Henry John Tabler

Henry married Pauline Winifred (Ambrose) Tabler (2 Nov 1901 - 14 Nov 1969) on 23 Dec 1924 in Martinsburg, Berkeley County, West Virginia. The informant on Henry's death certificate was Kenneth A. Tabler. _____ Information provided by Dave Tabler: Excerpt from 'The Day is Far Spent,' by Kenneth A. Tabler (Henry's son), Montani Publishing, 2006: Henry Tabler was born April 21, 1900, in the northwestern tip of the Falling Waters District of Berkeley County. A family Bible lists my father as John Henry. That corresponds to the order in which his name is recorded on his birth certificate. The same sequencing for his given names also occurs on mine. Yet I always knew him as Henry J., and traced the change back to Polk’s 1927 Martinsburg City Directory. Henry attended the one-room Little Georgetown grammar school. He lived at a time when American education was going through a significant transition. Access to high school was unavailable to many and the eighth grade was often the end of formal teaching. His intellectual development by means of textbook learning may have been cut short, but my father continued to take advantage of on-the-job training. Nor did being forced to start working to stay alive stifle his ongoing accumulation of homespun wisdom. I welcomed the insights he shared from the school of hard knocks. The premium he put on lots of know-how gained from firsthand experience always resonated with me as I, too, moved toward a productive life. My father instilled in me the desire to develop my intellect as a means of accessing a better life. He had no desire to have me follow in his footsteps. “Kenneth, you don’t want to wind up in a dead-end mill job. I can’t see any future for you here in Martinsburg,” he said. Then he drove home the point by exclaiming, “Forget heavy work! The hammer and wrench are not your cup of tea. It’s better to get an education and use your head to earn a living.”