ELMYRA KATHRYN ALLEN ROLLER

Elmyra was the second daughter and sixth child of Laura Baumgardner and Cornelius F. "Con" Allen. At the time of her birth, her father was a Houtzdale, PA shoemaker and owner of Houtzdale Boot & Shoe Store and was just getting started in his active political and community affairs life. She was born 4 Oct 1900 into a house with five children and other relatives. Elymra grandmother Elmirah Eckenrode Baumgardner and her aunt Nellie Baumgardner, age 22, resided with the family. Elymra was named after her grandmother and she must have had a firm attachment to her grandmother because much later when she was thirty she named her daughter "Nancy" after the first Elmirah's mother Nancy Myers Eckenrode.

Elymra attended school in Houtzdale for her first year and then moved with her parents and eight brothers and sisters to the bigger town of Clearfield at the age of 7. Her father was the sheriff of Clearfield County from 1907-1910 and there are many family stories regarding the jail house lore. During this time her father started a new shoe store in the neighboring town of DuBois and after the sheriff term was over the entire family moved to a rental home on North Main Street. Elymra waited eagerly for the new home being built finally moving into 415 West Weber Avenue. Elymra attended St. Catherine's School and graduated in 1917.

Elymra loved her days perfoming with the Allen family. Her older sister Marie was the accompanist so Elymra was the leader for the dancing and singing numbers that she and her younger sister brillantly performed. When Elymra was sixteen The DuBois Courier wrote on their front page," ALLEN SISTERS MADE DECIDED HIT AT HOUTZDALE - The five Allen sisters, who have attained an unusually wide reputation as entertainers, have returned from Houtzdale, where they were the principal features at the big Scotch celebration in that place on Friday. The four sisters gave their dancing and singing specialties of Scotch and Irish numbers, while Miss Marie Allen played the piano, and Mr. Allen the traps. The celebration was under the auspices of the Scotch clubs of Clearfield and Centre counties and in the neighborhood of 5,000 people were in attendance. The Allen sisters gave five numbers in the afternoon and five in the evening, their work work being received with the highest commendation. the large gathering could not get too much of the fine brand of entertainment that these girls gave, and freely applauded each number. The Allen sisters are engaged for the big Grampian fair on October 3 and 4, and will appear there on the 5th. (The DuBois Courier, 3 Oct 1916, pg.1)

When Elymra was seventeen her four older brothers were off to WWI and her father took the time to help in the war bond effort. His contribution was to organize a march enlisting Elymra and other girls from St. Catherine's school as well as surrounding schools in a celebration of the successful Liberty Loan Drive. The Clearfield County demonstration was supposed to be the largest of its kind and the the girls from St. Catherine's represented Italy in the parade. (Newspaper picture and clipping, The North American, Philadelphia, PA, 5 May 1918.)

Elymra and her sisters made a social imprint in the DuBois community. One of the parties of Marie, Elymra, Ida and Laura was written up in the paper, " MASQUERADE PARTY. The four Allen sisters were hostesses at a masquerade party given at the Allen home on West Weber Avenue last night. There were sixty guests present, the evening being spent with music games and amusements. The unmasking was a feature of the evening. A delicious lunch was served. (Newspaper clipping, date and name unknown.)

Elymra was employed as a governess for a family in Philadelphia. She continued her active social life and her beau was handsome attorney John Marshall. In spite of wedding proposals he was not "the one" and she fell in love with another Philadelphian Albert Roller. They married at the start of the Great Depression. How could a young couple survive such a terrible time?

(Note: If you have read the statistics from the volumes written, and the many accounts both factual and fictional, about the Depression days, and even though you listen to many tales told by those who survived these years, you cannot possibly feel these times. Inside of us there was feeling; it was at once frustration and courage, anger and patience, hope and resignation, bewilderment and faith, and the whole gamut of human confusion ; and it was with you every minute of every waking hour, year after year. Every man, woman and child was a casualty to some degree, and the impact upon our society is still a factor in today's culture." (Memoir,John Armour, ed. by James C.Armour)

Work was scarce for Al in these depression days and the couple departed for new opportunities in Norfolk, Virginia where their daughter Nancy was born. Unemployment was rampant and Al had a difficult time supporting his family. The marriage ran into problems and Elymra and Al separated when the baby was nine months old. Elymra returned to DuBois to live with her parents, sisters Ida and Jean and brothers Ed and Ralph on Weber Avenue and her daughter Nancy grew up in a rich mix of love and laughter. In later years Elymra never talked to her daughter about Al and Nancy did not know that he had written love letters to her. Family lore reports that Cornelius told Al Roller never to return to DuBois and he was never mentioned in the Con Allen house and was treated as deceased. Nancy found the letters in a locked desk drawer after Elymra died and the last letter was dated 1948.

Elymra continued the family tradition of in-house entertainment playing piano duets with sister Jean and daughter Nancy. Elymra was an active member of the Community Chorus and joined the other family members in the choir at St. Catherine's. There are many delightful stories about Elymra's fun loving nature that daughter Nancy plans to share with the Allen family. One tale is about Elymra's beer drinking. Of course everyone knew that Con and Laura were strict members of the temperance society but Elymra liked to drink beer and kept the bottles on the window sill outside her bedroom. She often would drink a few on Saturday night and then throw the bottles out the window to the grass below. On Sunday morning Con would go out to the door on his way to church and had to pick up the bottles complaining about the nerve of the wild ones throwing beer bottles of his lawn.

When her father died in 1940, Elymra started to work in the Con Allen Shoe Store which was owned by her brothers Ed and Ralph. Ralph was no longer living in the Weber house because he married Eloise in 1942 and Ida had married Norm Schaffer and had her own apartment downtown in DuBois. There was only Elymra, Nancy, Jean and Ed left in the big house. They decided to downsize and the house was sold and the foursome moved just around the corner to a smaller house at 203 State Street, DuBois, PA.

Elymra was only sixty-two when she passed away August 18, 1963 . Her daughter remembers her sparking, fun-loving personality and her nieces and nephews remember her warmth as a loving aunt. DuBois news remembered Elymra in an editorial, ELMYRA ALLEN ROLLER, When Elmyr Allen Roller died last week, it marked the second break by death in the large family of Mr. and Mrs. Con Allen, who came to DuBois from Houtzdale a half century ago to establish a shoe store, and to give credence to the story that they are Ścheaper by the dozen.' ...Elymra Allen was one of the family. She grew into charming womanhood, married and had a family of her own and became associated with the management of the shoe store, following the death of ther father. She attracted to the store hundreds of customers, who had become accustomed to the the cheery greeting which she gave to one and all, as she made acquaintances into friends. We will miss Elmyra Allen Roller. (Newspaper clipping, name unknown, Jun1963.)