Pauline R. Parson, GW #136
Pauline was born 13 July 1898 to Martha Espigh (or Espie), father undiscovered. Apparently, Pauline’s mother was married twice. In the 1910 census Martha is married to Joseph B. Beschler and eleven year old Pauline Beschler is the only child in the family. However, both Joseph and Martha declare that they have been married twice and that they are currently married for five years; indeed, the marriage of Joseph and Martha was announced in the newspaper in May 1905. Whoever Pauline’s father is, Joseph B. Beschler is the man who raised her as a father. As was typical for the time, Pauline took the surname of her step-father until she was older and had her name on legal documents. In the Altoona, Pa. newspaper in 1917 we discover that Pauline left home to study for two years at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. That would put her entrance date into the Gospel Worker Society in 1919. In August of 1919, the local newspaper reports that Mr. & Mrs. J. B. Beschler visited their daughter, Miss Pauline Beschler, one of 53 women in the Gospel Workers Society in Cleveland, Ohio. In the 1920 census Pauline R. Parson is listed among the Gospel Workers in Cleveland. Six years later the newspaper reports that Miss Beschler was visiting her parents, Mr. & Mrs. J. B. Beschler, after an absence of over eight years. In 1928 the local Altoona newspaper reports that Mrs. J. B. Beschler and daughter Pauline returned home from a seven week trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas for the benefit of Mrs. Beschler’s health. It appears that Pauline may have left the Gospel Workers by this time. Her whereabouts in 1930 have not been discovered. On 18 January 1931 Mr. Tine (Valentine) E. Stiffler of New York City (but originally from Altoona) was married to Pauline Romaine Parson of New York City, daughter of Joseph Parson and his wife Martha nee Espigh. The Altoona newspaper confirms this is the same Pauline, Mrs. J. B. Beschler announcing the marriage of her daughter. Pauline was the second wife for Valentine. In 1940, the Stifflers are living in Jersey City, NJ with three children in the household: Martha Jean, 6; Robert Paul, 4; and Elaine Marie, 1. As it turns out, Martha and Robert are grandchildren of Valentine’s. The children’s father went to prison for burglary a few months before the census. However, Elaine is Pauline’s daughter by her husband. Elaine was baptized in Grace Episcopal church in Jersey City, NJ; one of the sponsors was Maybelle Dukett, another Gospel Worker. The Stifflers had at least one other child: Ronald Joseph Stiffler, born in 1937 and baptized in 1942 in Grace Church, Episcopal in Jersey City, NJ. It is possible they had another daughter. Pauline’s husband died in December of 1952 in New Jersey, and Pauline died in June of 1973, also in New Jersey. Their burial place has not yet been discovered. This article is from the 21 August 1919 issue of the Altoona Tribune.
