Owen Philip Hawley (August 29, 1930 – July 31, 2006) and Ralph Lietz Schroeder (February 18, 1920 – October 26, 1976) were longlife partners living in Marietta, Ohio.
Owen Philip Hawley was born on August 29, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Ida Peterson and Anthony Weber; he was later adopted by Clarence Edgar Hawley and Alicia Myrtle Hevle.
Hawley grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In 1952 he graduated from St. Olaf College, A.B. in 1952, where he was part of the Phi Beta Kappa. He majored in English, History, and French. He later became a Danforth Graduate Fellow and obtained an A.M. in 1954 from Harvard University in History and English.In the summer of 1951 he attended the Summer School Abroad in London, England, organized by the University of Minnesota.
After graduation, Owen Hawley taught in Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. In the 1950s he was instructor in English at Union College, Barbourville, Kentucky, and lived in the Campus.[1] In 1964 he took a position at Marietta College and became professor emeritus. He retired in 1990.
Hawley was a volunteer of the Washington County Historical Association and Washington County Public Library. Among his researches those about Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Vachel Lindsay.
In 1967 Hawley published "Orient pearls at random strung: Mr. Emerson comes to Marietta".[2] In 1985 he published "Phi Beta Kappa Gamma of Ohio, Marietta College, 1860-1985: 125th anniversary history and directory" and in 1967 "Of no mean reputation: Charles Sullivan".[3]
In 1962 Schroeder published "Where a lad is: an account of Vachel Lindsay". In 1973 he published "The history-go-round". In 1976, the same year of his death, Schroeder published "History of Washington County, Ohio: with illustrations and biographical sketches".[4] [5]
In 1996 Hawley published a study of the Mound Cemetery at Marietta (where he is now buried).
Hawley and Schroeder lived at 401 Aurora St., Marietta, Ohio.[6]
Owen Hawley and Ralph Schroeder are buried together at Mound Cemetery (Marietta, Ohio).
Owen Hawley left his collection of books, including the Ralph Shroeder-Vachel Lindsay Collection, to various libraries, colleges, and historical societies.