Evelyn M. (Hauer) Hildebrand

Evelyn M. (Hauer) Hildebrand, 103, went to be with her Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ on Wednesday February 12, 2025 at Country Meadows Mechanicsburg PA.  Evelyn resided in Dillsburg PA after living most of her life in York PA.  Most recently she was in  Assisted Living at Country Meadows  under the care of the Country Meadows Staff and Life Song Hospice;  our families are grateful for the love, friendship and care provided by those wonderfully dedicated people.

Evelyn was born on April 21, 1921 in York PA to Luther and Hattie (Smith) Hauer.  She had an older brother Preston who served in WW2 in the US Army; Preston passed in 1976.

Evelyn Hauer married Jim Hildebrand in 1944.  They had four children:  Trudy Rae, Terry Winfield, Timothy James and Tricia Lynn Hildebrand.  Evie has been blessed with nine grandchildren: Amy Elizabeth to Trudy, Terry W. Jr and Thomas Kinsel to Terry Sr., Emily Elaine and Gregory James to Tim and Morgan Elizabeth, Griffith James, Drew Madison and Dylan Vaughn to Tricia.  Additionally, Evie has been blessed with six great grandchildren:  Berkely Tate and Quincey Camden to Amy Ryan, Shauna Nicole and Kacie LeeAnn to Terry Hildebrand Jr., and Gideon Jude and Atticus Grant to Gregory Hildebrand.   Jim needed help getting his four kids to and from activities.  At age 44, Evie learned to drive-  in a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle, four-in-the-floor shifting.  I recall her learning to drive, circling the block with Jim as her co-pilot trying to teach her how to smoothly work the clutch!

Evelyn spent her formative years in downtown York roller skating with her girl friends on Harding Court and Pine St.  She took to roller skating because her parents wouldn’t get her a bicycle like her brother Preston’s bike. Both shared a wagon. The Hauer family did not own a car;  they walked everywhere!

Luther worked at the New York Wire Cloth factory on E. Market St (the place that played Christmas Carols on the steam whistle).  The looms were on the second floor, and during the hot summers Evie and Preston would load homemade root beer into their wagon, pull it down to the factory, and sell bottles to the workers-  the men would lower a bucket out of a window to  Evie and Preston who would fill the bucket with bottles of root beer; payment in nickels was lowered back down.  The wagon was also useful when they shopped for food at the City Market which was on the corner of South Duke St. and East Princess St., just a few short blocks from Evie and Preston’s home.  Luther would take Evie and Preston to do the shopping.  The City Market was one of five farm markets which served downtown York and architecturally was a magnificent building.

Evie attended Noel Elementary school and enjoyed  the annual Mayday Celebration at the school.  She graduated from William Penn Senior High School on June 6, 1940.  Evie’s love of roller skating led her and her friends to travel regularly by bus to the Playland Skating Rink off East Market St.  It is where Evie met Jim Hildebrand whom she eventually married.  She landed a job at the York Safe and Lock Company making timing fuses for munitions used in the war and married Jim in 1944 while he was serving in the US Navy in WW2.  Evie and Jim bought their first home on Poplar St. and eventually moved to a larger home on Wayne Ave. in Spring Garden Twp.

As a child, Evie walked to a small church on Vander Ave. with her mother Hattie.  She recalled Hattie singing hymns as she did her housework.  After she married, Evelyn became a member of St. Peters Lutheran Church in North York.  She was active in her Sunday School class and made sure all the kids attended Sunday School every week.  Evelyn became a member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Dillsburg after moving to Dillsburg in 2011.

In October of 1986 Jim and Evelyn were in a serious automobile accident.  Evie survived but Jim passed on November 19, 1986.  Evelyn has missed Jim every day since.  Our families are grateful to Mother for taking care of us and showing tenacity when life gets tough.  In Heaven, I suspect she has been assigned to Housekeeper-in-Chief… making sure the angels do things right!   Evie will do just fine; one day we’ll all be together again.

A visitation will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 22, 2025 at Cocklin Funeral Home 30 N. Chestnut St. Dillsburg PA 17019.   Visitation will be followed by a short service.

Memorial contributions may be made in Evelyn Hildebrand’s name to St. Paul's Lutheran Church 201 S. Baltimore St. Dillsburg, PA 17019.