ROEBLING Any visitor who has passed through Roebling has probably traveled on Hornberger Avenue for at least part of the journey. But it’s the longtime residents who warmly remember the kind doctor who took care of the village’s families for 40 years and gave the road its name.
By:Vanessa S. Holt
A local garden club is currently raising money to erect a memorial honoring Dr. J. Howard Hornberger, whom residents fondly recall as a "pillar" of the community. He died in 1968 at age 71.
Dr. Hornberger was a physician for the village of Roebling, the steel mill and township schools from the 1920s until his death. His grave in Cedar Hill Cemetery is marked only with a bronze plaque, but those who remember him would like to see a larger monument to commemorate the life and contributions of the well-loved physician.
Loretta Varga, president of the garden club, is also asking anyone with memories or anecdotes about Dr. Hornberger to send them to the Roebling Garden Club for a booklet the club is assembling that will be available when the monument is erected.
There currently is no timeline for completion of the memorial, but club members hope to raise about $1,000 for the monument, which will be engraved with a picture of the late doctor, said Ms. Varga.
Like many longtime Roebling residents, Ms. Varga remembers Dr. Hornberger’s friendly house calls and pleasant manner when he stopped by with a black medical bag to tend to patients or just to visit.
"He would stop in to see you as a friend," said Ms. Varga. Dr. Hornberger also tended to patients at his Fourth Avenue office, within easy walking distance for most residents.
Born in Snyder County, Pa., in 1896, Dr. Hornberger received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1921 before choosing to settle in Roebling to practice medicine.
The street known as Hornberger Avenue for the past 30 years was previously named Knickerbocker Avenue, after the Knickerbocker Ice Co. located on the road. Before refrigerators were common in every household, ice trucks made deliveries along little alleys behind Roebling houses.
The road was posthumously named after Dr. Hornberger shortly after his death, recalled Lou Borbi, a Roebling resident with his own memories of the village doctor.
"Whenever I had to go to the doctor I’d go to Dr. Hornberger’s office on Fourth Avenue," said Mr. Borbi. "I remember being a young boy, about 7 years old, sitting on a fence watching a high school pitcher throwing to a catcher. I caught the ball in the mouth; they took me to Dr. Hornberger and he put Mercurochrome on it."
Mr. Borbi remembered the doctor as an avid fisher and hunter and noted that one of Dr. Hornberger’s trophies, a stuffed pheasant, can still be seen at the Roebling Museum.
Stephen Fazekas, who served for 33 years as a member of Roebling Rescue Squad, received treatment from Dr. Hornberger both as a child and as an adult working at the steel mill and volunteering for the squad.
"Anytime we called him, he never said no," said Mr. Fazekas. "He was a pillar to the community."
Mr. Fazekas, who grew up in Roebling, recalled the doctor coming to his house as a child in the 1930s during the Depression.
He said the doctor didn’t demand payment on the spot, but would tell Mr. Fazekas’ parents, "When you have it, you can bring it around."
Mr. Fazekas said he will never forget the time he and his wife attended a Roebling Rescue Squad picnic with their infant daughter in the early 1960s and had trouble getting their daughter to sleep. Dr. Hornberger offered his help, said Mr. Fazekas.
"He said, ‘You bring her over to me,’ talked to her and she finally went to sleep," said Mr. Fazekas.
He also described the time the doctor came to the squad building "on his own time" one Sunday morning to give flu shots to the squad during a flu epidemic.
"He was just a great man," said Mr. Fazekas. "Anybody that was here when he was living, if they found anything wrong with him, I’d be surprised. The nicest thing they did was to name the street after him."
Past president of the N.J. Medical Society and Burlington County Medical Society, Dr. Hornberger was an active member of the Florence Township Chamber of Commerce, past commander of the Willitts-Hogan-Tonne Post American Legion of Roebling, a member of Florence Volunteer Fire Co. No. 2, and many other civic groups and organizations.
His three children were born in Roebling but have since moved to other parts of the country.
Ms. Varga said Dr. Hornberger’s son, Robert, who now lives in Florida, expressed his appreciation for the garden club’s efforts in a letter he wrote to her on behalf of the Hornberger family.
Donations for the monument in any amount can be sent to The Roebling Garden Club, c/o Loretta Varga, 20 Fourth Ave., Roebling, N.J. 08554.
