Robert and Carol Schillinger, residents of The Lutheran Home at Topton, recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary with a small family celebration at the senior living community. The couple were married Aug. 6, 1949, in Conyngham, when both were 19. High school sweethearts, they attended West Hazelton High School. Mrs. Schillinger is a graduate of McCann Business School, while Robert served his country in the Marines; he is a veteran of the Korean War. A marksman stationed at the Philadelphia Naval Yards, he worked to repair and sight in the guns used during the Korean War, while Carol worked as a legal secretary on Market Street in Philadelphia.
A boilermaker by trade, Robert worked his way up as an Erection Superintendent for Bethlehem Steel in the 1960s and 70s and was responsible for repairing blast furnaces (or steel stacks) and basic oxygen furnaces in Bethlehem and Sparrows Point outside Baltimore, Md. Carol also worked as a medical secretary for surgeons from the Crippled Children’s Hospital who operated at Hazelton Hospital. In 1962, the family moved to Schnecksville, where Carol became a stay-at-home mother raising two children, a son, Chris Schillinger, and a daughter, Lynn Cronomiz. After the children were in high school, Carol worked at the Village Fashions Dress Shop in Schnecksville. The couple have seven grandchildren and two great-granddaughters.
