Spotlight on Catherine Rentch from the 1941 Martinsburg High School yearbook

"Just a peppy little red-head ... with man trouble."

As shared last week, this 1941 snippet from the Martinsburg High School yearbook offers a glimpse into American youth culture on the cusp of a world-altering decade.

Back in those days, high school students were summarized by pithy one-liners meant to encapsulate their entire personalities in a few short words.

The teenaged Catherine Rentch was defined by her appearance ("peppy little red-head") and romantic struggles ("man trouble").

Catherine Rentch was my fourth cousin. She was descended from some of the region's oldest families: Pitzer, Ramsburg, Beard, Shuart, Myers, Snyder, Butts and Pitzer.

Catherine grew up in Martinsburg, the youngest of seven children, including a brother who died as a baby six years before she was born. The family lived at 432 Race Street, the house where her father lived his entire adult life.

432 Race Street (at right)

Her father was a B&O Railroad worker and was later employed by the Berkeley Woolen Mill and Jefferson Sale Company. Catherine got a job while still in high school, as a clerk for a downtown department store.

In the spring of 1943, at age 20, she married Jack Shufelt, who had just enlisted in the Navy a few weeks earlier.

Jack served overseas during WWII and earned six battle stars. Their daughter Carol was born in early 1945. Early in their marriage, when their daughter was very young, they lived on Faulkner Avenue, and later moved to an apartment building at 283 Winchester Avenue. By the late 1950s, it appears they had moved to the north Hagerstown area.

Rentch family on front porch at 432 E. Race Street. Back row from left: J. Kenneth Rentch, Nell Rentch Kilmer and her husband George Kilmer, Bernice Staliper Rentch, Louise Taylor Rentch, Catherine Rentch Shufelt (the youngest sibling, age 64 here), and Bruce "Brick" Rentch (the oldest sibling, age 76 here). Front: Father George Lawrence Rentch (who died the following year at age 97), Donald Rentch. Sister Roxanna Rentch Beard had died in 1979 at age 66. Mother Rosa died in 1980 at age 90.

Catherine died in a nursing home in Hagerstown in February 2003, ten days after her 80th birthday. She was the first of these three classmates to die, but Johnny and Bill both died just a few weeks later. All three died at age 80.

Coming up in They Lived in Berkeley County

Last week (May 6): An overview of this series
Today: Catherine Rentch’s family history and what became of her after high school
Next week (May 20): John Reynolds’ family history and what became of him after high school
In two weeks (May 27): Bill Rife’s family history and what became of him after high school