"I AM: Proud"--Luann Zambanini Offers Help to Former Boyertown Resident

Ed.: As part of Studio B Art Gallery's "I AM: Proud" project, local writers and artists were encouraged to respond to the theme.

by Luann Zambanini*

Little did I know when I was driving to the Boyertown Area Historical Society that morning that I would meet a sweet woman who would remain a friend! At the society the phone rang that day in July. A woman named Pat from Ohio was looking to find a house that she had lived in over 60 years ago. She told me the address was R.D. #2 in Boyertown. Oh my, we haven’t had RD addresses for years! How could I possibly find this home for this woman?

We kept speaking and she explained that her mother had passed away when she was very young. Her father had moved the family (Pat, her sister, and her brother) to Pottstown and a few years later to Ohio. She had lived in Ohio ever since her father’s moved the family out there.

Pat continued to tell me that she had been talking about her childhood home and life in Pennsylvania to her children for years. Her son told her if she could get information as to where the house was, he’d take her to Pennsylvania over Labor Day weekend to visit.

Pat gave me a few more hints about her family home in RD #2 Boyertown. She went to Drumheller School. Hmm… I never heard of that school. But she also said she went to Hill Church School. Now we are talking and giving me a good idea what area RD #2 was. She told me that if they missed the bus they would have to walk up the hill to the Drumheller School. She wondered if someone at the society could help her. I was ready for this challenge and said I would see what I could find as I took down her contact information.

Drumheller School is in the Hill Church area; as a matter of fact it is now the township building of Pike Township, on Hill Church Road. You can’t get it much easier than that in finding an old school. So my husband and I took a drive up the road past Hill Church School and Drumheller School. I took a picture of each and sent it to Pat, and she was thrilled and texted me back these were the schools!

As I recalled Pat had told me that if they missed the bus they walked up hill to the school. I had my husband drive down the hill just past Drumheller School and I took a picture of every home that was older than 50 years and texted then to her. I got a text back that the first picture was her house! She was so thrilled, and so was I.

I now had an exact address that her son could pull up in the GPS when he brought his mom to her childhood home. Pat said “I want to meet you when we come in to Pennsylvania.” By now she and I had been BFF’s with our texting (when I’d find something or she’d want to tell me something more), so I wanted to meet her also!

Fast forward to Thursday before Labor Day weekend. Pat sent me a text message that she and her son were in Pennsylvania and want to meet me and my family for dinner. So we picked a local restaurant and my family and I finally got to meet Pat and her son.

It was so much fun talking to her! She had brought pictures of her family. I felt like I had found a long lost family member. After we ate, we took them to the area of RD #2 Boyertown and her old homestead. Pat was beyond thrilled. The memories that must have filled her heart. It was getting dark, so her son and she were going to come back in the daylight; they knew from our directions where to find the Drumheller School and the Hill Church School.

I was thrilled that I could reunite this dear lady with her old family home. It filled my heart with joy as I saw the excitement in her eyes. She gave me a gift and a donation for the Boyertown Area Historical Society. I wasn’t looking for anything. Her face was worth all the time I had spent searching for RD #2 Boyertown.

* Following native Luann Zambanini's 37- career with A.D. Moyer, she has taken the Boyertown Area Historical Society as her second career, serving as treasurer and helping out at most events in town. Her special interests are the Opera House Fire and the Boyertown Casket Company. Luann is an active member of St. Columbkill’s as greeter, usher, and all-around volunteer. But spending time at home with her dogs, cats, and plants--baking and reading, researching, or updating her extended family history--add to her full life. 

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