For information on submitting an obituary, please contact Reading Eagle by phone at 610-371-5018, or email at obituaries@readingeagle.com or fax at 610-371-5193.
Most obituaries published in the Reading Eagle are submitted through funeral homes and cremation services, but we will accept submissions from families. Obituaries can be emailed to obituaries@readingeagle.com.
In addition to the text of the obituary, any photographs that you wish to include can be attached to this email. Please put the text of the obituary in a Word document, a Google document or in the body of the email. The Reading Eagle also requires a way to verify the death, so please include either the phone number of the funeral home or cremation service that is in charge of the deceased’s care or a photo of his/her death certificate. We also request that your full name, phone number and address are all included in this email.
All payments by families must be made with a credit card. We will send a proof of the completed obituary before we require payment. The obituary cannot run, however, until we receive payment in full.
Obituaries can be submitted for any future date, but they must be received no later than 3:00 p.m. the day prior to its running for it to be published.
Please call the obituary desk, at 610-371-5018, for information on pricing.
After 13 years, the Longswamp Township Historical Society announced that construction of its long-awaited museum and historical library building is complete.
In celebration, the Society will host a grand opening event from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19, on its museum complex site, located at the top of the parking lot of the Longswamp Township Community Park.
As a show of gratitude to the many Historical Society and community members, past and present, who made the museum possible, a reception will take place from 1 to 2 p.m. under the park’s nearby Pavilion 2, located adjacent to the museum complex. The reception will culminate with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially launch public use of the building.
Entry to the reception event, museum, and the Society’s 1941 Reading Company caboose, which is also located on the museum complex, is free for all.
Items kept among the museum’s holdings focus on the area’s historic heritage. And with good reason, according to Dr. Eloise Long, who serves as the chairperson of the museum committee and vice-president of the Society.
“Based on the number of donated photos, documents and multiple other artifacts entrusted to us from our earliest days, I felt confident the Longswamp area community would welcome a place to house and honor the area’s historic heritage,” Long said in the announcement.
And she was right!
Already, collections encompass more than 2,000 items that, together, help to tell the story of Longswamp Township’s heritage. These include special occasion vintage garments and military uniforms once worn by Longswamp area citizens; historic area maps; school yearbooks; photos and portraiture; employee and school gatherings, and business signage and promotional items.
One especially unique treasure is an autograph book filled with signatures and childhood memories of classmates from the township’s one-room schoolhouse days.
Construction of the museum building was completed in June 2025. Society Board of Directors member Troy Fairchild served as construction manager. His construction experience, combined with that of several local building contractors, some of whom volunteered their time and expertise, ensured a quality result at a cost that was within our financial reach, according to the announcement.
Importantly, construction might still be a someday-hope, save for the generous offer by the Township Board of Supervisors of a nominal annual lease payment for use of what was open space at the top end of the Longswamp Township Community Park.
An ample-sized, paved parking lot lies in proximity to what now serves as the Historical Society’s museum complex.
“Parks are intended to offer communities a wide range of activities and amenities. Now, a long-time, fallow space in our Community Park is being used to preserve cultural heritage, thanks to the Historical Society; natural resources, thanks to the Environment Advisory Council; and offers recreational experience for all ages — all key aims of the Berks County Parks & Recreation Department,” Don Hickman, Chairman, Longswamp Township Board of Supervisors, said in the announcement.
Museum building construction was funded almost entirely through fundraiser profits, including sales of the Society’s “Village” series booklets and other items, donations from Society members and community members, past and present, and several area businesses.
“The journey from the goal to own and operate a museum and historical library to today was a long one, paved with multiple, potentially show-stopping impediments,” Marie Maly, president of the Longswamp Township Historical Society, said in the announcement.
“Perhaps the greatest of these was the difficult decision to forfeit our original plan to repurpose the Mertztown Train Station, this due to a number of difficult-to-solve issues involved in relocating the structure, which would have placed the project, financially, out of reach for many years,” said Maly. “As a consolatory action, the façade and interior display rooms of the museum were intentionally designed to approximate the appearance and/or footprint of the train station. A Reading Company caboose that sits on the museum complex, acquired in 2023, further serves as a nod to the importance of the East Pennsylvania Railroad to Township businesses and residents living in the area during the mid-19th and early 20th centuries.”
Formed in 2009 by the Longswamp Township Board of Supervisors to serve as a township committee, the Society was awarded articles of incorporation approval by the Pennsylvania Department of State in March 2012 and 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status by the IRS as a public charity in June 2014. Since its inception, the Society’s purpose has remained focused on discovering and preserving the historic heritage of the Longswamp area and maintaining a museum and non-circulating library. In 2013, in keeping with its purpose, the Society launched the first of what would become a 10-booklet “Village” series of publications. Using a vignette-styled photographic layout, the booklets also share tidbits of historic heritage from every village and hamlet in the township.
For more information about the Longswamp Township Historical Society, you can visit longswamphistory.com or follow us on Facebook.