Lena Louisa Kahrig Pettit

 

Lena described herself as follows: 

“Hello, I'm Lena Kahrig Pettit.  I was born near Miltonsburg, Ohio. My parents told me that this was a great year for them, not only because I was born but because it was the year Social Security was enacted. That meant an easier life in their later years after working so hard on the farm.

I began first grade in 1940 at the Miltonsburg School. I was five years old. My dad was the school bus driver and drove me to school every day. It was a two-room building with the lower grades on one side and the upper grades on the other. I attended this school through seventh grade, and then was transferred to Monroefield to graduate in the eighth grade. I didn't mind transferring because everyone in this one-room school was my relative, including the teacher. I was the oldest attending, so I was asked to help the lower grades with their subjects.

During my youth, every Sunday meant getting to join my relatives and friends at St. John's Middle Church. I played the piano in Sunday school and the pipe organ during worship. I also sang in the church choir, school choir, and played piano accordion in the school orchestra.

Between living with my parents and siblings on the farm, attending church, and going to school, I had the best life any young girl could want. I was the third oldest of the eight children in our family.

  My graduation picture was taken when I was sixteen. I graduated the following spring, in 1952, from Lewisville High School. I received the Best Character and Personality Award on graduation night. I owed it to all my classmates for bringing out the best in me. It was a wonderful 12 years of readin', writin' and 'rthmatic. 

I went on to a married life and had two very special children, one being an underwriter and the other an artist. This marriage ended and then I lived alone for nine years, filling my life with education and work of many different fields: church historian, trustee member, secretary/treasurer, medical assistant training, senior bookkeeper in doctor's office, counselor in weight loss company, Red Cross volunteer for seven years, beauty consultant for 20-years, and retired as administrative assistant from a retirement facility, not to mention many adult education classes along the way.

I first became interested in genealogy in 1957. I thank my deceased grandmother for giving me my start in preserving our family history.  At her funeral, the room was filled with many people that looked like strangers. I thought it was just the entire community showing respect until they followed us to the cemetery. I whispered into my mother's ear "Who are all these people at my grandma's funeral?" She quietly told me that these were all my relatives. I thought I was in heaven to have such a large family! That evening, my mother began charting out different families for me and I have never stopped collecting history since. My mother and dad were great people who shared with me their interest in history, geography, writing, family, and friends. My mother kept a journal from the time she was in the third grade. They were both very active in church and the community.

I completed my first book in 1970 and have now completed a total of seven family books including two of the Christman/Pfalzgraf, Kahrig/Neuhart, Highman/ Gatten, Pfalzgraf/Kilburn, Crawford/Rubel, Claus/Ackerman, St. John's Cemetery records, plus other booklets on Matz, Lewisville High School class rooster 1916-1958, and the class of 1952 historical booklet. There will be more to come in the future.

I'm a Life Member of the Monroe County Historical Society, Monroe County OGS, Reynoldsburg Truro Historical Society, and of the Cypress Wesleyan Church.

In 1992 I married a wonderful man, Tom Pettit. Together we have five children, four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. Tom and I are enjoying our retirement years, visiting our family, and spending time with our roots in Monroe County to help preserve its rich history.”

 

After a long and difficult struggle, Lena Louisa Kahrig Gatten Pettit died of cancer on August 23, 2005.

Material for this article was provided by Lena Kahrig Pettit