Meet Your Fellow Parishioners 2

MEET YOUR FELLOW PARISHIONERS:

EUGENE AND HELEN ZEMBOWER…..

HELEN: I am the youngest child born of William and Margaret (Uhl) Martz. My brother, William, is deceased and my sister, Evalyn, is in the Allegany Rehab Center.
I have been married to Eugene Zembower for 58 years, and have been a lifelong member of Ss. Peter and Paul where we were married in 1954.

I attended the new parish school from its beginning. My first grade classroom was in the hall basement, and the new school was finished in time for second grade. After elementary school, I continued at the Ursuline Academy and the Ursuline Business School with Sr. Eunice. In all those years, there were nuns teaching every grade.

I have many happy memories of those years, including the May processions, the playground (also referred to as the roof garden), and the special programs for the pastor’s feast day.

After business school, I worked for ten years at the Central Billing Office of the Potomac Edison Company until I left to marry Gene. Our three children (Kevin, Teresa and Ken) attended Ss. Peter and Paul School and Bishop Walsh High School until they left for college.

Although I have outlived many of them, my admiration for all of the many Capuchin priests who served our parish will remain fondly in my memory.

GENE: I was born in Cumberland, the last child of Katherine M. Zembower and Charles L. Zembower’s seven children. Two siblings died during the flu epidemic. From this family, I have 20 nieces and nephews.

As a child, I attended St. Patrick grade school and entered LaSalle High School in the 7th grade. I carried newspapers and worked in Fords Drug Store as a soda jerk. Upon graduation, I was hired as an employee of the B & O Railroad.

In 1943, I was drafted into the U.S. Army. After training, I was fortunate to be sent to the British Isles with a Quartermaster group attached to the Eighth Air Force. After two and a half years, I was returned to the U.S. and resumed employment with the B & O, which eventually became the Chessie System.

In 1954, Helen Martz and I decided to get married and have a family. From this union, we have three children (E. Kevin, Teresa Anne and Kenneth C.) We now have seven grandchildren.

After Helen and I married, I changed parishes from St. Patrick to Ss. Peter and Paul since Helen was a parishioner there all her life. I have never regretted the change because I admire the Capuchins who maintain the Shrine of Ss. Peter and Paul.