Lebrecht Roeseler

Lebrecht "Lee" John Roeseler, 1919-2015 Lee Roeseler passed away peacefully in Snow Hill, Maryland, on May 11. He was 95. Lee was born in the Bronx on September 21, 1919, to Carl Roeseler and Bertha Kepner Roeseler. He was the first member of his family to be born in the United States. His family moved to Hackensack, New Jersey, when he was still little. His first job was working for an iceman and he graduated from Hackensack High School in 1938. While a student at Hackensack High, he also met a young lady named Marie Riblet. After high school, Lee and his best friend saved up and bought a rattletrap old car for less than 20 bucks and drove to Florida (no small feat in 1938). Lee then attended junior college and Pratt Institute for engineering in Brooklyn. His bus rides into the city often coincided with Marie Riblet's commute into Manhattan. The second time he asked her out, she said yes. Thus began a love affair that lasted for more than seven decades. With the exception of World War Two, they were never apart for more than a day or two. Lee found work in the aerospace industry as a weights and balances engineer and married Marie Riblet in 1942. He enlisted in the army the same year and served as an airplane mechanic throughout World War Two, primarily in the China Burma India Theater. After the war, Lee and Marie - a couple of city slickers - decided to become farmers. They bought land in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with Marie's sister Dallas Hicks, and Dallas's husband Charlie. To help make ends meet, Lee took a job as an apprentice working on the printing presses at the Quakertown Free Press newspaper in 1946. To give you some idea of his farming skills, he worked for the paper until 1973, serving as superintendent of production for 23 years. In 1967 he also bought Labelcraft Press in Perkasie, and was the sole owner and operator until selling it in 1985. In the 1980s, Marie and Lee retired and split their time between Petersburg, Virginia, and Lehigh Acres, Florida. Lee was a member of the First United Church of Christ and the Lions Club in both Quakertown and Lehigh Acres, and a member of the American Legion of Quakertown. Lee loved his family, his friends, good food, and hard work. From woodwork to yard work, he enjoyed a good day's labor. When he was no longer able to put in a full day's work, he enjoyed watching other people work. He called this "supervising." He was preceded in death by his wife, Marie Stephenson Riblet Roeseler; son, Dennis Roeseler; nephew Robert Hicks and his wife Judy; and nephew James Hicks. He is survived by his daughters Karen Roeseler Shipman and Janice Roeseler Gault and son-in-law Donald Gault; sister Margarete Roeseler Rantze; granddaughter Sophie Gault; grandson Matt Shipman and his wife Julia; and great-grandchildren Nora, Fiona and Violet Shipman; nephew Gordon Rantze and wife Beth; niece Gail Rantze Jones and husband Mike; nephew Paul Riblet and wife Kathy; niece Nancy Riblet and partner Evelyn Butler; nephew Donald Riblet; niece Patricia Hicks Hartman and husband Barry; niece Lisa Rabenold and husband Rick; niece Gretchen Yerger; and a host of beloved great-nieces and great-nephews. Services will be on August 1 at 2:00pm at the Jeffrey A. Naugle Funeral and Cremation Service, 135 West Pumping Station Road, Quakertown. Calling at the funeral home from 1-2:00pm. Interment to follow the service at 3pm at the Quakertown Union Cemetery.