Small Town America in World War II: War Stories from Wrightsville, Pennsylvania

Chapter 2: Pauline “Sis” Leber

Chapter 2 Pauline “Sis” Leber “Swing Girl” York Safe & Lock Company Pauline (née Haugh) Leber was born on 28 June 1914, on a small subsistence farm just outside Wrightsville in Hellam Township. Known by the nickname of “Sis” all her life, she graduated from Wrightsville High School in 1934 just before her seventeenth birthday. Shortly before World War II started, in 1940, she married Stewart “Whis” Leber, who went into the Navy in 1943. In her interview “Sis” describes the transition from farm work to industrial work. She ultimately decided to take a job with York Safe & Lock Company, which, after the war started, converted from making civilian products to manufacturing gun tubes for various caliber antiaircraft weapons. As the interview unfolds, it is clear that her decision to work at York Safe & Lock was based on both patriotic and economic considerations. She was also motivated by the fact that three of her brothers, in addition to her husband, were serving in the military during the war. “Sis” Leber’s interview is an example of how World War II influenced the widespread entry of women into the industrial workforce to assume jobs that had been previously unavailable to them. After the war, she and her husband eventually moved into Wrightsville where they raised their family. A widow, Pauline Leber died on 26 June 2005.1 32 SMALL TOWN AMERICA IN WORLD WAR II Pauline Haugh grew up in a large family on a small subsistence farm just outside Wrightsville: “I had five brothers: James, Thomas, Edwin, Mervin, and Bill. I was the twin sister of Mervin (‘Bo’). They all called me ‘Little Sister.’ But ‘Bo’ couldn’t say ‘Sister,’ so it boiled down to ‘Sis.’ He got the name ‘Bo’ because I couldn’t say ‘Brother.’ I would say ‘Bo’ instead of ‘Brother,’ so that is how we got our nicknames. “The farm had fifty-six acres—farmland and woodland. We had a cattle —a lot of cattle—hogs, chickens, geese, turkeys, everything. We raised food for them—wheat, corn. We had fruit orchards—peach, apple. We raised all kinds of vegetables, fruits, and berries. It was a nice farm. In fact, it was our livelihood. My father worked on the railroad as a salaried man at the ticket office in Wrightsville, but for three years of his life he was very sick and couldn’t work. Of course, he still had his salary. But when he worked for the railroad, he came home and worked until dark on the farm. But the farm was really our livelihood. The milk was taken to Wrightsville, and my mother made butter and sold that in town. We also sold a lot of fruit and berries, and people would come out to the farm to buy them. We had our own meat; we had our own eggs, our own milk, everything. We even took the wheat to the mill to be ground into flour. It wasn’t the greatest income, but we managed to have a good home, good roof over our heads, good clothing on our backs, and food on the table. It wasn’t a big, prosperous thing; it was just ‘get along.’” After graduation from Wrightsville High in 1934, “Sis” aspired to further her education for a position in office work: “I was sixteen when I graduated from Wrightsville High in 1934. Of course, I didn’t have any money to go any further, but I did take a course from the International Correspondence School and passed with flying colors. It would have been background for office work. I was supposed to have a job with the Prudential Insurance Company. See, the International Correspondence School guaranteed you a job if you got a diploma. Pauline “Sis” Leber 33 I would have gone to Philadelphia for three months for a course, a preparation thing, but my dad wouldn’t let me go. He said, ‘You’re too young to go into the city.’ I was eighteen when I finished that course. I don’t regret that because I was young and only a country girl. I wasn’t a city girl.” Since going to Philadelphia was out of the question, “Sis” decided to try her hand working at a sewing factory in Wrightsville: “I started working at Standard Garment Company as a side seamer, which meant I was sewing sides, from top to bottom, for dresses. There were all women employed...