Hubert Henry Bury ¹

  Noted events in his life were:

• Education: Muhlenberg College, 1935, Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, USA. ³ Following his graduation from Allentown High School in 1930, he went to work for his Uncle Martin Bury in Philadelphia. When Martin went bankrupt in 1931, Hubert returned to Allentown and entered Muhlenberg College where he was graduated cum laude with a B.S. degree in 1935.

• Occupation, 1935-1944, Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, USA. ³ He worked for Wilson Co., meat packers, from 1935 until 1944.

• Occupation: insurance salesman with New York Life, 1944, Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, USA. ³ In 1948 he earned his CLU degree from The American College in Bryn Mawr, Pa. He retired from New York Life in 1979.

• Fact: He has been greatly involved in charity work, 1945-2002, Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, USA. ³ Hubert Bury has served on the Executive Committee of United Way; Executive Committee of the Lehigh County Boy Scout Council; and as V.P. and Executive Committee of the Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce.

In 1952 he conducted the fund drive that built the Osteopathic Hospital, then later co-chaired the fund drive for the Allentown Hospital.

In 1955, as Finance Chair and President of the Board of Trustees, he conducted the $750,000 drive to build the First Presbyterian Church.

He was recognized for having donated $300,000 to Muhlenberg College over ten years, and because of that, the New York Life Foundation gave Muhlenberg $2,000 in Hubert Bury's name in each of those ten years.

• Newspaper: the Allentown Morning Call, 19 Jun 1986. ⁴ Volunteer service by Hubert H. Bury of Allentown to Lehigh County Meals on Wheels has prompted a $500 contribution to the organization from the New York Life Foundation.

• Newspaper: the Allentown Morning Call, 6 Sep 1992. ⁵ The volunteer services of Hubert H. Bury of Allentown to Lehigh County Meals on Wheels has prompted New York Life Foundation to donate $500 to that cause.

• Newspaper: the Allentown Morning Call in the Letters to The Editor section, 16 Jun 2000. ⁶ To the Editor:

I was intrigued by the June 12th article about the 136 Boy Scouts who received their Eagle rank in 1999. That is a significant number when compared with the early days of scouting.

I received my Eagle on Nov. 1, 1928. I was told then that I was the third Eagle Scout in Lehigh County. Don Miller, former Morning Call Publisher, was the first. The second, I believe, was a Scout named Gutekunst.

Don has passed away and I have no knowledge of Gutekunst. Perhaps this letter will spark someone's memory of him, or of other early Eagles.

Hubert H. Bury
Allentown

• Newspaper: the Allentown Morning Call, 15 Oct 2000. ⁷ Allentown High's 'Depression Class' Holds 70th Reunion 'We Never Had Much,' One Member Recalls About Leaving School In 1930.
by Dan Shope, The Morning Call.

Members of the Allen High Class of 1930 said they never had great expectations.
In their senior year, they witnessed the stock market crash, the Great Depression and the end of the flapper era.

`We called ourselves the 'Depression Class,' ` said Grace Burger Gilbert, 88. `We never had much to begin with. We were just happy to have enough to eat.`

Seventy years ago, 432 students received their diplomas from Allentown High School, now Allen High School, which once served the entire city. Today, it splits that duty with Dieruff High School.

Twenty-six of the 432 attended the class's 70th reunion Saturday at the Lehigh Country Club. The group, accustomed to facing reality, concluded that another annual party would be too taxing and too expensive.

`We are pushing 90, you know,` said Gilbert. `A lot of us are gone. We never charged much for the reunion. We felt guilty coming to a country club, but some of our class were members. This event was only $30.'

Within a week of their graduation, Labor Secretary James J. Davis delivered the commencement address at nearby Muhlenberg College as labor leaders in Washington, D.C., demanded action against joblessness and poverty.

`Thousands of men were sitting today in public parks throughout the country, muttering at their inability to gain employment,` William Green of the American Federation of Labor told the Associated Press on June 11, 1930.

Hubert H. Bury, who went on to graduate from Muhlenberg and become an insurance underwriter for New York Life in the Lehigh Valley, took on the task of organizing the reunion, which has been run annually the last few years.

`Nine of our classmates have died since the last reunion,` Bury said. `And we lost one who fell and was unable to come. The numbers are getting smaller and smaller. So we plan to just have informal meetings from now on.`

During a speech to the class, Bury, who lettered in diving and was an honors student, recalled some of the less-depressing times for the Class of 1930.
`The Earle Theater showed the first talkie in 1927,` he said. `In 1929, John Henry Leh founded the Lehigh Valley International Airport, and the Tilghman Street Bridge was completed.

`In 1930, the PP&L Building was opened, Sacred Heart Hospital was built and the Rose Garden was completed.`

He noted that there was no urban sprawl in 1930. An aerial view of Allentown, looking west, showed no visible structures past Muhlenberg. But there was urban distress. And perhaps that's why the Class of 1930 produced two of the Lehigh Valley's greatest caregivers -- the Rev. Conrad Raker and Helen Barnes.

Raker was superintendent at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Center, which his parents founded in 1908 as a home for orphans. Barnes was a founder of Meals on Wheels in Lehigh County.

Raker and his wife, Grace, suffered falls and were unable to attend Saturday's event, Bury said. Barnes was busy helping run the event.

`We learned to survive,` said class member Floss Morgan Diefenderfer. `I went to American Business College, where they basically taught us to add and subtract.

`I started as a teller at Merchants Bank and worked up to vice president.`
Diefenderfer was the first woman vice president there and the first female member of the Allentown-Lehigh County Chamber of Commerce board.

Classmate Bob Wolfe went to work for The Morning Call and took part in the coverage of the Hindenberg disaster in Lakehurst, N.J. He said that while he's lost most of his sight, he retains many memories.

So does Mildred Siegfried Schadt. Sitting in a wheelchair, she came to the event directly from a nursing home. She distinctly recalled graduation. `Afterward, we went to a ball at the Americus Hotel,` she remembered. `I wore a green dress.'

Hubert married Betty Jane Kistler, daughter of Dr. John C. Kistler and Florence Shafer, on 6 Jun 1936 in Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, USA. (Betty Jane Kistler was born on 27 Mar 1914 in , , Pennsylvania, USA, died on 25 Oct 1982 in Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, USA and was buried on 31 Oct 1982 in Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, USA.)