For the family of George N. Raterman and Marie Peltier

George Nicholas Raterman was born on 29 December 1920 at 10:00 p.m. in Fort Loramie, Shelby County, Ohio.  He was the son of George Raterman and Jane or Jennie Barga.  George Jr. was obviously named for his father George Sr.   It is possible that his middle name, Nicholas, was in honor of his father's brother.   George was the 4th out of 9 children born to his parents.  He was baptized at St. Michael's Church in Fort Loramie on 30 December 1920.  George Sr. was a laborer and worked at various places, so the kids were not raised on a farm, as so many families in that area were at that time.    George went to the public schools in Fort Loramie.  He received an honorable mention for his 8th year tests.    He played baseball and basketball at Fort Loramie High School.   Then he graduated as a senior in 1938.

It was at one of his basketball games that he met his future wife, Marie Agnes Peltier.  She was born on 19 February 1922 in Russia, Loramie Township, Shelby County, Ohio.  I'm not sure if she was named Marie in honor of a relative, but it is likely.  Her middle name Agnes was very likely in honor of her father's sister.  She was baptized at St. Remy Church in Russia on 26 Feb 1922.  She was the daughter of Raymond and Zelma (Paulus) Peltier.  Marie's father was an auto mechanic and so the children grew up in a non-farming household.  They attended the local public school in Russia.  Marie graduated in 1940 from Russia High School. 

They continued to see each other and on 07 February 1942, George and Marie were married at the St. Remy Church in Russia Ohio.  The Rev. Frank Raterman officiated the service on a cold and snowy day.  Alvin Raterman, the bridgegroom's brother, served as best man, while Theola (Paulus) Raterman, the bride's cousin, was maid of honor.   Wilma (Peltier) Schlater, the bride's sister, was the bridesmaid.   The wedding dinner was held at the Snyder Hotel in Versailles.  A dance for relatives and friends followed at Kempers Grove near Minster.

After their marriage, they settled into their house at 842 1/2 E. Court Street in Sidney.   George was an assembler at Monarch Machine and Tool Company in Sidney.   Their first daughter was born that spring.  Marie was in the hospital for 10 days and the hospital bill was $49.22. 

In August of 1942, George was inducted into the Army for service in World War II.  (For more details on his military service, please click here).   Their first daughter was a difficult baby for Marie.   She cried all the time.  Nobody would watch her.   To get the baby to sleep, Marie would put the baby in the buggy and push the buggy across the room.  The buggy would hit the wall and bounce back to Marie.   Marie would push the buggy again and again, all night long.

Before George shipped out over into Europe, Marie and their daughter would visit him.  So they took a train from Ohio to Chicago to El Paso where George was stationed.  They had inadvertently left the baby's teddy bear at the Chicago Hotel and she cried all the way from Chicago to Texas.   While they were in El Paso, someone in Texas offered to buy their daughter.  Marie was tempted after all that crying, but of course, did not.

While George was in the Army for the next 3 years, Marie and her children lived with her parents in Russia.   One time, their daughter fell at her Grandma & Grandpa Peltier's house (where they were living).   Her face was bleeding pretty bad, but Grandpa Peltier did not take her to the hospital.  He just kept feeding her peanuts.  (He said that peanuts were God's cure-all).  George & Marie's second child was then born and George did not see him until he was almost 20 months old.

Then, one happy day, the war was over and George returned to his family.  By 1948, they were living in Sidney at 528 Sycamore Street and another daughter, Judy, came to bless them.  But Judy had childhood leukemia and was sick all the time.  One day the photographer came around to see if anyone wanted their pictures taken. (In those days the photographer came to you).  Judy had just been given a bath and Marie really didn't feel like dealing with pictures right then, but since he was already there, they went ahead with it.  Then Judy got really sick and wasn't doing well.  They had to take her to the hospital.  The two oldest children went to stay with Raymond & Zelma Peltier so that George & Marie could be with Judy at the hospital.  While they were at the hospital, the photographer came back.  No one was home so he went to the neighbor's house.  The neighbor said that he would buy every picture he had of Judy, because that little girl just died. (see Judy's picture by clicking here).  Judy was in the hospital so much and George and Marie were having a hard time paying all their bills.  So their doctor said, Just pay me whatever you can and whenever you want.  The doctor also made many house calls to their house.

By 1948, George was working as a grinder at Wagner's in Sidney.  By 1957, George was a stock clerk at Wagners.   He worked for Wagner's for most of the remainder of his career, eventually working up to purchasing agent.  They were both members of Holy Angels Church in Sidney.  And by 1957, they were living at their home at 542 Campbell Street in Sidney.  Their last child was born to them soon after they had moved to their new home on Campbell.  They remained at this house for the rest of their lives.

George was also a life member of the Sidney American Legion.  Marie and George really enjoyed playing bingo.  They would go 3 times a week and every bingo they went to, they always had to sit in the same place at the same table.  They would always go to Wal-Mart, not to shop but to meet their friends at the restaurant located inside Wal-Mart and socialize. 

One grandson remembered going with Grandpa on a "safari".  Most every year they went to Tawawa Park and went exploring for mushrooms.   He thinks they used to find morel mushrooms in the spring.  Another grandson always wanted George's "American Legion Key".  They would always go to the legion on Saturday afternoons to get french fries.

One time George and Marie were visiting their daughter.  Marie and her daughter were outside with the kids and Dad was sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper.  The daughter had just made some of Kathryn Monnin's coffee cookies and had put them in a tin which was on the table.  When they left, she picked up the tin and heard something rattle.  She opened it up, and George had ate about half of the cookies - but he had left a few quarters in the tin to pay for them.

George always loved to sing.  His favorite hymn was "Amazing Grace".  He really sang that hymn loud in church.  Another one of George's favorite songs was Oh Christmas Tree.  Every Christmas he would sing that, only in German.  His kids and grandkids all remember "Oh Tannenbaum, Oh Tannenbaum."

In 1985, George retired.  They enjoyed retirement, but then their health started to fail.  In June 2003, they both went to live in Dorothy Love Retirement Home.   One of their great grandsons said that he always remembered that whenever he went to visit Grandpa George and Grandma Marie at Dorothy Love (as he called them), they would always want to go for a ride in their wheelchairs to get some popcorn at the popcorn wagon.   One time George's grandson bought him a set of dominoes.  How George loved to play that game.  Nobody could add figures like George.   When his kids were growing up, their friends would give George figures so he could add them up "in his head".   There were no calculators in those days.

Marie passed on in January of 2005 and George passed on in July of that same year.  Both are buried in the Shelby Memory Gardens in Sidney.

They had 4 known children, all surnamed Raterman