Henry Phend Celebrates 92nd Birthday

For quite some time, I've known that the Whitley County Historical Museum had several file cabinets full of newspaper clippings dealing with the families of the county but I just hadn't taken the time to check for my families. On Monday, we were working in the room where these file cabinets are located so I opened the "P" Surname drawer and there was a file for the Phend family. The clippings in that file ranged from the 1930s through the 1970s and covered topics such as birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and family reunions, among other tidbits. A date was hand-written on most of the clippings but the name of the newspaper was not. I know that there were other articles on the Phend family in the newspaper during this time period that aren't included in the clippings file. I don't know where the clippings came from or what the criteria was for whether something was included or not. There are other family surnames that I'll look for in the files in the near future.

This is just one of the 74 news articles that I scanned today, it is dated 11-9-57. Click on the image to view a larger version.

Henry Phend Is At Son's Home on 92nd Birthday

Henry Phend, who has been a patient at the Irvin Nursing home for nearly two years following a hip fracture, was pleasantly surprised on his 92nd birthday Thursday when Stuart Smith and Robert Erdmann called at the Nursing home and took Mr. Phend by ambulance to the home of his son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Phend, 412 South Elm street. While Mr. Phend was in the ambulance Mr. Smith and Mr. Erdmann graciously motored him around town so that he was able to see some of the changes that had taken place during the past two years.

When he arrived at the Gerald Phend home he found waiting for him a decorated birthday cake and supper, which Mrs. Phend had prepared. Pictures were taken while Mr. Phend was at his son's home, cards and letters he had received were read and members of his family and friends visited him.Mr. Phend was born November 7, 1865 in Marshall county, seven miles east of Bremen. He was married to Susie Yarian in 1892. Mrs. Phend died on April 29, 1956.

Mr. Phend and his son's, Gerald (Dufty), Virgil and Donald, have built many homes and business places and have installed more than 30 store fronts in the city. His other sons are Victor, Larwill, who operates a typewriter repair shop in Fort Wayne; Cecil, operates an auto repair garage at Merriam; Russell, has a filling station at Tarpon Springs, Fla., and Paul, Antwerp, Ohio, who owns and operates a genera repair shop. His daughter, Bernice Turner, lives at Temple City, California.