From the Lancaster New Era, November 5, 1941.
From New York, we journey to Pennsylvania to examine the lives of two men named Menno, both of whom served as Burgess of their respective communities. The first of these men, Menno Brubaker Rohrer, was long active in the civic life of Lititz in Lancaster County, where he was an attorney. He served eight years on the Lititz borough council and had previously served as burgess of Lititz in the 1940s. Born in Warwick, Pennsylvania on February 15, 1910, Menno Brubaker Rohrer was the son of Ira and Bertha (Brubaker) Rohrer.
A student at the Lititz High School in the 1920s, Rohrer went on to study at the Millersville College and the Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Menno Rohrer married on September 15, 1934, to Nellie Melba Griffith (1910-2001). The couple were wed for nearly sixty years and had two children, John W.M. and Carol. A law student at Harvard University at the time of his marriage, the Rohrers resided in Cambridge, Massachusetts during his period of study.
Following his graduation from Harvard, Rohrer and his wife returned to Lititz, and after his admittance to the Pennsylvania bar maintained law offices in both Lititz and Lancaster. Active in the civic life of the borough, Rohrer was a member of the Lititz Lions Club and the Community Chest Board. He served as president of the Lititz High School Alumni in the early 1940s and was a member of the Christian Education board of the Lititz Moravian Church. In November 1941 he was elected as Burgess of Lititz, having never before been a candidate for political office.
Rhorer served as burgess until September 1943, when he resigned to take part in the ongoing war effort. Enlisting in the Army, he would serve in the "criminal investigation department" during his service, and was honorably discharged in November 1945 as a technician fourth grade. After his return to Lititz Rohrer again practiced law and by 1947 was connected with the Independent Union of Trap Workers, serving as its spokesman. He also was retained as the solicitor for the boroughs of Lititz and Ephrata and their respective school districts.
Rohrer returned to local politics in 1950 with his election to the Lititz Borough Council, where he served until 1958. A founder of the Lancaster Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society in the 1950s, Rohrer was elected as a chapter trustee in 1958 and later served as its chairman. A member of the American Civil Liberties Union, Rohrer served on the Pennsylvania board of the ACLU and in 1968 served as president of the ACLU Lancaster Chapter. In addition to those organizations, Rohrer was long active in the Garden Spot Post 56 of the American Legion, and for an indeterminate period served on the board of directors of the Urban League of Lancaster County.
Menno B. Rohrer continued residence in Lititz until his death at home on September 10, 1993, aged 83. He was survived by his wife Nellie and two children and was interred at the Moravian Cemetery in Lititz.
From the Lititz Record Express, September 16, 1993.
Portrait from the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, May 5, 1942.
A decade prior to Menno Rohrer's arrival on the Lancaster County political stage, another "Menno" was in the midst of serving as Burgess of Ephrata, Pennsylvania. That man was Menno Wissler Hess, and, like Rohrer, was a lifelong resident of Lancaster County. Prior to his terms as Ephrata burgess, Hess sat as a member of the school board and borough council and was reelected to the latter following his last term. The son of Samuel Risser and Martha (Bomberger) Hess, Menno Wissler Hess was born in Ephrata on March 13, 1874.
Menno Hess graduated from the Ephrata High School in 1894, having been designated class historian. He married on June 11, 1895, to Magdalene Sensenig (1876-1968), to who he was wed for over fifty years. Five children were born to the couple, those being Lloyd S. (1896-1979), Ralph S. (1897-1982), James Galen (1900-1996), Anna S., and Marian.
Following his marriage, Hess was employed by his father in the latter's nursery, titled S.R. Hess & Son, in Ephrata. He subsequently engaged in real estate transactions in his region, and "did much towards developing farm lands into residential areas." Hess first entered local politics with his candidacy for the Ephrata school board in 1904. He proved successful at the polls and sat as a member from 1904-14, and served as board secretary for several years. In 1914 he won a seat on the Ephrata borough council, where he served for fourteen years. This period saw Hess as a booster for the construction of Ephrata's "municipally owned electric light plant", which was completed in 1924.
In 1928 Menno W. Hess was elected as Burgess of Ephrata, with his full tenure in office extending until 1933. Midway through his terms he participated in an "elaborate radio program" dedicated to Ephrata, featured on radio station WGAL. This feature, titled "the Ephrata Community Program", heard Hess speak on the borough's "Past, Present, and Future", and also featured the Ephrata Community Men's Chorus, Harry Heineman's String Orchestra, and other local musicians.
Nearly a decade after the conclusion of his term, Hess returned to local politics with his reelection to the Ephrata borough council in 1942. He was chosen as its president, succeeding outgoing president William Carter, who had resigned. Hess served as council president until his death, and during this period was affiliated with the Ephrata Community Hospital, being elected to its board of directors in 1948.
On December 22, 1949, Hess took ill while surveying a portion of his property in Ephrata, and was subsequently taken to the Ephrata Community Hospital. His health continued to decline, and on January 11, 1950, he died while still under hospital care. Hess was survived by his wife and children and was interred at the Hammer Mennonite Church Cemetery in Lititz, Pennsylvania.
From the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, January 11, 1950.
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