RELLO OLLER: REMEMBERING A KIND-HEARTED WAYNESBORO WOMAN WHOSE LEGACY ENDURES AT OLLER HOUSE
By Robb Helfrick
When Rello Oller was born in Victorian-era Waynesboro in 1895, she was christened with a unique and creative name. At first glance, her palindromic moniker (Rello is Oller spelled backward) seems playful and light-hearted. But with that name, Rello’s parents, Joseph and Myrtle Oller, may also have taught their first-born daughter an important early lesson: never forget the values the Oller family name represented.
During nearly a century of living, Rello embodied those civic-minded and benevolent Oller ideals. When her long life concluded, she became the third Waynesboro woman to bequeath a significant local historic property. It was her lifelong home, the Oller House.
Rello Oller was born into a prominent family. Waynesboro was in the height of its industrial might, and her father was a major contributor to that success. Geiser Manufacturing and Landis Machine Company were two local powerhouses. Joseph Oller worked his way up to become General Manager of the former and later President of the latter. Business prosperity brought wealth and influence, but Joseph didn’t abuse that privilege. He believed in sharing his good fortune with the community.
Shortly after his marriage to Myrtle, Joseph built a distinctive home for his family. At 138 West Main Street, a grand Queen Anne-style, red-brick home was completed in 1892. With a wrap-around front porch, multi-gabled roof, and a single tower rising into the sky, the Oller home presented a refined appearance on the town’s prominent thoroughfare.
Inside, the home had double parlors, a dining room, a front office, a large kitchen, and two butler’s pantries downstairs. The lovely chestnut woodwork, with pocket doors, intricate moldings, and a massive staircase, garnered most of the visitors’ attention as they entered the home.
Upstairs, the house had five bedrooms, state-of-the-art 1890’s bathrooms, and the tower room on the third floor was used as a children’s playroom. It was there that Rello Oller developed her lifelong love affair with dolls. A surviving portrait in the home shows infant Rello in a wicker stroller, looking like a porcelain doll.
Faith permeated the Oller’s family life. Many connections were made at the Brethren Church, and lessons learned there translated to all facets of their household, both in daily work and weekend play. Rello absorbed that mindset, always devoted to her chores. She read the bible daily and followed her father’s lead with hospitality. “The latchstring should always hang out,” Joseph often said, meaning all were welcome at their home.
Rello developed an appreciation for music at an early age. She played the piano, later tutored aspiring musicians, and held concerts at the house. Along with dear friend Lettie Gerhart, Rello was part of a quartet that often performed at Waynesboro’s Brethren Church. She preferred music to serious educational studies.
However, Rello still earned a college degree from Juniata College in 1920. A woman with a degree was a rare occurrence during that era, and she achieved it the same year women were granted the right to vote.
Rello’s two younger brothers eventually left the Waynesboro family home, but she stayed. While her parents were alive, Rello accompanied them to their winter vacation home in Florida and the family’s summer retreat in Canada. Rello never learned to drive, but later owned a white Bonneville coupe that others chauffeured for her.
Rello rarely dated, never married, and even though she never had children, a large network of “family” came into her orbit. One close female friend, ostracized by the community after a divorce, came to live with Rello. All were welcome at her Waynesboro home.
One family had particularly close ties to Rello Oller: the Ringer’s. Although they were not related by blood, Nancy Ringer Frame remembers Rello by saying, “We just loved her. She was like a grandmother to me, but I called her Auntie Rello.” Nancy’s parents, Bob and Paula Ringer, were also like a second family to Rello, always supportive and helpful as Rello entered her golden years. Bob was a respected photojournalist who documented Waynesboro’s history.
When asked about Rello’s character, Nancy recalled, “She always said she was blessed to be born into the Oller family. That attitude showed in everything she did. Rello was a kind and generous woman.”
As Rello entered her 90s, she envisioned the Oller family’s legacy. The home that had been so precious during her life offered an even longer lifespan. Rello took notice of two other Waynesboro women who acted as benefactors.
In 1943, Mrs. James Yost donated her family home on Main Street, which later became the Alexander Hamilton Library. Three decades later, Emma Geiser Nicodemus bequeathed her 100-acre property in 1972. That farm became Renfrew Museum and Park.
Rello followed their charitable examples, designating that her home be given to Waynesboro’s Historical Society at her passing.
Rello Oller died on January 7, 1992. The transformation of the Oller House to the Historical Society headquarters was accomplished with wide community support. While most of Rello’s personal belongings left the home, it would eventually contain many historic Waynesboro artifacts that were collected and donated over the past three decades. Bob Ringer’s collection of over 1,500 photographs is stored (and digitized) here, as well as historic research papers that educate Waynesborians about their illustrious past.
Rello Oller’s legacy remains strong to this day. Oller House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Waynesboro Historical Society also manages two additional NRHP properties, Harbaugh Church in Washington Township, and rustic Welty’s Mill Bridge, a local iconic landmark spanning Antietam Creek.
The Oller House is open for individual and group tours on Saturdays from 10 am to 1 pm and by appointment. The property is a lovely time capsule of Waynesboro’s bygone days.
The house is also a fitting homage to Rello Oller, the benefactor who paid her good fortune forward, giving the community a connection to her kind-hearted life.
