Mayme Irene Christman and Harry Franklin Bock
Photo on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding, July 3, 1911, Lehighton, Pennsylvania. (Source: nie078.pcx)	"This is to Certify that Harry F. Bock and Mayme Christman were united by me in a Holy Matrimony on the 3rd day of July A.D. 1911 at Lehighton, Pa."  Elmer S. Noll Pastor, Zion's Reformed Church.  Witnesses: Mrs. E. S. Noll. Source: nie085.pcx

Mayme Christman and Harry Bock, for many years, lived as wife and husband in the two-story, two-family home at 310/312 North Fourth Street in Lehighton, Pa.  Here, they had four children, raising three to maturity.  Early on, they lived on the south side (310), when Mayme's parents lived on the north side.  Later, they moved into the north side (312) and sold the south side. 

Their Ancestors

CHRISTMAN, Jacob  b. c. 1711 d. Jul 1761

CHRISTMAN, Philip  b. 18 Aug 1755 d. 19 Jun 1809 or 30 Jul 1825

?, Eva Margaret  b. ? d. post-1784

CHRISTMAN, John Henry  b. 3 Feb 1777 d. 17 Apr 1854

6 add'l generations to c. 1584

<   BAER, Anna Margaret  b. 11 Dec 1756 d. 5 Aug 1837

BOCK, Johannes b. ? d. 1780

CHRISTMAN, Jonas  b. abt. 20 Nov 1808 d. 10 Nov 1886

BOCK, Balthaser b. 30 Mar 1746 d. 17 Jun 1827

ROEDER/RADER, Anna Maria  b. 23 Aug 1782 d. 17 Jan 1851

SEIBERT, Anna Marie b. ? d. ?

CHRISTMAN, Aaron  b. 1 Sep 1845 d. 23 Nov 1913

BOCK, William b. 21 Dec 1789 d. 30 May 1860

SIEGFRIED, Henrietta  b. 28 Sep 1818 d. abt. 28 Apr 1890

BOLIG, Susanna Margaret b. 23 Aug 1755 d. 9 Jun 1814

CHRISTMAN, Wilson H.  b. 15 Jul 1868 d. 5 Mar 1939

BOCK, Daniel Salem  b. 1859  d. 1931

WALBERT, Sarah Amelia E.  b. 1 Apr 1849 d. 15 May 1918

SCHEIP, Susanna b. 30 Jun 1814 d. 13 Oct 1894

CHRISTMAN, Mayme Irene  b. 25 Jul 1890 d. 4 Feb 1974

BOCK, Harry Franklin  b. 28 Apr 1886  d. 26 Sep 1968

HENDRICKS, Alfred W.  b. 31 May 1845 d. 19 Jan 1917

HENDRICKS, Alice Louise  b. 16 Aug 1871  d. 5 Apr 1937

GRUBE (GROUVER), Hannah  b. 1857  d. 1941

?, Catharinea A.  b. 22 Sep 1840  d. 11 Dec 1909

Source: nie078.pcx

Harry Franklin Bock

Harry Bock was born April 28, 1886 in Lehighton, Pa.  Although he continued his father's watch and clock repair skills, he earned a living as a brakeman on the Lehigh Valley Railroad.  In the 1950s, while releasing the brake wheel after riding a boxcar down the LVRR's Packerton hump yard, a subsequent car was released into the same siding.   Impacting his car, his knee was shattered between the roofs of the two cars.   That ended his working days.  After hospitalization and surgery, he recovered to the point where he was able to maintain a daily regimen of walks to Lehighton's Eagles Club followed by watching the Phillies or westerns on television.

He died on September 26, 1968.  He is buried in Lehighton's cemetery (upper).

Source: nie078.pcx

Mayme Irene Christman

Mayme Christman was born on July 25, 1890, in Macungie, Pa.  Her family moved to Lehighton when her father became an engineer on the Lehigh Valley Railroad.

She is remembered as a care-giver by her children and grandchildren and for her superb dutch cakes and molasses cakes.  She personally wrote her name as, "Mamie."

She died on February 4, 1974.  She is buried with her husband in Lehighton's cemetery (upper).

Mayme Christman about 1891. Source: nie032.pcx	Mayme Christman (on right) about 1910. Source: nie029.pcx

Charles Bock in 1915 shortly before his death. A healthy child, he contracted measles, then pnemonia and died within a few days. Source: nie026.pcx	Emmett, Richard, and Kathryn. Source: nie086.pcx
Emmett (left) and Kathryn (right) with mother Mayme, about 1919 or 1920. Source: nie034.pcx	Kathryn about 1920. Source: nie030.pcx

Their Family

1. Charles Edward Bock (b. 5 Jan 1912, d. 18 Mar 1916)
2. Emmett Wilson Bock (b. 22 Jun 1916) married Josephine Elizabeth Sander (b. 6 Oct 1921) on 25 Apr 1942.
3. Kathryn Marie Bock (b. 5 Dec 1917) married Walter Hugo Niehoff (b. 14 Nov 1910, d. 7 Aug 1991) on 4 Aug 1937.
4. Richard Harry Bock (b. 26 Feb 1921, d. 14 Jun 2002) married Evalyn June Shoup (b. 20 Jun 1927) on 2 May 1947.

Richard Bock was my hero uncle. He enlisted in the U.S. Army (First Armored Division) in time for Operation TORCH - the invasion of North Africa, and later Sicily and Anzio.  I, at age 4, got to stay at home to grow up, while shooting my buddies with pretend-guns from trenches we dug in the woods north of Lehighton's Coal Street. Soon after he was wounded in Italy, he wrote a letter home, which was related in Lehighton's Evening Leader - Richard Bock Wounded By Grenade Shrapnel "Richard 'Monk' Bock, 23, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Bock, of north 4th street, is in an Army hospital in Italy with shrapnel wounds in the back according to a letter he wrote to Bob Kresge, president of the Young Sports Club. "He received the wounds when a German tossed a grenade into their machine gun position.  The letter, written from the hospital and full of good cheer typical of the popular young man, stated: 'Well, how's everything doing back in ye olde club.  At the present I'm leading the life of Reilly lying in a nice soft hospital bed.  A 'Kraut' had a lucky hit with a hand grenade into our machine gun nest and I got a few hunks of shrapnel in my back.  I'd of liked to sign him up for our baseball team only he didn't live long enough. 'How's the baseball team coming along these days?  I'm afraid us old boys won't be worth much to the club as far as sports are concerned when this mess is over.   Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't feel as lively as I used to.' "His letter closes with 'I'll be seeing you in 1945.  I have been over here two years now so they have to get rid of me soon. "Local residents will remember him for his always ready smile with which he greeted everyone he met." That's the Uncle Richard I will always remember. Walt Niehoff

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