Wainwright Edwin Herd Diehl (1927-1987)

From the Allentown Morning Call, January 11, 1962.

  The plentifully named Wainwright Edwin Herd Diehl carved a notable career for himself in his native Northampton County, Pennsylvania, where he earned distinction as an attorney and civic leader. A former solicitor for the county controllers office, Diehl also was retained as attorney for several townships in that and served as mayor of Nazareth in the 1960s. Born in Bath, Pennsylvania in 1927, Wainwright E.H. Diehl was the son of Willard and Alice (Herd) Diehl.

  A graduate of the Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania in 1951, Diehl entered into law studies at the University of Pennsylvania shortly thereafter and graduated with his law degree in 1955. Diehl had married in 1951 to Catherine Drobot (1928-2013), to who he was wed until his death in 1987. The couple would have three children, Wainwright Jr., Janice, and Patricia. 

  After establishing his law practice Diehl built up a substantial clientele in Northampton County, being retained as counsel for the Nazareth Industrial Development Inc., and served as solicitor for the boroughs of Bushkill, Hanover, Lower Nazareth, and Upper Nazareth. In addition to those posts, Diehl also served as solicitor for the Northampton County Controller's Office for a period of indeterminate length.

   In 1961, Diehl was elected as Mayor of Nazareth, Pennsylvania and took office in January 1962. He would serve in that capacity until 1966 and during his term achieved further distinction when he was named by the Pennsylvania Jaycees as "one of the state's three outstanding young men" in 1963 and two years later garnered a writeup in the Outstanding Young Men of America Alamanac.

  Following his term as mayor Diehl served on the Nazareth borough council and also was a member of the Joint Planning Commission of Lehigh-Northampton Counties in the mid-1970s. Wainright E.H. Diehl died in December 1987 at his Nazareth home, aged 59. He was survived by his wife and children and later was interred at the Greenmount Cemetery in Bath, Pennsylvania.

From the Allentown Morning Call, August 11, 1963.

From the Allentown Morning Call, December 23, 1987.