Youth

June Augusta Haushalter was born to Charles Henry Haushalter and Anna Louise Stunick Haushalter on 19 August 1920 on the Haushalter Farmland in Water Valley, New York.^[1][2][3] She lived with her parents in their farmhouse on Gowanda State Road, Water Valley, Hamburg, New York, attending the Water Valley School with her cousin, Glenn Haushalter.^[4] She graduated as valedictorian from Hamburg High School in New York in 1938.^[5] After graduating from New York State Teachers College in Albany in 1942, June was hired to teach Wilson, New York. ^[6][7] When she went to interview for the position, one of the interviewers asked June if she was related to Charlie Haushalter. When she replied proudly in the affirmative, he offered her the job, saying Charlie was one of the most honest, hardworking people he'd ever known.^[2]

Marriage

On June 27, 1943, June married Edwin "Ed" Casler in Albany, New York.^[7] June and Ed moved several times, but mostly within the state of New York. They were living in New Jersey when their eldest child was born in 1945.^[8] June was forced to set aside her teaching career when she became pregnant. The mores of the time didn't allow for a pregnant woman teaching.^[2] In 1947, June and her child visited June's family in Water Valley from June and Ed's home in Albany, New York.^[9] Their second son was born in Albany. The family most likely lived there from at least 1947 until 1950, when they are recorded in the 1950 US Census.^[10] Another child was born in Albany^[11] in 1951.^[12]

Return to Water Valley

In 1955, June and Ed moved back to her family's land in Water Valley,^[2] where June was an active part of the town's social and educational life. She helped run the Water Valley Home Bureau Unit^[13] alongside her mother.^[14] The Caslers' last child was born in Buffalo in 1955.^[15] When she entered kindergarten, June was able to return to teaching.^[2] She worked in Eden and Hamburg school districts as a teacher and the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library as a librarian.^[7] She taught in the Eden School District reading lab, using linguistics to help students improve their reading skills. She was a substitute teacher in Hamburg, and eventually taught special education.^[2]

Later Life

June had always loved flowers, and when she wasn't teaching, she spent hours caring for her garden. Eventually, she decided to grow and dry flowers professionally, selling them at flea markets with a business partner, Sue. Ed came along to help set up and take down the sales table. June was also heavily involved with the League of Women Voters in the Buffalo area. June and Ed both played in a couples bridge club with Doris Haushalter Agle and her husband, Milton. Doris and June remained best friends their entire lives. To the two sisters went the task of overseeing the settlement of the estates of numerous childless aunts and uncles. The two couples went out almost every Friday night to one of the many local fish fry restaurants.^[2]

June and Ed continued to live in Water Valley, Hamburg, New York, in their house on the Haushalter land for more than fifty years. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with many family members and friends at a restaurant in Silver Creek on Lake Erie^[1][2] in 1993.^[7]

Decline of the Haushalter Farm

In 1964, June and her two siblings, Doris and Carl, sold the original farmhouse and barns.^[2] Charles Haushalter, June's father, had been the last of the family to farm the land, his children having other occupations.^[16] The three siblings retained joined ownership of the bulk of the land, as well as owning single lots individually along Gowanda State Road. They continued to lease the land to others looking to grow crops for another twenty years or so.^[17]

By the 1990s, the aggregation of small farmsteads into much larger agricultural operations made a 50-acre farm impractical and unprofitable. The death of Charles Haushalter and the country's move to big-agro were the harbingers of the end of the Haushalter farm legacy. But encroachment, vandalism, theft and wanton disregard for property by neighboring residents of Hamburg aggravated the situation and hastened it along.^[17][16] Despite this, the town fought the three Haushalter siblings tooth and nail when they began to think of breaking up the property. In 1994, Hamburg made an attempt to pre-emptively change the zoning rules governing the Haushalter land.^[18] The Haushalters wanted to sell everything they held jointly so that they would no longer be losing money to taxes and fees.^[1]

In 2003, after bitter debates at public sessions with the Hamburg zoning board, the Haushalters were finally able to get their land rezoned.^[16][2][1] They sold all the remaining empty acreage to a real estate developer, who began building houses along the back, easternmost lots first. By 2007, the rest of the lots along Gowanda State Road were being sold and built upon.

June continued to live in her house on Gowanda State Road in Water Valley until 2008. About a year and one severe ice storm and power outage after Ed's death, June packed up several hundred years of family history and her own belongings to move in next to her eldest son in Marblehead, Massachusetts.^[2][1] June was the last member of the Haushalter family to live on their land in Water Valley.

Time in Marblehead

June moved into an apartment in the more than 300-year-hold house right next to her son and his wife. June, never one to be idle, immediately became actively involved in Marblehead social and civil life. She was a highly active member of Marblehead's Senior Center^[1] and even interviewed for a newspaper article about living as a senior in modern America.^[19] She joined her daughter-in-law's book club as soon as it was formed and continued to attend meetings until the month of her death. The club met many times in June's home in a senior living community, and even at the hospice she eventually moved to in 2008. June's kindness, intelligence, wit and perspicacity were appreciated so much by the group that they insisted on it, even when she was afraid she was being too much trouble.^[1]

Every remaining member of June's family made sure to visit her frequently over the more than fifteen years she lived in Massachusetts. She invited Liz Casler Loomans over for red wine, the PBS evening news and lively discussion whenever Liz was in town from Cincinnati. June's children and their spouses all came to visit, her daughters and granddaughters taking her clothes shopping, which she adored. She got to meet and enjoy many of her great grandchildren. She also continued to visit them for as long as she could, going to Chicago, Cincinnati, Minneapolis and other family migration points.^[1]

June celebrated her 100th birthday at her senior living community in Salem, Massachusetts, during the Covid pandemic in 2020.^[20] Pandemic restrictions prevented much of her family from being there, but they celebrated the next year in her son's backyard with local lobster, the family recipe baked beans and corn shipped in specially from the Henry's farm in Water Valley.^[1]

Death

In December of 2024, June fell and was rushed to the hospital.^[1][21] On leaving the hospital some days later, she was moved to hospice in Danvers. The family knew she would not recover, but you wouldn't have known it from spending time with her.^[1]

June continued to write letters and host family members from her room in hospice. Every bit of her wit and intelligence stayed with her, and she enjoyed listening to and discussing audiobooks with her family. On Christmas Day, John, Jane, their two children and Liz's family were able to celebrate Christmas with June.^[1]

On the evening of March 15, June's family had a small party with her in her room to celebrate her son's 80th birthday. In the small hours of the following morning, June suffered a catastrophic stroke. On 20 March 2025, June Casler passed away peacefully in her sleep. She was 104, and she lived every day of that life. She loved. She taught. She will be missed for the rest of our days.^[1]