When Lewisburg Had An Airport

The Lewisburg Airport Hangar in 1948

From 1948-1979, Lewisburg, Union County Pa,  had an airport.  

It was located parallel to 192 (Buffalo Road) with the runway beginning at the corner of Airport Road and 192, and running towards "Brouse Grove", the area of trees in front of Playworld today.   The airport building would become The Coop, a teen center, in the 1980s, and later the site of Playworld.

=====================

1948 - The Airport Opened

The Lewisburg Airport was first licensed in 1948,  "when the first air mail was dispatched from Lewisburg". 

Harold Derk, pilot and owner of a heavy construction business in Montandon, approached George Brouse, asking if he would consider making a landing strip on two of the fields Brouse owned in Lewisburg.  Brouse agreed, and Derk used his equipment to lay out the runway.

The landing strip measured 3,245 feet long and 500 feet wide, "running parallel to the highway', according to a 1950 article on the grand opening.

"On the grounds adjacent to the hangar is a 2,000 gallon capacity gasoline tank, affording regular service for planes."

 The Daily Item reported on October 1st 1948 that the Lewisburg Airport was open for business, and that final touches were being applied  to the cinder block hanger "measuring 50 by 96 feet, in one corner of which is located the office.  Storage of private planes has already been arranged by several pilots of the Lewisburg sector who have tried the field in recent weeks and found it satisfactory."

The hangar could house 5 planes.

George Brouse, Fred Brouse, Harold Derek

at the Lewisburg Airport 1950

====================

The Grand Opening & Ribbon Cutting - 1950

======================

Although opened in 1948, the  Official Grand Opening was not held until July 30th 1950.

  The Lewisburg High School band played, their were parachute jumps, and demonstrations of the latest in small planes.  W.T. Rippe, President of Piper Aircraft, was the feature speaker that day.  

One of he surprise features of the day was a special souvenir "air mail cover markings on the occasion of the dedication" were made possible by Postmaster J. Frank Groover.

"The event was celebrated by a jump by world champion parachutist Bill Cooper, music by the Lewisburg High School Band, rides in a 'giant transport plane,'

a crop dusting & spraying exhibition, and that evening in the hangar by round & square dancing. The 'giant transport plane' was a DC-3 which could carry 18 passengers.”

A DC-13 At the Lewisburg Grand Opening in 1950

The plane could take up 18 passengers at a time

Groups attending the Grand Opening were welcomed to use the  Brouse picnic grove facilities.

The Daily Item reported that the Lewisburg airport was the only airport in Union County, but emergency landings could be made on basic landing trips at the Union County Sportsmen's Club in Weikert, and the Charles Beaver tract at Mifflinburg.

=========================

"Recreational fliers used the Lewisburg Airport for flights to photograph

 Lewisburg and the surrounding areas from the aircraft.

 This aerial view of  Lewisburg shows Route 15 (top to bottom in the center).

 To the right,  stacks of wood lie at the Pennsylvania House property near the railroad  line. 

At the upper left, one can identify a three-story apartment building  that once was the West Ward School

Some of those known to use  the runway at Lewisburg included: Lester Reed, Dallas Hanlon, Warren Elze, Frank Hinish, Fred Kessler, and Dan Henry.

Fred Brouse on Left, Martin Reed on right - 1952

  "Frank Hinish, owner of Prowant’s Men’s Clothing store on Market Street in Lewisburg, would often relax by flying his plane during his lunch hour."

Jay Mathias of JPM Industries flew products to New York & Philadelphia out of the Lewisburg Airport.  Dallas Hanlon was often the pilot.”

====================

Flying Farmers

The May 1952 Flying Farmers picnic was held at the Lewisburg Airport.  45 adults and 20 children attended from as far away as Eno Valley near Ohio.  The group also visited the Lewisburg Penitentiary. (A list of those attended were listed in a news article about the event, included at the bottom at the age of this page, under read more)

===================

Marlyn Ernest Aikey

1912-1969

The first Chief Instructor & Business Manager at the Lewisburg Airport was Marlyn 'Barney' Aikey.  Uncle Barney (he was my grandmothers brother) attended the St Paul School of Instruction in New Hampshire in 1943, and then was sent on to another academy, before being appointed as a flight instructor during World War II.  (I've always been told that there is a photo of Uncle Barney with John Wayne and a plane, taken during the war.  I've never been able to find a copy of that.)

Dallas "Dal" Hanlon later, by 1951,  replaced Aikey.

"A solo flight of one-half hour duration cost $3.30.  The instructor cost another $5.50. That sum was then taxed at $0.18.”

===================

In 1951 and addition, including an apartment,  was built on to the original hangar.

=================

Annual Airshow

In June of 1953, The Lewisburg Airport held it's 4th annual air show.  The feature attraction was a 60 mile race, from Lewisburg to Selinsgrove to  Williamsport and back to Lewisburg. 10 planes were expected to compete in 53.  A variety of stunt flying demonstrations were also planned for the day.  

==========================

1953, McCarthy Committee At Lewisburg Airport

Lewisburg Airport Used For

Media Covering Hiss Release

In 1954, Alger Hiss was released from the Federal Penitentiary, after serving 3.5 years of a 5 year sentence. The release was covered by a "tremendous battery of reporters, press photographers, and newsreel cameramen.....   The Lewisburg Airport, privately owned by Fred Brouse, and located on Route 95 Buffalo Road, was a scene of bustling activity.."

A Bell helicopter carried a Life magazine reporter who had been taking aerial shots of the release.  A Beaver single engine plane brought a reporter from the Sunday News in New York, and a Bonanza plane brought a NBC television man.  "Three of the planes from the Lewisburg airport were pressed into service for flying material back to the big cities."  Instructor Dallas Hamlin flew material to CBS in New York.  James Richard, of Bloomsburg, flew pictures for Life Magazine, to New York.

====================

Santa Arrived By Plane

In December of 1957, Lewisburg School Children gathered at the Lewisburg Airport, where Santa was to stop after picking up candy at Purity Candy.

1959 Aerial View - Before the second hangar

================

A Second Hangar

At some point later,  (after the 1959 aerial photo, and before the 1970 aerial photo) a second hanger was built to the west of the first building.  This second building was taller, with an 18 foot ceiling.  The hangar had special overhead doors with  posts that supported the doors moving on rollers, allowing an aircraft with a 40’ wingspan & a higher tail section to pass in & out of the hangar. Mechanics Jess Hackenberg and Joseph Lahout both used this second hanger.

===================

The Jumping Bucknellions

In October of 1960, a Parachute Club from Bucknell University had an exhibition at the Lewisburg Airport. They also exhibited at the Penn Valley airport north of Selinsgrove. 

1965 Topographic Map Showing the Lewisburg Airport

Governor William Scranton arrived at the Lewisburg Airport in 1964, in a Beechcraft H-18

=====================

The  Largest Plane

In May 1961, a c-47 twin engine transport transport carrying 4 persons arrived in Lewisburg Airport.  The plane was named the Armstrong, and flew to Lewisburg without a flight plan after there was no communication with Williamsport airport.

==============

Fly-In Program

In August of 1966, more than 300 attended a fly in breakfast at the Lewisburg Airport, sponsored by the New Columbia Squadron 1103, Civil Air Patrol.

=================

Jimmy Hoffa's Birthday Plane, abt 1969

For Jimmy Hoffa's birthday, his 3rd wife, Josephine, would rent a plant to fly over the Lewisburg Penitentiary, with a banner reading "Birthday Greetings Jimmy Hoffa".  The pilot would then commence sky writing - spreading a "J.R.H. and a large heart" across the sky.   

Hoffa was incarcerated at Lewisburg from 1967-1971.

====================

1970 Aerial View of the Lewisburg Airport

==================

The Smallest Airport

In January of 1975, the Lewisburg airport was the smallest in the area.  Air traffic had been light in 1974, and there was no maintenance shop at the airport in 1975.

==============

Plowed Under

April 9th 1975 was the last day the airport existed. "A moment of drama on the facility's last day occurred when a two passenger plane made an unauthorized landing on Tuesday night".  It managed take-off as the first of three tractors was turning over sod at the edge of the field."

  On Thursday April 10th, the runway was plowed under.  The land was leased to Charles Dock of Dockview Dairy, for farming.  The land had not been plowed for 27 years, and was "judged quite a challenge for the farm equipment".

In 1979, Brouse Enterprises sold 1 acre of runway land to the Northumberland County Industrial Development Authority, which sold it to D & R Realty.  

The Coop - Teen Center

Later, SUN Orthopedic occupied the site that had been the beginning of the runway.

Keiser’s Plumbing & Heating & Keiser’s Sporting Good (called Out ‘N’ About) rented half of Hangar #1 when it no longer housed aircraft.

Mifflinburg Bank razed Hangar #2 for its Lewisburg branch, which opened in 1991

The Lewisburg Airport In 2003

It was torn down later the same year.

“Dale Miller had promised not to cut down the stand of oak trees in front of Playworld.  The   oaks were called Brouse’s Grove, where the Brouse family would hold picnics & family reunions."  It was also later referred to as the Airport Picnic Grove.

=================

READ MORE

=================

Montandon was being considered as the location for an airport in 1945.

1946

1966 Crash kills 4 near Lewisburg Airport

The Lewisburg area experienced other notable aerial events not necessarily associated with theLewisburg Airport. Paul Herman was reputed to have flown under the old Lewisburg steel bridge in asingle engine aircraft in the 1940s. Drew Machamer and John Bernhart buzzed Lewisburg with an oldWorld War II fighter; both were disciplined by the military for doing so. Machamer has since beenresponsible for having a World War II B-25 bomber fly over Lewisburg at the beginning of the annualLewisburg Veterans Parade. The aircraft is owned by the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum of Reading, PA. 

Hearings ... on Sundry Legislation Affecting the Naval and Military Establishments. (n.d.). United States: U.S. Government Printing Office.

=================================

The Brouses eventually owned 5 aircraft.

Several other people used the runway, including, Lester Reed, Dallas Hanlon, Warren Elze, Frank Hinish, Fred Kessler, and Dan Henry.  Frank Hinish, owner of Prowant’s Men’s Clothing store on Market Street in Lewisburg, would often relax by flying his plane during his lunch hour.

Fred Brouse reports that Lester Reed was a 'corker of a pilot.' Reed liked to do stunts & loops with the aircraft.  Fred denies ever trying aerobatics himself, at least not voluntarily.

Agnes Brouse stands with her son George F. Brouse (left) and  her grandson Fred W. Brouse (right) before being taken for a  plane ride.

 Fred’s grandmother, Agnes Brouse, at aged 72 took her first airplane ride from the Lewisburg Airport.  Her pilot was Joseph Diblin, who flew a Piper Super Cruiser PA-12, which held 3 passengers.  Fred reported that Grandma enjoyed the ride.

Fred Brouse once flew to Hiawatha, Kansas, using a radio beam, and during the flight almost fell asleep. He ended up 50 miles from where he was supposed to be. His friend Harold Derk certainly never let him forget that flight.

Over the years, Fred flew to Danville, Williamsport, Reading, Scranton-Clark Summit, Ohio, Kansas, and Sioux Falls, ND.

In 1988, Brouse Enterprises sold land to the Buffalo Valley Telephone Company.

Later in 1988, the Telephone Company sold 7 acres to St. John’s United Church of Christ, and its church building now sits on that site.

  

Herndon, Or Bowman, Covered Bridge

 
Herndon - County Bridge #69

Nelson F. Davis labeled this photo:  "Bridge 69 at the upper end of Herndon, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania., spanning Mahanoy Creek near its junction with the Susquehanna River."

"Bridge Letting. - SEALED proposals will be received at the Commissioner's office at Sunbury, Northumberland county, on SATURDAY, the 15th day of October, 1881, between the hours of 10 and 11 o'clock a. m , for the erection of a covered bridge across Mahanoy creek at David Bohner's mill. Plans and specifications can be seen at said Commissioner's office in Sunbury. JOHN CLARK, E. W. CHAPIN, JNO. T. ALBRIGHT, Commissioners. Sept. 28, 1881."Northumberland County Democrat, October 21, 1881,

"...a mill was in operation on Mahanoy creek in this township as early as 1785. The site is a mile and a half north of Herndon, and the building, a dilapidated stone structure, is now owned by David Bohner. It was erected by Abraham McKinney." - Bell's History Of North'd County

This bridge was destroyed in the 1972 flood. It was not replaced.

=================

. 

E. E. Landon's Liberty Tree Creations

 

Eugene E. Landon of Montoursville became a master woodworker, using 18th century tools and methods for all of his work, after selling his chemical company.  His work can be found in private homes, major museums, and even in the White House.

When the last standing Liberty Tree, in Annapolis, fell in hurricane Floyd - it was Landon that was chosen to create items from the wood.  With it, he  made the wooden eagle that stands in Constitution Hall in Philadelphia, two bible boxes (presented to Presidents Bush and Carter) A Yoke to hold an exact replica of the Liberty bell, carved wooden busts of Lincoln and Washington, at least one bowl (auctioned off in McClure) .

 

I first came across Landon's work while attending a lecture in Welch Hall on the Lycoming College campus.  In the entrance is a large case clock, with a medallion that says Eugene Landon, Montoursville.

  Not being familiar with a Montoursville Clockmaker, I was intrigued.  

An inscription on the inside has the date of 2007.  That's when a woman in the hall with me recognized his name and told me that he was the "one who made furniture out of the Liberty Tree."

And yet again I find myself wondering,  "How did I not know this?"

=========================

LIBERTY TREE PROJECTS
=======================

"On April 14, 1765, a crowd of angry Bostonians formed below a large tree at the corners of Essex and Orange Streets. Britain had just passed the Stamp Act, which imposed a tax on popular paper products, and the Massachusetts colonists were not happy about it. Protestors used the tree’s branches to string up effigies of government administrators who enforced the new taxes, accompanied by a sign which read, “What Greater Joy did ever New England see than a Stampman hanging on a Tree!” 

As war began to break out in 1775, , British soldiers and Loyalists cut down the tree, hoping to bring a symbolic end to the protests.  However, "Liberty Trees" colonists had been planting Liberty Trees up and down the Eastern seaboard, beginning 10 years earlier, in 1765.  By the time the Boston tree was cut down, there were hundreds of Liberty Trees.   Some of them were destroyed during the war, they were purposefully targeted by British soldiers.  Still, some remained.  

Over time, the  remaining trees all died, were cut down, or destroyed by storms. The last to remain, or at least the last known to remain, was in Annapolis Maryland.  It was destroyed by Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

Half of the wood from that tree was purchased by Taylor Guitars.  They crafted and sold 400 Limited Edition Guitars made from that wood.

The rest of the wood was acquired by Providence Forum. That group set out to find someone to preserve it, by making it into various objects. A man n New Mexico contacted them and recommended Landon.

Annapolis Liberty Tree, 1907

"So I went to Annapolis and looked at this warehouse full of chunks and pieces of this huge old tree.  The tree was 800 years old or older; it was ten feet around and it was just a huge old tree.  It was hollow inside, so you had all of these round pieces that were thirteen inches deep but it was just a ring around the tree. After talking with him, I decided to do it."

The wood was sent to Lewis Lumber, where it was cut into useable sections.  "Even the sawdust was saved" said Gene.  "They made paper out of it."

The Providence Forum commissioned Landon to build two Bible Boxes (out of Liberty Tree wood) which were presented to President  George W. Bush in 2001 and President Jimmy Carter in 2002." 

"Well, in fact I made a box for President Bush and Jane and Ben and I went down and spent half an hour in the Oval Office with President Bush.  And that was fun because he is just the nicest guy.  We laugh and we spent a whole half hour with him."  Landon also took President Bush a bronze casting of the Lincoln bust that he had carved for Dr. Templeton.  Another casting of that bust was donated to the Taber Museum in Williamsport.

Gene Landon with President Carter

Other liberty tree projects by Landon included:

• A Bowl - Auctioned off at the McClure Relay For Life Auction in 2003
• A Giant Eagle with a six foot wing span for Constitution Hall in Philadelphia
• A Yoke to hold an exact replica of the Liberty bell  (constructed by Penn College Students, finished by Landon)
• A bust of Lincoln, and a bust of Washington
• A Reproduction of the Rising Sun chair used by George Washington during the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

The largest piece from the Liberty Tree Wood - A Giant Eagle 

It is now on display in the lobby of Constitution Hall in Philadelphia

----------------------------------------

In 2001, after suffering a heart attack, he arranged for Penn College students to make the wooden yoke from which an exact Liberty Bell replica would hang as it is displayed around the nation.   The yoke was made from wood from the last remaining Liberty Tree, a 600 year old Tulip Poplar from Maryland, which had been damaged in hurricane Floyd.  After the students finished the construction, it was to be transported to Landon's shop where he would put a uniform finish on it.

https://www.pct.edu/news/articles/2001/11/09/cabinetmaking-students-faculty-craft-yoke-for-liberty-bell-replica

-----------------------------------------------

After carving the bust of George Washington for Mr. Templeton, Gene made at least 20 bronze castings of the carving.  In 2017 Susan G.S. Anderson, D.M.D., and her husband Dan Llewellyn donated #6 of 20 to the Taber Museum in Williamsport.

https://tabermuseum.org/news/2017-news-articles/bronze-casting-landon-bust-donated-taber

-------------------------------------------------

The Rising Sun Chair

"Franklin, looking towards the Presidents Chair, at the back of which a rising sun happened to be painted, observed to a few members near him, that Painters had found it difficult to distinguish in their art a rising from a setting sun. I have said he, often and often in the course of the Session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting: But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting Sun. 

Franklin made these observations at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.  The original chair, made of mahogany, was built by John Folwell in 1779.  This is the chair George Washington sat in while helping to write the constitution of the united states.

Landon's astounding reputation made him the obvious choice when the National Constitution center was looking for a craftsman to create a reproduction of the chair. 

The wood for the face of the sun on the reproduction chair was from the last Liberty Tree. 

The leather that Landon chose was made from reindeer hides which were tanned by Russian artisans in 1785. The rolls of leather were cargo on a brigantine named Die Frau Metta Catharina, which had set sail a year later from St. Petersburg, Russia, for Genoa, Italy. While the ship was anchored in England's Plymouth Sound, a port on the south western tip of the island, a large gale swept through and sunk the ship in about one hundred feet of water. The wreckage was later recovered in 1973 by a local diving club, who found that the lost cargo had been safely preserved by the thick mud that had covered it underwater.  This red Russian leather was a luxury item in the eighteenth century and it is still highly valued today.

Landon then made a second reproduction of the Rising Sun chair, which he donated to Lycoming College.  This version is without the liberty tree wood, but otherwise is identical to the first.

--------------------------------

Gene Landon was born in Williamsport on July 3rd 1934.  He attended J. George Becht school, graduating from South Williamsport High School before attending Lycoming College, where he graduated in 1957. While in college, he was already producing reproductions of singular pieces from the eighteenth century, including open arm chairs and side tables.

Landon's interest in wood working began at a young age. One of his first pieces was a small eagle he carved as a boy scout. His grandfather was the head cabinet maker for L.L. Stearns and Sons Inc.,  and Landon recalls watching his grandfather work on various projects.

 "I was always interested in how things were put together, whether they were chemicals or pieces of furniture:' Landon explained. I. Landon inherited his grandfather's tools when he was about eleven, helping to fuel his interest in wood working; however, he never received any traditional instruction on the techniques used in the eighteenth century.

After graduation he began working at Chemcoat in Montoursville for 6 years. He then started his own Chemical Company, Landon Chemical. Each year he made trips to Philadelphia for a business meeting and while there visited an antique shop named  Buchholtz Galleries. The owner, Ted Buchholtz, became good friends with Landon and sold him various pieces which Landon then restored and sold to clients.

After 7 or 8 years, he sold his chemical company to a firm in Philadelphia. Landon then  dedicated himself full time to his hobby - woodworking.  He studies 18th century hand made furniture, and learned how to reproduce it.

In 1999, he, along with Steve Lash,  helped establish The Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM).  One of the main goals of the SAPFM was "to develop  and promote a set of standards for the reproduction and preservation of period furniture."

Each year the SAPFM awards the Cartouche award to an individual or organization who has best represented the mission of demonstrating excellence in period furniture making.  The award is cast in bronze from a Philadelphia tall case clock that Landon built.  

(The clock above is the one at Lycoming College, and I do not think it resembles the award.  There is a photo of Landon standing beside a clock with this award - but I could not locate it at the moment)

In 2003, the cartouche award was presented to Eugene Landon.

When asked why he did not use power tools, he answered:

"Well, to get the 18th century look, you really - the 18th century profile on moldings and the look you get from using 18th century tools you can't get any other way.  You can't get it by shapers, or routers, or anything; it has to be using 18th century tools"

Landon had over 2,000 molding planes. Winterthur curators called on him to borrow molding planes that were used on their original pieces.

 His workshop was featured in a book called Great Workshops, it was the only 18th century shop in the collection.  After Landon's death, a book was published by Thomas Meiller -   E.E.L.: The Tool Collection of Gene Landon His extensive tool collection, which was sold at several auctions in 2011 & 2012 is shown and described in this book.

Free download

" I had the opportunity of visiting with Gene last month at the Mecca in Montoursville.  I knew of Gene by reputation and had seen his work in the many articles he had written or in which he was featured, but I was unprepared for the culture shock I received upon entering his home and shop.  It is the period furniture maker's mother lode.  

He not only furnished his home with a prodigious amount of exquisitely accurate reproductions; copies of pieces he has restored or had examined and knew inside out, he also built the house; and constructed all the architectural details.  Aside from being a master cabinetmaker, dedicated to the way of the old guys, Gene is also a clock maker, a collector, a history buff, and a respected consultant to leading museum curators, and other collectors and antique dealers. 

When I was leaving Gene's shop, being the skeptic that I am, I said OK Gene, where is your cordless drill?  Without missing a beat, Gene said Right here.  And opened a drawer and showed me a collection of 18th century hand braces...  I will miss him." - Steve Lash

The Book Inspiration, Gene Landon and Seven Hearths

includes photos of Landon's home, and furniture.  

https://amzn.to/4bpvYzx

In addition to using hand tools, he also used a special hide glue that could  be heated up to release the joint between two pieces of wood. A craftsman using this glue could simply heat the glue, remove the joint, and try again, if he was unhappy with how the wood had lined up. Hr purchased much of his hardware - locks, hinges, nails -  from  blacksmiths in England who produced them with the same methods and tools used by the original smiths. 

He once pointed out handmade rose-head nails used for the Logan Philadelphia secretary desk he made.  The nails   cost him $l.00 each from a blacksmith using authentic production methods.

He also used a walnut shell stain that he made himself "It's a natural finish. It's a finish they would have used in the eighteenth century", he said.

Landon shared his expertise with students, teaching classes at the Olde Mill Cabinet Shop in York Pa.  "Gene Landon Masterwork Plans" can be purchased through Olde Mill.  https://oldemill.com/

==============

In 2025, the Taber House LLWS pin featured Landon's Case Clock. 

 https://tabermuseum.org/product-detail/2025-taber-museum-little-league-pin

============
READ MORE
============

•  Fine Woodworking No.174, the 2004/2005 tools and shops issue.
• https://www.pct.edu/news/articles/2001/11/09/cabinetmaking-students-faculty-craft-yoke-for-liberty-bell-replica
• "SAPFM Advisory Board Member Biographies:' Society of American Period Furniture Makers. http:/ /
• www.sapfm.org/bios.php (accessed October 17,2009). 
• https://tabermuseum.org/news/2017-news-articles/bronze-casting-landon-bust-donated-taber

==================

=================

Eugene E. Landon, 76, of 144 Quaker State Road Montoursville, passed away Wednesday, June 1, 2011, at the Muncy Valley Skilled Nursing Unit. He was born July 3, 1934, in Williamsport, the son of Elmer H. and Kathryn M. Miller Landon.

Gene had owned and operated Landon Chemical Inc. and also repaired and restored 18th century furniture and made reproductions of the same. During his career he taught 18th century furniture making at Olde Mill Cabinet Shoppe in York, Pa., and was a founding member of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers. He has many pieces of furniture he made or restored in many museums across the United States including the White House. A life size eagle he carved out of the last living Liberty Tree located at St. John's College, Annapolis Md., is displayed at the Constitution Center, along with a copy of the Rising Sun Chair that he made.

 He was a member of Messiah Lutheran Church; the Dietrick Lamade Lodge No. 755 F&AM, the Tiadaghton Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, and was a veteran of the United States Army.

He is survived by his wife, the former Jane Keyte with whom he would have celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary on August 22; his son, Benjamin E. Landon of South Williamsport; his sister, Marjorie L. Bieber of Montoursville; and many nieces and nephews.

He was predeceased by his sister, Beverly Morehart, of Montgomery.

A memorial service will be held 4 p.m. Saturday June 11, 2011, at Messiah Lutheran Church, 324 S. Howard St., South Williamsport with the Rev Maurice C. Frontz III officiating. Friends will be received on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. at the church. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made either to the Susquehanna Heart Center, c/o Providence Health System Foundation, 1001 Grampian Blvd., Williamsport, PA 17701, or to the Messiah Lutheran Church. Arrangements are by Spitler Funeral Home, Montoursville.