William P. Partenheimer Jr.
William P. Partenheimer Jr.
WILLIAM PENN PARTENHEIMER JR. was born October 3, 1893 in Camden NJ to William P. and Ada Partenheimer. His family lived in the early 1890s at 650 Federal Street, his father in those days being in the notions and hosiery business in Philadelphia. The elder Partenheimer later earned his living as a traveling salesman. William Partenheimer's first cousins were the Heckenhorn brothers, George Heckenhorn was the first electric trolley car driver in Camden, while William Heckenhorn operated Camden's first Harley Davidson motorcycle dealership.
After attending Drexel Institute and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, William Partenheimer Jr. took a position with the YMCA at the age of 21 as assistant boys’ work director. He served in the Army during World War I.
After the war, William Partenheimer Jr. returned to Camden, marrying Miriam Kelchner, the daughter of prominent Camden physician Dr. William Irvin Kelchner, on July 23, 1919 in Camden. At the time of the 1920 census he was living with his parents at 631 State Street. He had by then returned to the YMCA in Camden as boys director, and was named general secretary of the association a few years later. By 1930 William & Miriam Partenheimer Jr. had moved to a home at 148 Wayne Avenue in Haddonfield NJ, and had been blessed with a daughter, Ruth, and a son William P. III. His nephew, David Kelchner, was killed in action while serving with the 82nd Airborne Division in Germany in February of 1945.
Also active in the Lions Club in Camden, he was named “Lion of the Year” in the spring of 1950. William P. Partenheimer Jr. passed away in May of 1971.
Arts Department to Close Year With Children's Party
Camden Courier-Post —
The Arts Department of the Camden Woman’s Club has planned a children’s party for tomorrow evening in the clubhouse, 424 Linden Street, as the closing feature of the year’s program.
Prizes will be awarded for the best costumes. Children’s games will be played and there will be an exchange of “white elephant” gifts.
Mrs. J. Rodney Forrest of Merchantville is chairman of the following committee in charge of the affair; Mrs. Fred B. Hutchinson; Merchantville; Miss Anne Roberts, Miss Florence Trommer, Camden; Mrs. Frank Dumbleton and Mrs. Albert Ware Haddonfield.
At the business meeting to precede the party, Mrs. Roland L. Childrey, retiring president, will install the following new officers: Miss Alice Benkert, Philadelphia, president; Mrs. William P. Partenheimer, Jr., Haddonfield. recording secretary; Mrs. Carl Frey, West Collingswood, and Mrs. Albert M. Bean, Audubon, directors.
"Y" Lists Campaign for Support Funds
Camden Courier-Post —
Charles H. Wagner to Manage Drive Scheduled for March 20 Opening
The 1938 annual maintenance campaign of the Camden City Y.M.C.A. has been scheduled by the board of directors to open Sunday morning, March 20, and carry through until March 29, it was announced yesterday by William P. Partenheimer, Jr., general secretary.
Charles H. Wagner, president of the Camden ‘Y’ and vice president and general manager of Eavenson & Levering Company, will be general chairman of the campaign. Wagner led the highly successful campaign last year.
At the board of directors’ meeting reports showed the following outstanding accomplishments in 1937: Most comprehensive Summer program for men and boys in the history of the organization; enlargement of health service to the community; increase in the personnel and spirit of boy groups; success of the “Join Your Church at Easter” effort; growth of the interviewing and counseling service for youths of both sexes; notable increase in membership, and Summer camp activities.
142 Attend Meeting of Negro Y.M.C.A.
Camden Courier-Post —
Delegates Hear Pleas for Christian Co-operation to End Conflict
Joint application of the teachings of Christ by the white and Negro races to meet full responsibilities in a changing social and economic order was urged here yesterday at the eighth annual laymen’s conference of Colored Y.M.C.A.’s in New Jersey.
Citing the lack of practice of the teachings of Christ as conducive to conflict, Dr. G. Lake Imes, director of public relations of Lincoln University, Lincoln, Pennsylvania, declared that “the social application of Jesus is needed in these times, and not battleships and guns to set the world in order.”
Delegates to the conference, held in the Camden Y.M.C.A., Federal Street near Broadway, numbered 142 from Newark, Orange, Montclair, Plainfield, Summit, Princeton, Trenton, Camden, and various counties of the State. The Camden delegation of 31 was the largest in attendance.
Employment problems and their affect upon Negro youth were out lined by W.A. Smith. Jr., director of colored activities for the New Jersey National Youth Administration.
The successful movement for a Negro housing project in Atlantic City, which now affords modern living standards for 374 families, was related by C. V. Cain, manager of the $1,540,000 project.
The afternoon session was devoted to planning for observance of the 50th anniversary of the Negro Y.M.C.A. History of the association was related by Dr. C. H. Tobias, senior secretary of the national council, and plans for expansion through a $125,000 fund now being raised, were explained by Dr. Leslie Pinkney Hill, principal of the Cheyney Teachers’ College. The expansion will benefit New Jersey associations.
A committee of laymen and association secretaries for New Jersey’s share in the 50th anniversary was appointed.
Other speakers were G. W. Barnes, temporary secretary of the State Y.M.C.A. headquarters; William P. Partenheimer, general secretary of the Camden Y.M.C.A.; W. R. Valentine, of the State Colored Work Committee, A. E. Flournoy, executive secretary of the Hunton Branch Y.M.C.A., Camden, and Irwin Roundtree, chairman of the local entertainment committee.
The Misses Alma and Jessys Jones served as secretaries of the conference. The WPA Orchestra provided dinner music, led by James Wheeler. Partenheimer praised the Hunton branch for the work it accomplished “with so little equipment.”
The local welcoming committee comprised Roundtree; H. W. Brown, Elmer Congo, Dr. M. F. Wheatland, J. S. Brooks, Foster Meekins, W. S. Ashley, Charles Whittington, Alfonso Davis, John Robbins, George L. Eggleston and Louis Pugsley.
The 1939 conference will be held in Summit, the first Sunday in February.
Business Lecturer Lists Camden Visit
Camden Courier-Post —
De Loss Walker Schedules 5-Day Series Under Auspices of C. of C.
Camden will have opportunity to hear DeLoss Walker, magazine editor, in talks on business and industrial topics, from March 7 to March 11, inclusive, Harry A. Kelleher, chairman of the Manufacturers’ Committee of the Camden Chamber of Commerce, announced yesterday.
Walker comes East after a tour of the industrial Mid-West, where he addressed the National Association of Foremen Convention and many other national industry groups.
The first meeting will be March 7, at 6:15 at the Central Y.M.C.A., 614 Federal street, where Walker will address executives and key employes of Camden industries.
William P. Partenheimer, general secretary of the Y, is taking reservations for the dinner meeting where various companies will engage tables for their individual groups.
The Chamber of Commerce will sponsor a joint meeting of luncheon clubs, probably March 8, to which other similar groups may be added, at Hotel Walt Whitman. Arrangements are being made by Loyal D. Odhner, executive secretary of the chamber.
Direction of the speaking appearances here is in charge of Howard Rhoades, executive secretary of the Manufacturers’ Committee, who says organizations desiring to hear Walker may still be accommodated.
Public schools, churches, women’s clubs, professional groups, factories and other centers will be reached in the five-day appearances here of Walker, who was in coal mining with a number of eastern firms from 1916 to 1932, when he became one of the founders of the National Recovery Crusade. He organized recovery committees on this work through many states and began to speak on business problems.
'Lion of the Year' Award Given to Partenheimer
Camden Courier-Post —
William P. Partenheimer Jr., a leader in the boys’ work movement in the Camden YMCA for more than 36 years, has been honored by the Camden Lions Club as the outstanding “Lion of the Year.”
The award, given to the member of the club who has done the most for the community, was presented to Partenheimer at the weekly meeting of the Lions Club Wednesday at the Walt Whitman hotel.
Tribute to Partenheimer for the work in the interest of boys of the community was paid by Charles Harper, president of the YMCA.
A native of Camden, Partenheimer attended Drexel Institute and the University of Pennsylvania and joined the “Y” at the age of 21 as assistant boys’ work director.
Served in War I
He enlisted for Army service in War I and after his discharge returned to the “Y” and was named boys’ director. Partenheimer was named general secretary of the association several years later and through the year has maintained his interest in boys’ work.
Partenheimer has been a member of the local club since 1922 and has been secretary of the club more than 15 years.
In accepting the award, Partenheimer said the work being done by the Lions clubs throughout the world is a “bulwark against communism.”
“We will never have world peace,” he said, “until there is peace within the individual. Peace is something that can’t be achieved by legislation, but must come from world brotherhood which radiates from the heart.”
‘On March to Peace’
“Peace will come when we all express a willingness to share with our brothers. I am not an optimist, but I believe we are on the march toward peace. If we could get to talk to the people behind the Iron Curtain I believe that there would never be a threat of another war.”
A plaque in honor of the award was presented by Dr. Charles Sullivan. Another gift with a poem composed by Dr. Sullivan was presented by Joseph Hettle. Michael Jubanik presented Partenheimer’s wife, Miriam, with a floral piece in behalf of the club.
Joseph DiMona, chairman of the committee that selected the “Lion of the Year,” presided at the presentation ceremony, assisted by Charles Ackley, club president.
Guests included Partenheimer’s daughter, Mrs. Ruth Fisher, and her husband, the Rev. Carl Fisher, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Oxford, Pa.
Musical entertainment was provided by Mae McGuire and His Harmony Rangers.