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| Dr. O.H. Mengel |
Several months ago I received a letter from Joanne Mengel Gallagher, a former resident of town who now lives in Warminster, Pennsylvania. She has received the Herald since she left town as a gift from a relative, Mabel Schillo, and has been enjoying the "tales." She reminded me of her grandfather, Dr. O.H. Mengel, and I wrote her saying if she gave me the information I would write a "tale" on this well known doctor in our town.
I also visited Mrs. Ivy Kershner, a cousin of Dr. Mengel, to learn more about him. Mrs. Kershner's mother and the doctor's mother were sisters who married cousins.
She said the doctor was like a brother to her and, when he practiced medicine, he delivered her second child who was the sixth child he delivered in town.
Dr. Mengel was born February 24, 1880, at Summit Station, second oldest of seven boys and one girl. The family moved to Frackville when the doctor was a few years old and their first home was a single house next to the Texaco Gas Station on the corner of East Chestnut street nad South Lehigh avenue. This building was later demolished and the gas station and house to the rear were owned by Robert Mengel, father of Joanne.
Francis Mengel, father of Doc Mengel, worked for the Reading Railroad. Many residents remember the grocery store operated by his wife at their home on South Lehigh avenue. Several years later they moved to the double dwelling at 130-132 South Lehigh (the present residence of Herman Yudacofski) and operated a grocery on the left and an ice cream parlor on the right side of this building. Aunt Becky, as Mrs. Kershner called her, went door to door with her black satchel selling Sayman's salve, powder and soap.
Dr. Mengel attended the Frackville Schools and graduated with honors at the age of sixteen in 1896. His graduating classmates were Paul F. Berdanier, Charles Dietrich, Rose Fennessey, Mame Haughton, Anna Murphy and William Roberts. He attended Kutztown Normal School for two years and taught school for two years in the Mahantonga VAlley. His greatest ambition was to be a doctor and he saved everything he earned and entered Medical Chirurgical College, now the University of Pennsylvania.
He excelled so well in obstetrics that when he was still a student he was sent out by the university to deliver children of poverty stricken families.
During his senior year he tutored fellow students to obtain money for tuition and helped students in his class who found the medical field difficult. He graduated with honors in 1910 and interned at St. Joseph's Hospital, Reading, for two years.
In 1912, he began his practice in a small building on North Balliet Street which was once a shoe repair shop, located between the Trinity Evangelical Congregational Church and the parsonage. The shop was later dismantled and the lumber used to extend the back of the home at 66 North Balliet street.
He was married to Laura Mae Bretz of Frackville who died in January 1955. They bought the large home now used as the parsonage of the Evangelical Church and had his office and home there until his death in 1963. His practice grew rapidly as he attended patients in Frackville, Mahanoy Plane, Gilberton and Maizeville. It was estimated that he delivered over 3,000 babies.
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| Small
building at right, alongside Trinity Church, was Dr. Mengel's first office. |
In addition to his medical practice, Dr. Mengel was active in the financial aspects of the community being one of the organizers of the First National Bank in 1933. An original member of the board of directors, he was elected president in 1940. He previously served on the board of the old First National Bank and Trust Company.
In 1938 he was elected president of the Breoad Mountain Building and Loan Association. He was a member of the Frackville Borough Council, a member and past president of Frackville Rotary Club, on the Board of Directors of the Salvation Army, member of Trinity Church and the Men's Bible Class.
A great outdoorsman, he had a keen interest in sports of every type. A tragic event occurred when his son, Robert, died while they were on a fishing trip.
Dr. Mengel was rarely called Oscar -- everyone knew him as O.H. Mengel! He was an avid gardener, and I can remember his prize roses in his lovely garden. He also had a vegetable patch.
Dr. and Mrs. Mengel had two daughters, Ester and Erma, who died in early childhood, three sons, Francis and Robert, deceased, and Walter who resides on Washington street.
When I thanked Joanne Mengel Gallagher for all her work, she said, "Lorraine, this was not an act of labor, it was an act of love -- for Pop-Pop Mengel!"