Charles F. Schwenk worked in clothing factories for most of his career, retiring in June 1968 as manager of the Marden Clothing Company in Shippensburg, PA. Then he began his second career as the executive director of the Shippensburg Chamber of Commerce and the Shippensburg Area Development Corporation until he finally retired in 1983 at the age of 80.

He was a much beloved member of his community, having been a Sunday school teacher, president of the consistory and elder emeritus of the Grace United Church of Christ. He was also president of the Lions Club, a life member of the Shippensburg Fish and Game Association and member of the board of directors of the Cumberland County Tourist Council and the Cumberland County Industrial Enterprises. Additionally, he was a member of Cumberland Valley Lodge 315, F & AM; Harrisburg Consistory AASR; George WashingtonRoyal Arch Chapter 176 and Continental Commandery 56.

He and his wife, Rose E. (nee Stout), moved from Perkasie (where they had been high school sweethearts), to Lebanon, PA in 1933, then to Shippensburg in 1937, where they lived the rest of their lives.

Charles F. Schwenk was my paternal grandfather, and I have nothing but fond memories of him. He referred to himself as a hard-headed Dutchman, but he was just a soft-hearted Pop-Pop to me. (Note: Germans in Pennsylvania were frequently referred to as Pennsylvania Dutch, a misunderstood term stemming from the real name of Germany: Deutschland.)

In addition to his time-consuming duties at the Chamber of Commerce during his 'retirement', Pop-pop also spent lots of love and time gardening, designing and making quilts from scraps of material he had collected over the years in the garment industry, and being a loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather (he died just two months before the birth of his first great-great grandchild on 25 Mar 1990.)

In 1989, he began researching the genealogy of the Schwenks, Stouts, Moyers and Swopes. His notes have been extremely helpful to me and I'm most grateful to him for all his hard work, though I miss him terribly and wish he were still here so we could work on it together.