David Faller

Interview of David Faller for the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library of the Cumberland County Historical Society and the St. Patrick's Church of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. David discusses growing up in Carlisle and attend Saint Patrick's School and Church as well as coming back to both Carlisle, PA and St. Patrick's as an adult.

The following is a machine generated transcript that should not be cited directly.

- Today is June 8th, 2023. We're here at the Cumberland County Historical Society. My name is Blair Williams, and I'm here with Mr. David Faller. So thank you so much for coming into--

- Faller.

- Faller. Am I getting out? Sorry about that.

- That's all right, Carlisle. People have been using Failor, but there is actually a Failor family, so besides Faller, so.

- Faller. All right, well, David, I usually like to start these questions by asking, how did your family or you come to reside in Cumberland County?

- The earliest I had was my relatives came over from Germany, Bavaria, in 1840, and settled in Carlisle, and they were Catholic in Germany. And so that's how they were here originally. And they're back three generations from me. That'd be my great-great-great-great grandfather.

- Okay.

- And they're, starting with them, they were buried in the cemetery behind the Shrine Church. They were the first generation here.

- Less than you were born and raised in Carlisle?

- Yes.

- Okay. And what was growing up in Carlisle like?

- Whenever you hear about small town America, that's probably typically what it was like. It was a lot different than now. None of the mobile society that we have now, we walked everywhere. All the kids in our family went, we had eight kids. They all went to St. Patrick's School, so that was our local school. The stores downtown, there was no shopping centers. Everything was downtown Carlisle. And all the stores were the old-fashioned stores that you think of, Sears, Montgomery Ward, Shafer Brothers, Auto Parts, no McDonald's, instant food. No swimming pools, no swim club. So a lot simpler things to do back then.

- And when were you born?

- 1949, June 14th.

- One of the reasons I ask that is I know, in speaking with some of the, the individuals that were here prior to some of the industry that came in, and the influx of Catholic families from Pittsburgh, there was a relatively small Catholic community in Carlisle at that time. And so I know in some ways, there was a little bit of discrimination as well. And I'm just wondering if you experienced any of that.

- I don't remember any of that. I may have been naive because I was young, but I don't ever remember. I remember playful jokes about Catholics, all the kids, or eating, that's when you had to eat meat on Friday. You were a Catholic, so that was always kind of a joke, with a lot of people. But I don't remember any blatant discrimination being Catholic.

- Do you think a part of that was because you were a little bit isolated, you going to St. Pats instead of the local schools?

- It could have been, because when I was a kid, they still had segregated public schools. In Carlisle, there was a school on Penn Street, I think it was Penn Elementary, the corner of Penn and Pitt Street. There was a school there that was predominantly black children.

- I forget when the integrated schools came about.

- Yeah. I'm sure that schools were integrated by then, but that's where most of the black kids went to school, so that still existed back then in Carlisle.

- Well, so what are some of your earliest memories of going to church? And this would have been their Shrine Church.

- Yeah. I remember Monsignor Schmidt, he was the pastor at St. Patrick's for quite a while. I think from the early 40s up through into the 60s. And he was a native of Harrisburg. He's from the Schmidt Bakery family. Schmidt still down there along 83. So he came from a very affluent family. And it was quite wealthy, but he loved being a priest and loved ministering to the people. And I can remember him coming around to school to visit the classes whenever we got our report cards at St. Patrick's school. He came to every classroom on report card day and issued all the report cards to each kid, kind of looked them over, "Hmm, before we would give them to each kid." And he had his favorites in the class too. They always drew comments when he came across their report cards.

- Were there any, I guess--

- But he was also a very strict disciplinarian. Nowadays, St. Patrick's a very young parish. And if you go to Mass at St. Patrick's, there's a lot of children there, young children. You can hear a lot of children during Mass. Back then, that was not tolerated at all. He more than once made a comment from up on the altar when children were misbehaving or he saw what he would point at him. But he was a dear man.

- Was this in the middle of a traditional Latin Mass?

- Yeah, right, and he would not be opposed at stopping for a second and even going down there. I remember him going down to a pew at one time and making a comment to somebody. But as you mentioned, that was a different Catholic Church back then with the Latin Masses, much stricter. The priest was facing away from the people. He faced the front of the church instead of facing the congregation as it did now. Everything, as you said, was in Latin.

- So you mentioned going to St. Pat's and Father Schmidt coming down and reviewing report cards. Are there any other individuals that you remember from the school?

- I can remember. When I started at St. Patrick's School, that would have been, let's see, probably about 1955. They, the St. Where the daycare center is beside the Shrine Church. Now that was the first St. Patrick's school that they built, but it was only the original wing, not the wing over along Bedford Street. So there was six classrooms, that was it. So two of the classes, first and second grade in kindergarten, were still in the rectory building, St. Catherine's Hall, and where the chapel is now in those rooms. So I went to kindergarten and first grade in St. Catherine's Hall in the old, which used to be the rectory hall. And that's when they, when Katherine Drexel first built the schools for the Indian children, that it was in, these were the classrooms that were built in there. So they still utilized those because they'd only had six classrooms in the new building. And then later they added another wing to the St. Patrick's School. So they had all eight classes in the kindergarten over there. And then eventually they built the school they have now out on Longburst Drive in the 70s.

- A little bit bigger.

- Yeah.

- What, I remember, I think it was speaking with Claire, Breem, or Brehm, and she mentioned she volunteered in the kitchens. Was that the case? I don't think she was there when you were there.

- No, I don't remember her, but I can remember the ladies that were there for years and years and years. Hazel Boyle, one Yeager lady, Mrs. Latchall. They was all volunteers then that made the lunches every day. But that was good food. I always have good memories of the food at St. Patrick's School.

- So you didn't go home for lunch?

- No, we lived about, we lived across the Moreland School, the Moreland is now. That's a good mile from St. Patrick's. We walked home every day after school. But back then I don't think, if I remember correctly, nobody went home for lunch. You ate lunch at school.

- Okay. And then how long were you at the St. Patrick's School?

- I went there for all eighth grades. I graduated from eighth grade there and then went to Trinity for two years. Trinity opened the year that I graduated from St. Patrick's. So it was a big deal that everybody was excited about. There being a brand new Catholic high school and everything, so about half the kids that graduated went to Trinity and the other half went to Carlisle or Boiling Springs. But Trinity was nothing then like it is now. It was staffed by teachers that they brought in from all over the place. I thought it left a lot to be desired. I already went there for two years and I transferred to Carlisle. Graduated from Carlisle. But over the years it changed too and now it's one of the best high schools around.

- What was that a big shift going from Trinity to Carlisle?

- That wasn't the biggest deal is going from St. Patrick's to Trinity because that was a different world background and that's like an 18 mile trip or whatever on a bus. And back then that was a big deal. It's not like now when we only had one car in our family with eight kids. So you couldn't get a ride down there very often. But St. Pat's had a bus. We took all the kids from St. Pat's down there and then bought them back in the night. But it made it difficult with any extracurricular difficult with any extracurlicular or activities to find transportation home.

- Well, so I mean shifting back a little bit. What do you remember about attending Mass at the Shrine Church?

- I can remember it was very crowded because the Shrine Church is a small church and even back in those days St. Pat's had a lot of parishioners and I think on Sunday there was at least four Sunday Masses. And they were always crowded. And if you went to the eight o'clock Mass, back then it was called a low Mass. It was all recited. You know, there was no music except maybe opening hymn and closing him. And then at nine o'clock and 10:30 Masses were called high Masses because everything was sung. And those Masses even though it was sung in Latin, everything was sung. (bell ringing) That's mine.

- But there's a lot of ceremony and a lot of sprinkling of the holy water. You know, a lot more ceremony, a lot more in the dress than there is now. You were always dressed to the max when you went to Mass back in those days. Everybody always wore a coat and tie and the girls always wore their best dresses.

- Well, you mentioned you were one of eight children. So I'm wondering what role did the church play between in your family's life, whether it impacted you and your siblings or your parents or?

- Well, since we all went to school there, it's a huge part of your everyday life. You got up every morning, got dressed, mostly made our own breakfast because there were so many kids there if you want. My mom would always make something, but if you were free to make whatever you wanted, you wanted something different. And then my dad always drove us down to St. Pat's and he'd hand out quarters, it was a quarter for lunch back then in the cafeteria. And as we were getting in the car, he'd hand out the quarters and that's how he knew everybody was there, going through the roll call with the quarters to make sure he didn't miss anybody, which did happen once or twice.

- Well, I should ask too, what were your parents' names?

- George and Elaine Faller. My mom was from Philly and my dad grew up in Carlisle.

- And what did they do for a living?

- My dad was an attorney and he, you mentioned about industry and Carlisle. He worked for Carlisle Tire and Rubber. That's the first, we're not, my first memories of him as far as work, his office was actually at Carlisle Tire and Rubber. He was their company attorney for a number of years. So he worked, he did private work too, but he worked his office, was it? Carlisle Tire and Rubber. He thus knew all the Tire and Rubber hierarchy. And my first memories of my parents' friends were they were a lot of Carlisle, old Carlisle Tire and Rubber. People back when the whole plant was sat here on North College Street, they made bicycle tires and tubes and car tubes. And that was pretty much there.

- So they knew the Warrells then.

- Oh yeah.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, so.

- The whole family, Joanie, Lillian, and then their two sons were Lincoln and Caroll. And I can remember all of them coming over to the party and my parents had parties.

- And did you also attend church together or?

- With them.

- With the Warrells?

- No, no. It's a big enough deal just to get our whole family together and get them to church. We would see them at church every now and then, but we never attended together. I don't really remember anybody doing that back then. Different families attending together. It's kind of a social thing, you know, when mass was over to meet with everybody and chat and everything, but you certainly went individually. My mom was a big helper of people and we were always picking up somebody that didn't have a car and stuffing them in the car too and taking them and dropping them off after mass or just maybe they needed to ride home and taking them home after mass.

- So outside of school though, did you do anything else related or connected to St. Pat's?

- Well, I was an alter server when I was little. I can remember that started probably in about third or fourth grade at down at the Shrine Church. And that was a lot different serving mass back then because they, I don't know how much you remember back then, but the different readings that you do now to pull what were done up at the alter and they took the bulk and switched it from one side of the alter for the epistle, then to the other side of the alter for the gospel. And that's one of the things that the alter service did back then. Back then when you received communion, you didn't receive communion in your hands like they did now. The priests gave out all the communion so they held a thing under your, that was the alter boy's job to go down the line and people knelt down along the communion railing in front and the priest went up and down the line and distributed communion.

- And was that entirely at the Shrine Church?

- Back then, yeah. And it was also, there was also morning mass every morning that they had alter service outside of the community and getting up at six and run my bicycle down there six in the morning to serve at six, six, 30 mass. But that had its benefits too. If you did that, you were at mass or at school 45 minutes early, so you got 45 minutes of playtime and before school started.

- So I can't remember who I was, I spoke to prior that I mentioned that they, I think were doing something similar up in Landisburg. So I didn't know if there was still, if there was that Perry County affiliated church then as well when you were in Perry County.

- Oh, in New Bloomfield. Yeah, St. Bernards, which is a parish now. When it first started, it was a mission of St. Patrick's. St. Patrick's priests went up there every Sunday for mass. Did mass. And I was also in the Boy Scouts at St. Patrick's. And when we were at camp up in, by Landisburg at the camp, we'd go to New Bloomfield for mass on Sunday. And then that was, like I said, originally that was just a mission of St. Patrick's because there was enough people over there. Father, Monsignor Schmidt, in addition to being the pastor at St. Patrick's, he was the chair of the group called the Society of the Propagation of the Faith, which was a big early evangelization group. So he was the number one go-getter for bringing in new Catholics. So anytime he thought there was a new market for a parish he would go after. And that's how St. Bernards started, why they started saying mass over there. Then eventually enough people went to mass there that they made it a parish. They have their own parish now. And that's how that mission at Newville came about too that our father was talking about at mass on Memorial Day. There used to be a chapel in Newville. It was actually in my relative's basement. And that was there for probably 10 years. They say Pat's priests would go up there every Sunday and say mass.

- Yeah, and I didn't realize that at close I think that same interview they talked about

- The Newville one.

- Mission as well, yeah.

- Yeah, it closed I think, if I remember correctly in the 70s, early 70s. Just the interest in it kind of waining and it wasn't worthwhile going, I guess. Father Fontanella was here that he seems looking at it from a.

- So the only sort of outside, I don't know if it's a mission or church is the one that I think you were mentioning earlier before we started saving things, you sure whoever seen that?

- Yeah, it's St. Eleanor Regina. They say mass there from Memorial Day to Labor Day. And Monsignor Schmidts, actually the one that built that chapel up there back in 1950, he, I don't know if you've ever got into this with him or not, but he's, like I said, he was quite wealthy and his family had a big cabin up at Pine Grove. So he was always at Pine Grove when he was a kid and growing up. He knew how many Catholics were up there. So after he became a priest, he started saying mass at his cabin at Pine Grove for all the Catholic people. Eventually there was just too many of them. So he leased some land and got some money and built St. Eleanor Regina up there, which opened in 1950.

- Is that his mother's name?

- Yeah.

- Well, um.

- So, not to interrupt, sorry. At one time, St. Patrick's on a Sunday in the summer, a priest from St. Patrick's would say mass at St. Eleanor Regina, one of them would say mass at Newville, one of them would say mass in New Bloomfield, plus all the masses in St. Patrick's. So they were pretty busy back then.

- The question I was gonna ask is, sort of what was your first memory of a significant event related to church?

- Probably baptisms. As I said, we had eight kids, I remember a lot of the baptisms as, they all, slightly older ones came along. So I remember having baptisms, there was always a great big family party, all the relatives would come from Philadelphia and Baltimore. Because my father's generation of the Fallers also had quite a few kids, so there was a lot of cousins. Follower cousins would come anytime, there was a family event like that. And baptism was a big deal in our family, it was a big celebration.

- You're on, where are you on that, in sort of the age range?

- I'm the third oldest, oldest boy. So I have two older sisters, and then there's two sisters right below me, before my second brother came along.

- So you would have been, so I can see how baptisms you would have been there for a number of your younger siblings?

- The ones right under me, I don't like, but I also have two brothers that are quite a bit younger, George is like, I don't know if you know, George in town, Attorney, he's 12 years younger than I am, and then Michael's 13 years younger. So I was actually in, you know, eighth or ninth grade when George was born.

- Well, I recognize the name, I don't know if I can place the, place the, he's obviously, you know, with the, I don't know which member, your family, when we did the reenacting of the courthouse.

- That was George.

- Okay, yeah.

- He played John, yeah, yeah.

- Yeah, so, but,

- Yeah, cause you would have been, you wouldn't have been alive for that.

- I remember that, yeah.

- Were you?

- I was six, that's 1955, right? Yeah, I was six, and my parents just got all the kids together and sent us up to Pine Grove to a cabin up there, a lady that used to babysit us all the time, took us, they, I guess, just assumed it would be easier if we were out of the way for a while. But I remember, I don't remember the actual event, but I remember the results of it, and sure, a lot of people, sure. I'd have to say that's probably one of the earliest things I can remember, period.

- That was your uncle.

- Yeah, yeah, that was my dad's brother. And then some of the kindergarten, I can remember things, kindergarten at St. Pat's, all the grades were taught by nuns back then, the Sisters of Mercy, Sister Andre was the principal, Sister Damian was my teacher in both kindergarten and first grade, so I remember them real well.

- I think I'm getting my kids confused with the demolition of the market house, which John would have been, I think he was heavily involved in trying to save, so. You would have been too young to remember that.

- I don't really, I remember hearing about it, but when I was older, but I don't remember that happening.

- Well, you mentioned Father Schmidt. Are there any other pastors that you remember?

- Yeah, Monsignor Schmidt was here as a pastor, I think, till around 1960, and then Father Mannerin was here, he was the pastor for quite a few years, and I think he was followed by Father McGinley, if I remember correctly. There might have been another one in there, and I think, I don't remember if Father McGinley was followed directly by Father Fontenella, or if there maybe was somebody else in there. But Father Mannerin was a close copy of Monsignor Schmidt, older, very likable, but very stern, you know?

- Okay.

- Monsignor Schmidt was a real character, I don't know if you gathered any of this from what the other people said. He was a real character, he'd be very funny at times, and he was a Monsignor, so he wore the vestments and had red underneath him, you know, kind of like a bishop. And he was pretty regal, you know, carried himself very well.

- Well, you kind of got that impression from your story about him walking to the classroom to review and hand out report cards.

- He was quite a character. And I think after he retired, he lived across the street from the Shrine Church in the Yeager's house. The people lived directly across the street were Catholic, and the one Mary Yeager watched over the Shrine Church, I think she was the caretaker for years and years and years. And I think Father, Monsignor Schmidt, retired to their house for a number of years after he retired from practice.

- And then the other name that comes up a lot when we talk about people who oversaw St. Pat's is Fontenella. Do you have any memories of him or?

- He was very well liked, he was very frugal, he was always concerned about St. Pat's, you know, financial well-being. He took it upon himself to know everybody as well as he could. He was very well liked, very, very good leader.

- The next question I have is, if you have any memories of serving in ministries or committees or helping with CCD?

- I was a second grade CCD teacher for about 20 years, probably in the, my daughter was born in 1980, so it was right after she was born, 80s and 90s. And that was especially gratifying because second grade is the year that they received first communion and received penance for the first time. So I got to teach that to the young kids and that was always very enjoyable. Toni Creason was the second grade teacher at St. Patrick's School back then. So she taught the kids that were in the school and there was usually one other teacher with me in CCD that taught the CCD students, but I really enjoyed that, did that for many years.

- Were there other CCD teachers that you remember?

- Kathy Belcher, she was, I think she was first grade when I was there. Kathy Gibb, she, I think she taught second grade a couple years with me.

- Was there kind of a curriculum that you followed to kind of view what they--

- They used a regular textbook, kind of like a, made by the same, one of the same companies that made public school textbooks and different subjects. So they had a regular textbook that you used for second grade taught the reconciliation and taught first communion. And after you taught a couple years, you got to know it pretty well, so you could improvise a lot on your own too, to add to it instead of just standing up there and lecture it to the kids. We did a lot of different things that were really enjoyable. And then at the end of the year in April, was when the kids would actually receive reconciliation for the first time. The kids were always terrified of that, to have to go and talk to the priest and tell them what they did wrong for the first time. But once they did it, they'd always come out of there, smiling and happy, so it was a great experience. And then communion, when first communion would be a week or two after that.

- So obviously you've been connected with St. Pat's for quite a while. I'm wondering if there are any sort of events or church issues that you remember in your time.

- Well back, when I was young, St. Pat's always had a huge festival every year. I mean, I think most churches back then was a big fundraiser. And I can remember doing that when I was a kid, going and participating in all the games and always have a big dinner, maybe barbecue chicken or something. And then over the years, the parish just got away from that. I don't know if it's because of not having enough people to help or whatever, but that was always a big deal back when I was young. And some people that we've talked to have mentioned that they kind of felt like after that festival was canceled, there became a sort of disconnect between the church and the community. Because that was one way that the church really was a part of the community. Because it wasn't just for parishioners.

- That was always a big, I mean that was always something you always look forward to every year. The festival weekend. And almost everybody in the parish had some role in it. It's also as far as helping, whether you help with food or read a game stand or just help park the people. But that was a big deal. And all the people that lived down there near the Shrine Church, they always looked forward to that every year too. They'd always come and enjoy the fun with everybody.

- Was that just on the sort of East Pomfort block? Or was it?

- It was pretty much that block there where it was set up. I don't know if you've, there's quite a big playground there. It's a daycare center now. Supposed to set up in there in the Rectory parking lot, they'd have dinners down in the cafeteria. The cafeteria back in my days, the early days was in the basement of St. Katherine's Hall. So they'd have dinner down there too, that they would serve.

- Do you remember, maybe not the exact year, but when the festival kind of ended?

- No, I don't. I graduated in '67 from high school and I was a college and in the Air Force for a while. So I would say it was, I can't remember if it was still going on when I got back or not.

- Well, the reason I asked you guys to know if the move out in '71, '72 to Marsh Drive had, if that was the reason or if it was?

- Well, it was rather directed, I think, once or twice in different forms and out they had it out there. And then they've had dinners that, trying to get the same atmosphere back. Father Bender, who's the pastor now, Father Don, he's big on having this dinner, his parish dinner, every spring, I guess it is. He really enjoys that. He enjoys the camaraderie with the dinner.

- You mentioned you went to college and then the Air Force. When did you come back to Carlisle?

- I was back here in '74, '75.

- So the Marsh Drive Church, would have been constructed at that point? Do you remember hearing anything about that while you were away?

- My mom would send me updates on it every now and then, or send the bulletin, mail the bulletin, and it would have updates on it and what they're doing and everything.

- She didn't make any comment about whether she was for or against?

- My mom was always for progression. I think she enjoyed the fact that there was a new church and Vatican II, the Church was in, the mass was in English now and everything. So I can remember some of my relatives were very staunch, including my sister, oldest sister, staunch conservative Catholics. They still wanted Latin mass.

- Listen on the radio.

- Yeah, so.

- So you mentioned the festival. I'm wondering were there other community issues that you remember the church being involved in or that you were involved with?

- Well, when I was in the Boy Scouts at St. Patrick's, actually I became an Eagle Scout there, but we did a lot of projects, marching to parades. Back then, there was always a Memorial Day parade in Carlisle, we'd march in that. Remember marching to Halloween parade more than once, and we'd help with different projects around town, gardening and different public projects. Trying to think what else this school. Back when I was at St. Patrick's School, May Crowning was a big deal. And they'd actually have a procession around the neighborhood down there on, I think on a Thursday or Friday afternoon. And one of the girls in eighth grade would be selected as the May Queen, and they would have a procession around the neighborhood and then into the church and the May Queen would take a crown of roses out for flowers and put it on the statue of Mary and they're from the church.

- While you were away at college and the Air Force, did you sort of also maintain regular church service?

- I always tried to, wherever I was, always tried to go to Mass every Sunday. Sometimes it wouldn't, depending on what the Air Force had you doing on a particular day, but I always tried to go to Mass every Sunday. Wasn't involved with too much with the church when I was away, I don't know if it was because you changed so many different times. It was more after I got back to St. Pat's, I enjoyed working with them.

- I know sometimes some of the people that I've talked to, they've mentioned that sort of their first involvement with the Catholic community in Carlisle was at the barracks, but because of your just always being raised in Carlisle, did you ever, it was never a decision for you not to go to the barracks, but also just to go back to St. Pat's when you came back?

- Yeah, I always considered myself as part of St. Pat's. Matter of fact, there's a lot of people that are assigned to Carlisle to the War College and who actually go to St. Pat's instead of the Post chapel just because they enjoy, I'd say most of them, part of their kids are at St. Patrick's School, so they get to learn a lot about the parish and how wonderful it is and enjoy that interaction their kids get with the kids at school and a church there also.

- A couple more questions, but what made you come back to Carlisle?

- I think the small town, the appeal of it, to me, Carlisle has such a wonderful combination of, you could walk five minutes and you're downtown, but it's within an hour of Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Baltimore, it has the best of everything.

- Did alot of your siblings stay as well?

- Initially, no, they went all over the place, but in the last two years, two of my sisters who are retired, one from Minnesota and one from Virginia moved back to Carlisle because every time we'd have a family party, we'd send them pictures and a video so they wanted to see what this was all about and they were just amazed at how close our family is here still so they're more than happy that they moved back here.

- What did you end up doing for a career when you came back to Carlisle?

- Well, I graduated as a mechanical engineer, so I worked for Carlisle Tire and Rubber for a little bit and I wasn't too happy working at a desk, I'm kind of a hands-on guy. Back then, I raced motocross, motorcycles, I was pretty good, I used to race all over the place and a local shop here offered me a job, working in the shop, so I started working on motorcycles and been in that industry ever since. In a lot of different capacities, manager of a shop, the place I'm working at now, because I'm kind of retired from it, I just worked two days a week, but I handle all their warranty work and I restore old antique motorcycles. old B.M.W.s old Honda's.

- Okay. So you've been doing that since?

- Since the late 70s. The restoration stuff pretty much started in the last 20 years. There's a lot of people finding old bikes, just like they do with cars and clocks, whatever, been sitting around in the family for 40 years and they want to get them back on the road again.

- So it sounds like if you're, some of the bike bikes you mentioned, you're more in the fast bikes and also racing than the?

- I'm not into racing at all anymore.

- Why? But back in the day I was.

- When I think of the BMW bikes and the, yeah, Honda, I think of fast, not?

- Yeah, most of the ones I restore are just finishing one right now. It's a 900cc, just a typical touring bike from back in the 70s. One that you'd take trips on. But compared to what's made now to do that, I guess it's the same as cars. The stuff's so advanced now, not just with the electronics, but the ride and the comfort that if you ride one of those old bikes, it's a real experience compared to riding a new one.

- I think I remember reading somewhere that someone buying an antique car would be really interesting. So they got in it and the noise, just the lack of power steering and everything else, they drove the block and said, "Nope, I'm good."

- Yeah, people will buy them before they have them assessed. So they'll bring it in and I'll go over it, make a list of everything they need. And I said, "Why are you doing this? "If you think you're gonna put this all together "and use it as a daily bike, forget it, "'cause they're not designed." That's not what you wanna do. If you're a collector, you wanna keep it as a collection. I had to ride it once a month, that's fine. They're very crude compared to what the new bikes are. Kinda like a car, like driving a 57 Chevy around every day for your everyday driver.

- So you mentioned that when you were growing up, Carlisle was a little bit different than it is today. I'm wondering if you could just talk about how Carlisle has changed over the years.

- Well, I guess it was in the 60s or 70s, everything was gonna be in the malls. All the stores were gonna leave downtown Carlisle. There was a mall out where Walmart is now, and there was a mall down at Albion Point. And that's where almost all the stores, there was very few stores left in downtown Carlisle. And the downtown association and the chamber have done a really good job, I think, of trying to get businesses back down to Carlisle, especially restaurants. There's a lot of good restaurants in downtown Carlisle. But the retail shift has definitely shifted out of the, downtown, I guess every town is dealing with that.

- Well, shifting back a little bit to St. Pat's, how did the pandemic impact viewing I guess, worshiping at or not worshiping at?

- I remember it was real sudden. We were still going to Daily Mass almost every day. And then one day they had annouced, couldn't do Mass. They couldn't say Mass live anymore. So they offered Mass every morning on online, on the computer, stream from a chapel they have in the rectory building. And for a good year, that's where Sunday Mass was also. They all originated from there. So for a good year, you know, you didn't attend Mass except online. That was quite different. And my son had just finished one job. So he was kind of caught here at Carlisle when they first shut down. So he was here with me all that time during, and he's very devout too. It was quite a change in your life, not being able to go to Mass every Sunday. It's really different sitting there on the couch, watching it online. So it was a big, when they went back to live Mass, that was really rewarding.

- Yeah, I know a few people have mentioned that, really, you know, it was really difficult, I guess, whether the lack of communal experience or not being able to, yeah, just experience it in person, it really struggled.

- And Father Don had just come here, you know, when that happened. He was really put behind a curved tube, you know, as far as serving everybody. And I used to, when that started, I was taking communion to Cumberland Crossings every week for people that are in there, about probably six or seven of them, and they canceled all that, so they couldn't do that anymore. And that went on for a whole year, and it was really disappointing, because every now and then you'd hear that one of these people that you took communion to passed away there, and you hadn't seen them for six or eight months. So that was disappointing.

- Now, was it sort of the reopening that made you get involved with the Pine Grove Chapel?

- No, I've actually been, my mother-in-law was the one that took care of the place long ago, you know, 20 or 30 years ago, and she asked me, she said, "Hey, would you like to be one of the people "that open it up every Sunday?" I said, "Sure." So I started doing that probably 25 years ago, and had done it regularly every summer since then. So that's why they asked Starr, the secretary, down at St. Patrick's. I talked her one day, she said, "Hey, we need somebody to take care of the chapel, "watch, you know, organize everything." I said, "Sure." I said, "That's always been one of my loves, "so I'd consider it an honor to do it."

- And what does that entail?

- Because it's shut down all winter, we actually take all the stuff out of there that's of any value, take it back the same path. So that all has to be taken back up there, and set up, and make sure that there's some people, make sure there's gonna be a person, whether it's me or somebody else, there every Sunday to open the place up an hour early, because it's all locked up. And you have to open all the sides up. Instead of being windows, there's kind of the sides open up, that's the light for the place. Open it up, set it up for mass, the wine, the water they use, the hymns, make sure that there's gonna be music there. Then just kind of go through the reverse. And on Memorial Day, we had barbecue and drinks after mass for everybody. Labor Day, there's a big picnic there. After mass is over, cover dish, everybody brings, the parish provides hot dogs and drinks, and everybody brings a dish to share.

- I'm assuming those are probably more well attended, but on an average Sunday, how many people are going there?

- Well, at one time, that was, as I said, when I was a kid, the world was different. There wasn't swim clubs, people didn't have cars to run all over. Pine Grove was actually a huge vacation area back then. So that chapel every Sunday was packed, and they had benches they would set outside along these open sides of the church. And then when COVID hit, we weren't allowed to have mass there, obviously. So the first summer of COVID, they had mass on Memorial Day, 4th of July weekend and Labor Day. That was only three Sundays the whole summer. So it was two years before they opened it back up. And last year was the first full year that it was open. And it was kind of limited attendance at first. I think it's because a lot of people that hadn't been there every year got out of the habit or some of them might be gone. But this year on Memorial Day, were there Memorial Day? There was quite a crowd there on Memorial Day, as big a crowd as has been there since COVID hit. And the same last Sunday, there was a big crowd there also. So there's probably around 100 people because the chapel seats 100 people and it was pretty much full.

- Well, the last, a couple of questions I have for my final question, if everything goes to plan is, do you recall a time when faith played a particularly important role in your life?

- When what?

- When your faith played a particularly important role in your life?

- I'd say my whole adult life, I suffer from a pretty debilitating anxiety problem. And at times it's been really, really a struggle. My faith has always helped me through that by praying and just, you know, and talking to God and it's helped me through a lot of difficult times.

- This might be the same answer then, but I'm just wondering how has your sort of faith journey influenced your life over the years? And you mentioned, as an adult, playing a more important role and I'm wondering if there were any.

- I think the older you get, the more you realize that, you know, you realize your mortality and that, you know, someday it's gonna end and there's something beyond that and you need to be prepared for that. So you kind of set your life up with attending Mass and talking to God and praying, preparing for that time when you're not gonna be mortal anymore. You tend to, I think in your middle years when you're carefree and 30, you know, you tend to forget that a lot of times. I know my sons do and I think, but as you get older, I think you, I do anyway, that becomes a primary factor in your life.

- Well, the final question I have since I'm here for every interview is any question I should have asked or anything that you want to mention before we end?

- I think you covered exactly what I thought would probably be asked, you know, I tried to give you a good as representation of what I remember. You think you remember a lot and sometimes when you specifically try to remember, things escape you, but it was a great childhood, you know, growing up in St. Patrick's.

- Yeah, well, thank you so much, David, for coming out to the Historical Society today for talking with me, I really appreciate it.

- She's with me.

- Debbie has a question.

- Yeah, sorry.

- You had mentioned to me, I can't remember what year, maybe before COVID, that there was a member of your family being baptized and you said how many generations?

- Yeah, I have three grandsons. The first one was baptized up in New York City, I remember that, but my second one, my daughter wanted to have him baptized here in the Shrine Church because she was baptized in the Shrine Church and he is the fifth generation of the Faller family that was baptized in the Shrine Church. So that was a big deal to us.

- Yeah.

- I think that was before COVID.

- Yeah, that was before COVID because he is like four now, four and a half.

- We would go to Daily Mass then come on.

- And that's when Father Josh was here.

- Yes.

- And Father Josh, I don't knew him or not, he was very conservative, very kind of old fashioned and he, Megan was talking to him one day about baptism and there's different rites of baptism, that you can receive and they did some old fashioned Latin rite at the Shrine Church. Megan was, my daughter Megan is 40 and she's very. 42. She's very old fashioned Catholic sometimes with the hymns and the dress of the priest and the Latin part of the mass. So she enjoys that. That meant a lot to her to have the old rite of baptism for her son.

- She takes after your sister.

- Yeah.

- And he was young, Father Josh. He was young Father Josh.

- Yeah.

- He kind of get beard.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, like a little.

- Yeah, if you look at him, you think he's Russian Orthodox or something along those lines. But he was a very good soul and he was very sincere about his faith and Megan talked to him a couple of times and so she wanted to bring Theo down here to get it baptized after he was born.

- And just one more thing. Do you remember, I forget who was telling me, when PPG came from Pittsburgh, there was a big influx of people to the parish and I think that shortly after they discussed enlarging the Shrine Church, but the parking, all that wasn't gonna happen. So that's when Mark Stravins, do you remember that when all the families came? Because they'd be maybe more Eastern European ethnic groups then.

- Well, my in-laws, I didn't know them then, but they came here from Elwood City, which is a Pittsburgh suburb with PPG. They came here to work for PPG because they had worked for PPG out there and they were very ethnic and they came from a very ethnic area out there. Their whole family was Catholic and all their relatives were Catholic and she's the one that took her to St. Eleanor Regina then for a year or so.

- Woodside.

- Woodside.

- Okay, okay.

- And when Father Moran was here the first time, when he was a parochial vicar, he was kinda like my mother-in-law's son. She took him under her wing. She used to take him shopping at the grocery store and he'd buy chocolate bars and all that kind of stuff and she'd get them all kind of groceries and they were very close.

- Okay, I was curious about that because that whole different group of people, Catholics, of a different ethnic group came up with a Pittsburgh group.

- When I was, one thing I remember when I was little, there was a lot of big Catholic families at St. Patrick's with six or eight kids. I can think of six or eight of them. Kids all went to St. Patrick's School and we'd party, my parents and them would party together when they had parties. I would always be at the parish festival when the parish had a festival but a lot of big Catholic families, Buckleys, Deedys, Rawhollys. Back when I was a kid, Buckley Motors was the Ford dealer and that was Dan Buckley.

- Yeah, you don't realize in the community the Catholic families that play a large role in the community. It's a large parish, very large.

- Well yeah, thank you so much there for coming in today.

- My pleasure, my pleasure.