John Leonard Soles

  General Notes:

John was born in Irwin on October 15, 1912, and then moved to his home at 443 North Pennsylvania Avenue, in Greensburg when he was one year old. He had a love of music and a talent in playing the clarinet, flute, and saxaphone. During his high school years, he won many competitions in the musical category.
His happiest years were those 9-1/2 years in which he worked for West Penn Railways as a motorman on the streetcar. He would fly down the tracks at record speed and always made his time schedule at each specific town. I do remember one night in 1950 when we had 36 inches of snow, that started to fall on Thanksgiving Day. He was out on a run that night and never made it home as the snow covered the tracks and make it impossible to get through. He spent that night in the streetcar, where he kept warm.
He loved to "tinker" with his car, especially the 1937 Buick he received when his father died in 1948. I remember one Christmas Day at Aunt Dot's and Uncle LeRoy's home on the Jeannette road, he "tinkered" with the car and when it was time to go home, the car would not start. Apparently, he forgot to reconnect the battery!
From the demise of the streetcar in 1952, he went to work for the Lincoln Coach Bus Lines for three years. In 1955, he left Lincoln Coach and worked for the A. E. Troutman Company as a boys wear buyer until he retired from there in 1976. He took one year off and then returned to work part time for the Southwest Bank as a parking lot attendant. Working two or three days a week left Mother and him plenty of time to travel to Jacobus to spend time with Carol, Fred, Heidi and Brian.
Dad worked for 14 years at the Bank until June 1991, when he suffered a stroke and had to retire at the age of 79. He missed his goal of "working to 80" by one year.
LJS

John married Helen Elizabeth Rosensteel, daughter of Levi Kemp Rosensteel Jr. and Helen Marie Small, on 27 Feb 1941 in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. (Helen Elizabeth Rosensteel was born on 5 Apr 1915 in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, died on 25 Nov 2010 in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania and was buried in Hillview Cemetery, Greensburg, Westmoreland Co., PA.)