Marie Kachel Bucher

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Marie Elizabeth Kachel Bucher (November 21, 1909 – July 27, 2008) was an American school-teacher and the last surviving resident member of the German Seventh-Day Baptists religious congregation of the Ephrata Cloister, a United States National Historic Landmark located in Ephrata, Pennsylvania.^[1]

Marie Elizabeth Kachel was born in 1909.^[1] Her parents were Reuben S. Kachel and M. Kathryn Zerfass Kachel. She had four sisters and one brother.^[1] She was raised on Shady Nook Farm during her early life, which was located in what is now known as the Ephrata Cloister.^[1] Her family, who were one of its last residents, often gave tours of the Ephrata Cloister, which was founded by Johann Conrad Beissel in 1732.^[1] The Ephrata Cloister was later purchased by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Today the Ephrata Cloister is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission as a museum and tourist attraction.^[1]

Kachel graduated from Ephrata High School in 1927.^[1] She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Millersville State Teachers College, which is now known as Millersville University, in 1935.^[1] She later earned her master's degree in education from Penn State University in 1939.^[1] Additionally, Kachel also studied at Duke University and Elizabethtown College.^[1]

Kachel began her teaching career at a one-room schoolhouse in Clay Township, Pennsylvania, in northern Lancaster County.^[1] She later moved to southern Lancaster County to take a position in the now-defunct East Drumore Township school district.^[1] She retired from teaching after working as a math teacher at Solanco High School, a public high school for many years.^[1]

Kachel married her husband, Loren H. Bucher, an East Drumore Township farmer, in 1945.^[1] They had two children, Loren K. Bucher and Christina Bucher.^[1] Kachel Bucher never formally joined the Church of the Brethren, but taught adult Bible study and remained active in the Church's congregation in Mechanics Grove, Pennsylvania.^[1] In her later years, Bucher wrote and researched a book on the history of the Church of the Brethren's Mechanics Grove congregation titled A Century of Service at the Grove. Bucher was 87 when the book was written and published in 1997.^[1]

Marie Elizabeth Kachel Bucher died at the Quarryville Presbyterian Home in Quarryville, Pennsylvania, on July 27, 2008, at 98.^[1] She had resided at the nursing home since November 2007.^[1] Her death marked the passing of the last surviving resident of the Ephrata Cloister.^[1] Her funeral was held at the Saal at the Ephrata Cloister on July 31, 2008, and she was buried at Mt. Zion Cemetery.^[1]

Bucher was survived by her children, Loren and Christina. She had been preceded in death by her husband and her siblings; four sisters—Kitty Kachel Strickler, Dorothy Kachel Grabill, Margaret P. Kachel, and Ruth Kachel Donough—and her brother, Daniel S. Kachel.^[1]