If you read my
July 5, 2023 post about the Marshalls Creek Explosion, you'll know that there were six unfortunate people who lost their lives that day - three firefighters and three civilians. The Marshalls Creek community is planning a large-scale memorial observance in 2024 for the tragedy's 60th anniversary, and they're hoping to find surviving relations or friends of the deceased who would like to be a part of the observance.
One of the Middle Smithfield Township board of supervisors asked me for any assistance I could render in helping to find people who have connections to the victims. To that end, I've compiled information about the six victims on this page, in the hopes that reading these details might jog someone's memory. If you or someone of your acquaintance knew or are related to any of them, please get in touch with the memorial planners by contacting the Middle Smithfield Township historical commission (contact info is at the bottom of the page). I'm sure most any contribution you could make would be welcome, be it photographs or recollections or attending the event in person. Even if you didn't know any of them yourself, I'd be grateful if you would share this link with any historical or genealogical groups, especially with connections to the Monroe County area - any help would be appreciated.
Here is everything I've been able to find on the victims. You can also get some more details, including photos of most of them, from the short articles at this clipping.
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John William Regina, 23 years old, of Middle Smithfield Township
John was the youngest of the six victims. Born on September 30, 1940, he was the younger son of Theodore and Ellen (Sabinski) Regina. His brother, Edward, still lives close to the scene of the explosion and operates Regina Farms there. John was hit by the blast as he was making his way to offer assistance to the firefighters. His parents and brother were the only survivors listed in his obituary, although he was also engaged to Nancy Ravert of Columbia, New Jersey.
John's parents were the owners of the Regina Hotel. The building was about 200 years old at the time of the explosion, which unfortunately damaged the structure to such a degree that his father decided to have the building razed the following year.
John was a graduate of East Stroudsburg Area Joint High School in the class of 1958, and the East Stroudsburg State College (now East Stroudsburg University) in the class of 1962. In his youth he played the trumpet, and after finishing school he worked as a schoolteacher in Middletown, New York; he was on a visit to his parents at the time of his death. He is buried in East Stroudsburg's Saint Matthew's Catholic Cemetery beside his paternal grandparents.
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Joseph James Horvath, Jr., 24 years old, of Scranton
Joseph was a truck driver who happened to be passing the scene when he noticed the tractor trailer which had caught fire. He drove to the Regina Hotel and used their outdoor pay phone to call the fire department. With the professionals on their way, he returned to the scene to see if he could be of any assistance, parking his truck so that the headlights shone directly on the fire. Sadly, he paid for it with his life. A newspaper account of the accident reported that because of how close he was to the blast, only a portion of his remains were recovered. The truck he had been driving, carrying a load of cinders on behalf of his father-in-law, was destroyed in the explosion.
Joseph was the son of Joseph Horvath, Sr. and Cecelia (Campbell) Horvath, and a graduate of West Scranton High School. His mother had already died, but his father survived him, as did his four brothers, Jack, James, Robert, and Lawrence, his sister Ann Marie Faust, and his grandmother, Theresa Horvath. He also left behind a young widow, the former Dorothy Siderowicz, and a little daughter, Jacqueline. He was interred in the Abington Hills Cemetery in South Abington Township, Lackawanna County.
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Lillian Mary (Powers) Paesch, 33 years old, of Baltimore, Maryland
Lillian was born on July 27, 1930; she was the daughter of Raymond and Mary (Supik) Powers of Baltimore. She and her husband William were passing through the Pocono area on their way to visit friends in New York state, and they were unlucky enough to be driving past the scene when the tractor trailer exploded. William was injured in the blast, and Lillian was killed. According to William's testimony after the tragedy, they had been sitting in a long line of traffic when they saw "a bright light," and he pulled over to the side of the road and got out of the car. He was rocked by the explosion and then saw Lillian slump in her seat; he attempted to revive her, but she was pronounced dead at the hospital. Her death certificate specified that her cause of death was a crushed chest and severed aorta, and the newspapers reported that a piece of metal was found embedded in her chest. She had worked as a medical secretary for Johns Hopkins University Hospital in her native Baltimore and was a member of Saint Wenceslaus Roman Catholic Church.
Lillian's father predeceased her, but she was survived by her mother, her older brother Louis (born in 1925, died 1991), and her one-year-old son, William Junior. Her husband later remarried, and passed away in 2007; he and Lillian are buried together in the Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery of Baltimore. Her mother, brother, and sister-in-law are buried in the same cemetery, in a different section.
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Leonard Raymond Mosier, 38 years old, of Middle Smithfield Township
Leonard was born July 19, 1925 and was one of the firefighters responding to the call. He was the son of Raymond and Nellie (Depuy) Mosier, and had served in World War II as a corporal in the 92nd field artillery battalion of the United States Army. Along with being a volunteer firefighter, he was employed as a carpenter at Harvey Huffman & Son of Marshalls Creek.
In addition to his parents, he was survived by his widow, Ruby (Treible) Mosier, who died January 28, 2000, and three daughters - Deborah Jane, Patricia May, and Phyllis Grace. I was able to find out that Phyllis was born in 1948 in East Stroudsburg; she was the wife of Jeffrey Ward and died on December 26, 2012. Patricia's married name was Schaller, and Deborah's married name was Stone, but I've been able to locate nothing else about them.
Leonard is buried in the Middle Smithfield Presbyterian Burying Ground.
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Edward Franklin Hines, 42 years old, of Marshalls Creek
Another of the firefighters, Edward was born on October 11, 1920 in Scranton, the son of John B. and Etta Mae (Lutz) Hines. He served in the United States Navy during World War II, and worked as a welder at the International Boiler Works of East Stroudsburg.
Edward had several siblings who survived him - Elfrieda, John, George, William, Charlotte, Florence, and Muriel - and was predeceased by two brothers, Arthur and Charles. In addition to these, he left behind a widow, the former Daisy Stettler, who died in 1996; they had one daughter together, Anna Louise, and Daisy also had two children from her first marriage, Yvonne and Charles Van Why.
Edward and Daisy are buried in East Stroudsburg's Prospect Cemetery.
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Francis Earl Miller, 50 years old, of Marshalls Creek
The oldest of the six victims was firefighter Earl, who had been born in Smithfield Township on December 22, 1913. He was the son of Amzie and Nellie (Pipher) Miller, both of whom had died in the 1950s. When not being a volunteer firefighter, he worked as a truck driver for the State Department of Highways.
Earl was survived by two siblings, Ruth and Ralph, and had been predeceased by his sister Vivian; in fact, his brother Ralph was the chief of the Marshalls Creek fire company, and was injured in the blast. He also left behind a widow, the former Laura May Butz, who died in 1996, and two adult daughters, Frances Roth of Marshalls Creek and Vivian Smeltz of Stroudsburg, as well as four grandchildren. He and Laura are buried together in East Stroudsburg's Prospect Cemetery.
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The folks in Marshalls Creek and Middle Smithfield Township will welcome any help you can provide them for getting in touch with survivors of the victims. For more information or to establish contact between survivors and the historical commission, please call 570-223-8920, ext. 132, or email Holly Dennis at hdennis@mstownship.com. Thank you!
