OBIT: William H. KRETCHMAN, 1942, Meyersdale, Somerset County, PA

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Meyersdale Library.
Transcribed and proofread by: Richard Boyer.

Copyright 2009.  All rights reserved.
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________________________________________________

WILLIAM H. KRETCHMAN

Wm. H. Kretchman Succumbed Wednesday
Prominent Educator Was A Former County Superintendent of Schools

  Prof. William H. Kretchman, 73, well known Somerset County educator, died 
suddenly Wednesday morning at the home of Mrs. Bruce Hewett Rhodeniser, near 
Glencoe.  Coroner Philip C. Dosch attributed death to coronary thrombosis.
  Prof. Kretchman, whose home was in Meyersdale for many years and had been a 
resident of Somerset since 1925, left his home on West Main Street in Somerset 
to view a tract of timberland in the Glencoe vicinity.  He stopped at the summer 
home of Mrs. Rhodeniser, about 11 Wednesday morning and complained of not 
feeling well.  Asking permission to lie down for a few moments, he went upstairs 
in the Rhodeniser home and a short time later dropped over dead.
  W. H. Kretchman served as superintendent of schools in Somerset County for 14 
years from 1920 to 1934, after which he retired from active duty.
  As a youth he attended schools in Summit Township and several state normal 
schools, graduating from California State Normal School in 1894.  He also 
graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in 1901 and in 1905 received the 
A.M. degree from the same institution.  He later did post graduate work at State 
College and the University of Pittsburgh.

Prominent Educator

  Prof. Kretchman devoted his life to the field of education.  Following his 
completion of schools in Summit Township he taught school for several terms in 
Elk Lick Township, Summit Township and Berlin Borough, where he was principal 
for several years.  From 1901 to 1902 he taught school in Lancaster County and 
served as principal of the Greenville High School in Mercer County for a while.  
Later removing to Meyersdale, Mr. Kretchman served as principal of the 
Meyersdale schools for 17 years from 1903 to 1920, at which time he was elected 
county superintendent.  During his years of teaching he devoted his talents to 
the instruction of Latin, German, physics and geometry.  Prof. Kretchman was 
well beloved by his host of former pupils and fellow teachers.  He seemed never 
to forget a student or a teacher who served under him as principal or 
superintendent, and he followed with personal interest the careers of many of 
them.
  Since 1903, Mr. Kretchman had been a member of the Pennsylvania State 
Education Association and from 1910 was a member of the National Education 
Assocation.  He also served as director of the Peoples National Bank of 
Somerset, was a member of the Odd Fellows, the Masonic Lodge, the Grange and 
Somerset Rotary Club.
  William H. Kretchman was born November 24, 1869, in Summit Township, the son 
of Lewis A. and Catherine Schrock Kretchman.

Active in Church Work

  He was an active worker in the Reformed church and at the fall meeting of the 
Somerset Classis, held in the Glade Church, October 18, 1938, was appointed one 
of a committee to publish a history of the Classis, serving in the capacity of 
secretary.  He first united with the Wilhelm Reformed Church during the 
pastorate of the Rev. C. U. Heilman.  Subsequently he transferred his membership 
to Amity Reformed Church in Meyersdale, where he was a leader of the choir from 
1908 to 1924.  For a time he was superintendent of the Sunday school and a 
teacher of the men's Bible class.  When Amity Hall was built, he was a member of 
the building committee and also served as secretary.  From 1916 to 1924 he was 
an elder at Amity church.
  When he transferred to Somerset in 1925, Prof. Kretchman was elected elder and 
served in that capacity until his death. Frequently Mr. Kretchman was a delegate 
to the classis and the synod and served as vice president of the synod for many 
years.  In 1936 he served as delegate to the general synod of the Reformed 
churches held in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  He was also a trustee of Franklin and 
Marshall College.  From 1937 until his death Wednesday W. H. Kretchman was 
president of the laymen of the Pittsburgh synod.
  He was married in 1908 to Miss Mary Ellen Gnagey, whose death occurred 
February 7, 1938.  He is survived by a brother and sister, John Kretchman of 
Meyersdale and Mrs. Harvey Hershberger of Meyersdale Route 1.
  The body of Prof. Kretchman will lie in state at his home in Somerset until 10 
o'clock Friday morning, when it will then be taken to St. Paul's Reformed 
Church.  Services will be conducted in the church Friday afternoon at 3:30, the 
Rev. Dr. George L. Roth conducting the service.  Interment in the Union 
Cemetery, Meyersdale, under the direction of Charles R. Hauger, Somerset 
mortician.

Meyersdale Republican, September 10, 1942