort was begun about five years ago by the Harrisburg Masonic Lodge.
"Bruce Witmer thought it was a good idea and joined the project," said Cullop, who also helped out with the planting. "Bruce would plant the bulbs in his yard. They would multiply, then he'd dig most of them up and plant them along Highway 99." Witmer, a longtime resident of Harrisburg, died in December at the age of 78. He worked as a carpenter, artist and craftsman. He was very involved in the formation of the Harrisburg Area Museum and built most of the display building.
The museum is working to add another building which will provide a home for Witmer's collection of miniatures.
Richard Peterson, a retired business teacher at Central Linn High School, knew Witmer for more than 20 years.
"He made miniatures of old houses that were once in town. He did an exact duplicate of the lodge at Crater Lake, built of wood. He made several trips down there. He counted the number of rocks in front of the building to get it right. He was a perfectionist in life," Peterson said.
Witmer hoped to plant the flowers all the way from Harrisburg to Halsey. He completed six or seven miles of the planting but didn't quite finish the task.
Cullop said some Halsey residents have taken up the mission and plan to finish the last mile or so this spring.
Planting the daffodils was part of Witmer's larger effort to make the world a better place.
"He gave an awful lot of himself to the community," Peterson said. "I think he was a great guy to know. There's not too many of them that you meet like that."
CLIPPED FROM Albany Democrat-Herald Albany, Oregon 24 Mar 2000, Fri • Page 1
Beards necessary In North Atlantic, County Sailor Finds
It gets cold in the North Atlantic—so cold that most of the sailors try to grow beards, says Gunner's Mate Third Class Bruce Merlo Witmer, 629 West Main street, Palmyra, who has returned home on a 15-day furlough wearing a full, luxurious beard.
Witmer says he has helped to sink at least one submarine and on one return trip in his convoy eleven submarines were believed to have been sunk. As for a man's reaction when the warning signal is given, he says, "Your knees start to quiver as though nothing is there and your heart seems to go up in your throat."
One of two sailors on his ship allowed to wear his beard ashore, 22-year-old Witmer resembles a sea-faring man of old. Most of the men had merely stubbles, but as Witmer says, "If you have a full beard, you can wear it. A beard keeps your face warm—you can't laugh though when there's ice on it. In fact, it feels funny, because when you open your mouth the cold makes the hairs pull."
It seems the main trouble in a sailor's sporting a beard is the attention he gets from women. "Girls go crazy and whistle when they see a beard," Witmer says. The answer to that is an attractive wife, the former Verna May, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William May, Hershey R. D. 1. She says, with a note of hesitancy in her voice, mat she ratner likes the beard, but adds, "I'm glad to see him, beard or no beard."
Hunting Favorite Sport
Witmer, son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel E. Witmer, Hershey R. D. 2, hopes to be a taxidermist when the war is over, hunting and: fishing being his favorite hobbies.
Days aboard ship sometimes, seem long and sailors often get "channel fever" when they come into a port. The cure for that is a trip home because it's nothing more than a seaman's form of nostalgia. Being home, Witmer says, "I don't enjoy myself right because I'm afraid the time will go too fast."
His convoy travels in the Atlantic ranging from the jungles South America to the frigid seas of the north, Witmer tells of pushing icebergs for over two hours one day in February. "They're nothing like what you think," he says, "they look like rolled ice."
By the time a ship, is out to sea a while, Witmer says, "each man knows the other guy's life from beginning to end; everyone tells of funny coincidences and how he met his wife; stories are swapped from every port and by the end of a trip there isn't a story you don't know."
CLIPPED FROM Harrisburg Telegraph Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 18 Aug 1943, Wed • Pages 1, 18
Bruce Witmer
July 22, 1921 — Dec. 13, 1999
HARRISBURG - Bruce Witmer, 78, a longtime resident of Harrisburg, died Monday.
Mr. Witmer was an artist and craftsman. According to City Administrator Bruce Cleeton, "Many would have called him cantankerous and perhaps eccentric. Mostly, he was city treasure."
Cleeton also said that Mr. Witmer "had his opinions and was not afraid to share them," and added that "he will truly be missed."
Mr. Witmer's artistic talents led him in many directions, and he was best known for his meticulous construction of miniature buildings. Recently the Harrisburg Area Museum, began to build an addition to display some of his miniature creations, including the lodge at Crater Lake, Noah's Ark and many Harrisburg historic buildings.
Mr. Witmer made historically accurate street scenes of Harrisburg for hanging on walls, "like paintings made out of wood," said Cleeton. He also made wooden furniture, most including delicately connected inlays of cubes.
He also was known for his green thumb, growing flowers from bulbs and sharing them with others and providing bouquets for the reception counter at City Hall.
He joined others in planting bulbs along Highway 99E for several miles.
Mr. Witmer helped create the Harrisburg Area Museum and did most of the construction of the display building. He also helped build the decorative roof at the entrance to Meier and Frank in Valley River Center, Eugene.
A burial service for Mr. Witmer was this morning at Alford Cemetery. A memorial service will be at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Harrisburg Methodist Church. Murphy-Musgrove Funeral Home of Junction City is handling arrangements.
CLIPPED FROM Albany Democrat-Herald Albany, Oregon 15 Dec 1999, Wed • Page 11
A legacy in full bloom
Bruce Witmer died this winter, but his love of daffodils lives on
By Les Gehrett, Albany Democrat-Herald
HARRISBURG - Bruce Witmer died this winter, but a small part of his life is blossoming this spring along Highway 99E between Harrisburg and Halsey.
Witmer loved daffodils and in the last years of his life was the central figure in the planting of daffodils along the west side of the road.
Harrisburg resident Paul Cullop, a friend of Witmer's, said the planting effort was begun about five years ago by the Harrisburg Masonic Lodge.
"Bruce Witmer thought it was a good idea and joined the project," said Cullop, who also helped out with the planting. "Bruce would plant the bulbs in his yard. They would multiply, then he'd dig most of them up and plant them along Highway 99." Witmer, a longtime resident of Harrisburg, died in December at the age of 78. He worked as a carpenter, artist and craftsman. He was very involved in the formation of the Harrisburg Area Museum and built most of the display building.
The museum is working to add another building which will provide a home for Witmer's collection of miniatures.
Richard Peterson, a retired business teacher at Central Linn High School, knew Witmer for more than 20 years.
"He made miniatures of old houses that were once in town. He did an exact duplicate of the lodge at Crater Lake, built of wood. He made several trips down there. He counted the number of rocks in front of the building to get it right. He was a perfectionist in life," Peterson said.
Witmer hoped to plant the flowers all the way from Harrisburg to Halsey. He completed six or seven miles of the planting but didn't quite finish the task.
Cullop said some Halsey residents have taken up the mission and plan to finish the last mile or so this spring.
Planting the daffodils was part of Witmer's larger effort to make the world a better place.
"He gave an awful lot of himself to the community," Peterson said. "I think he was a great guy to know. There's not too many of them that you meet like that."
CLIPPED FROM Albany Democrat-Herald Albany, Oregon 24 Mar 2000, Fri • Page 1
From Find a Grave Contributor AprylZA (47950867):
Beards necessary In North Atlantic, County Sailor Finds
It gets cold in the North Atlantic—so cold that most of the sailors try to grow beards, says Gunner's Mate Third Class Bruce Merlo Witmer, 629 West Main street, Palmyra, who has returned home on a 15-day furlough wearing a full, luxurious beard.
Witmer says he has helped to sink at least one submarine and on one return trip in his convoy eleven submarines were believed to have been sunk. As for a man's reaction when the warning signal is given, he says, "Your knees start to quiver as though nothing is there and your heart seems to go up in your throat."
One of two sailors on his ship allowed to wear his beard ashore, 22-year-old Witmer resembles a sea-faring man of old. Most of the men had merely stubbles, but as Witmer says, "If you have a full beard, you can wear it. A beard keeps your face warm—you can't laugh though when there's ice on it. In fact, it feels funny, because when you open your mouth the cold makes the hairs pull."
It seems the main trouble in a sailor's sporting a beard is the attention he gets from women. "Girls go crazy and whistle when they see a beard," Witmer says. The answer to that is an attractive wife, the former Verna May, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William May, Hershey R. D. 1. She says, with a note of hesitancy in her voice, mat she ratner likes the beard, but adds, "I'm glad to see him, beard or no beard."
Hunting Favorite Sport
Witmer, son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel E. Witmer, Hershey R. D. 2, hopes to be a taxidermist when the war is over, hunting and: fishing being his favorite hobbies.
Days aboard ship sometimes, seem long and sailors often get "channel fever" when they come into a port. The cure for that is a trip home because it's nothing more than a seaman's form of nostalgia. Being home, Witmer says, "I don't enjoy myself right because I'm afraid the time will go too fast."
His convoy travels in the Atlantic ranging from the jungles South America to the frigid seas of the north, Witmer tells of pushing icebergs for over two hours one day in February. "They're nothing like what you think," he says, "they look like rolled ice."
By the time a ship, is out to sea a while, Witmer says, "each man knows the other guy's life from beginning to end; everyone tells of funny coincidences and how he met his wife; stories are swapped from every port and by the end of a trip there isn't a story you don't know."
CLIPPED FROM Harrisburg Telegraph Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 18 Aug 1943, Wed • Pages 1, 18
Bruce Witmer
July 22, 1921 — Dec. 13, 1999
HARRISBURG - Bruce Witmer, 78, a longtime resident of Harrisburg, died Monday.
Mr. Witmer was an artist and craftsman. According to City Administrator Bruce Cleeton, "Many would have called him cantankerous and perhaps eccentric. Mostly, he was city treasure."
Cleeton also said that Mr. Witmer "had his opinions and was not afraid to share them," and added that "he will truly be missed."
Mr. Witmer's artistic talents led him in many directions, and he was best known for his meticulous construction of miniature buildings. Recently the Harrisburg Area Museum, began to build an addition to display some of his miniature creations, including the lodge at Crater Lake, Noah's Ark and many Harrisburg historic buildings.
Mr. Witmer made historically accurate street scenes of Harrisburg for hanging on walls, "like paintings made out of wood," said Cleeton. He also made wooden furniture, most including delicately connected inlays of cubes.
He also was known for his green thumb, growing flowers from bulbs and sharing them with others and providing bouquets for the reception counter at City Hall.
He joined others in planting bulbs along Highway 99E for several miles.
Mr. Witmer helped create the Harrisburg Area Museum and did most of the construction of the display building. He also helped build the decorative roof at the entrance to Meier and Frank in Valley River Center, Eugene.
A burial service for Mr. Witmer was this morning at Alford Cemetery. A memorial service will be at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Harrisburg Methodist Church. Murphy-Musgrove Funeral Home of Junction City is handling arrangements.
CLIPPED FROM Albany Democrat-Herald Albany, Oregon 15 Dec 1999, Wed • Page 11
A legacy in full bloom
Bruce Witmer died this winter, but his love of daffodils lives on
By Les Gehrett, Albany Democrat-Herald
HARRISBURG - Bruce Witmer died this winter, but a small part of his life is blossoming this spring along Highway 99E between Harrisburg and Halsey.
Witmer loved daffodils and in the last years of his life was the central figure in the planting of daffodils along the west side of the road.
Harrisburg resident Paul Cullop, a friend of Witmer's, said the planting effort was begun about five years ago by the Harrisburg Masonic Lodge.
"Bruce Witmer thought it was a good idea and joined the project," said Cullop, who also helped out with the planting. "Bruce would plant the bulbs in his yard. They would multiply, then he'd dig most of them up and plant them along Highway 99." Witmer, a longtime resident of Harrisburg, died in December at the age of 78. He worked as a carpenter, artist and craftsman. He was very involved in the formation of the Harrisburg Area Museum and built most of the display building.
The museum is working to add another building which will provide a home for Witmer's collection of miniatures.
Richard Peterson, a retired business teacher at Central Linn High School, knew Witmer for more than 20 years.
"He made miniatures of old houses that were once in town. He did an exact duplicate of the lodge at Crater Lake, built of wood. He made several trips down there. He counted the number of rocks in front of the building to get it right. He was a perfectionist in life," Peterson said.
Witmer hoped to plant the flowers all the way from Harrisburg to Halsey. He completed six or seven miles of the planting but didn't quite finish the task.
Cullop said some Halsey residents have taken up the mission and plan to finish the last mile or so this spring.
Planting the daffodils was part of Witmer's larger effort to make the world a better place.
"He gave an awful lot of himself to the community," Peterson said. "I think he was a great guy to know. There's not too many of them that you meet like that."
CLIPPED FROM Albany Democrat-Herald Albany, Oregon 24 Mar 2000, Fri • Page 1
Beards necessary In North Atlantic, County Sailor Finds
It gets cold in the North Atlantic—so cold that most of the sailors try to grow beards, says Gunner's Mate Third Class Bruce Merlo Witmer, 629 West Main street, Palmyra, who has returned home on a 15-day furlough wearing a full, luxurious beard.
Witmer says he has helped to sink at least one submarine and on one return trip in his convoy eleven submarines were believed to have been sunk. As for a man's reaction when the warning signal is given, he says, "Your knees start to quiver as though nothing is there and your heart seems to go up in your throat."
One of two sailors on his ship allowed to wear his beard ashore, 22-year-old Witmer resembles a sea-faring man of old. Most of the men had merely stubbles, but as Witmer says, "If you have a full beard, you can wear it. A beard keeps your face warm—you can't laugh though when there's ice on it. In fact, it feels funny, because when you open your mouth the cold makes the hairs pull."
It seems the main trouble in a sailor's sporting a beard is the attention he gets from women. "Girls go crazy and whistle when they see a beard," Witmer says. The answer to that is an attractive wife, the former Verna May, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William May, Hershey R. D. 1. She says, with a note of hesitancy in her voice, mat she ratner likes the beard, but adds, "I'm glad to see him, beard or no beard."
Hunting Favorite Sport
Witmer, son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel E. Witmer, Hershey R. D. 2, hopes to be a taxidermist when the war is over, hunting and: fishing being his favorite hobbies.
Days aboard ship sometimes, seem long and sailors often get "channel fever" when they come into a port. The cure for that is a trip home because it's nothing more than a seaman's form of nostalgia. Being home, Witmer says, "I don't enjoy myself right because I'm afraid the time will go too fast."
His convoy travels in the Atlantic ranging from the jungles South America to the frigid seas of the north, Witmer tells of pushing icebergs for over two hours one day in February. "They're nothing like what you think," he says, "they look like rolled ice."
By the time a ship, is out to sea a while, Witmer says, "each man knows the other guy's life from beginning to end; everyone tells of funny coincidences and how he met his wife; stories are swapped from every port and by the end of a trip there isn't a story you don't know."
CLIPPED FROM Harrisburg Telegraph Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 18 Aug 1943, Wed • Pages 1, 18
Bruce Witmer
July 22, 1921 — Dec. 13, 1999
HARRISBURG - Bruce Witmer, 78, a longtime resident of Harrisburg, died Monday.
Mr. Witmer was an artist and craftsman. According to City Administrator Bruce Cleeton, "Many would have called him cantankerous and perhaps eccentric. Mostly, he was city treasure."
Cleeton also said that Mr. Witmer "had his opinions and was not afraid to share them," and added that "he will truly be missed."
Mr. Witmer's artistic talents led him in many directions, and he was best known for his meticulous construction of miniature buildings. Recently the Harrisburg Area Museum, began to build an addition to display some of his miniature creations, including the lodge at Crater Lake, Noah's Ark and many Harrisburg historic buildings.
Mr. Witmer made historically accurate street scenes of Harrisburg for hanging on walls, "like paintings made out of wood," said Cleeton. He also made wooden furniture, most including delicately connected inlays of cubes.
He also was known for his green thumb, growing flowers from bulbs and sharing them with others and providing bouquets for the reception counter at City Hall.
He joined others in planting bulbs along Highway 99E for several miles.
Mr. Witmer helped create the Harrisburg Area Museum and did most of the construction of the display building. He also helped build the decorative roof at the entrance to Meier and Frank in Valley River Center, Eugene.
A burial service for Mr. Witmer was this morning at Alford Cemetery. A memorial service will be at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Harrisburg Methodist Church. Murphy-Musgrove Funeral Home of Junction City is handling arrangements.
CLIPPED FROM Albany Democrat-Herald Albany, Oregon 15 Dec 1999, Wed • Page 11
A legacy in full bloom
Bruce Witmer died this winter, but his love of daffodils lives on
By Les Gehrett, Albany Democrat-Herald
HARRISBURG - Bruce Witmer died this winter, but a small part of his life is blossoming this spring along Highway 99E between Harrisburg and Halsey.
Witmer loved daffodils and in the last years of his life was the central figure in the planting of daffodils along the west side of the road.
Harrisburg resident Paul Cullop, a friend of Witmer's, said the planting effort was begun about five years ago by the Harrisburg Masonic Lodge.
"Bruce Witmer thought it was a good idea and joined the project," said Cullop, who also helped out with the planting. "Bruce would plant the bulbs in his yard. They would multiply, then he'd dig most of them up and plant them along Highway 99." Witmer, a longtime resident of Harrisburg, died in December at the age of 78. He worked as a carpenter, artist and craftsman. He was very involved in the formation of the Harrisburg Area Museum and built most of the display building.
The museum is working to add another building which will provide a home for Witmer's collection of miniatures.
Richard Peterson, a retired business teacher at Central Linn High School, knew Witmer for more than 20 years.
"He made miniatures of old houses that were once in town. He did an exact duplicate of the lodge at Crater Lake, built of wood. He made several trips down there. He counted the number of rocks in front of the building to get it right. He was a perfectionist in life," Peterson said.
Witmer hoped to plant the flowers all the way from Harrisburg to Halsey. He completed six or seven miles of the planting but didn't quite finish the task.
Cullop said some Halsey residents have taken up the mission and plan to finish the last mile or so this spring.
Planting the daffodils was part of Witmer's larger effort to make the world a better place.
"He gave an awful lot of himself to the community," Peterson said. "I think he was a great guy to know. There's not too many of them that you meet like that."
CLIPPED FROM Albany Democrat-Herald Albany, Oregon 24 Mar 2000, Fri • Page 1
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