Youngen-Beaber’s ties to Alpine Hills Museum celebrated

A host of friends and family gathered together at Union Hill Church recently to celebrate Diana Youngen-Beaber’s retirement from serving as an anchor at Alpine Hills Museum in Sugarcreek.

Youngen-Beaber officially retired from the board in early August, but she said while she may be stepping down from that role, it doesn’t mean she will be absent from the museum.

“I loved working in the information center part of the museum,” Youngen-Beaber said. “It’s been a real honor being able to help out any way I could because this museum means a lot to me personally and it means a lot to the community and our history.”

She said being a part of a museum that showcases everything Swiss and the heritage connected with so many people from the Sugarcreek community was fulfilling.

Youngen-Beaber and her late husband Lowell both have ancestors that date back to Switzerland, and they took several trips to Switzerland, the last one coming not long prior to Lowell’s passing.

She said all their trips held special meaning to them because it was an adventure back to their roots, and they were able to celebrate their 50th anniversary there.

“That last trip we did a lot of train travel, and it was wonderful,” she said.

The couple actually stepped in and played a key role in keeping the museum afloat decades ago when it was struggling.

The couple stepped in and operated the museum for a while after former curators Les and Pat Kaser retired, playing a critical role in bridging the gap until the museum could right the ship.

The couple did so as volunteers.

That time, around 2009, created the push to bring in more volunteers. The couple served in that capacity until 2015, with Lowell’s unfortunate passing. Diana then served on the board.

One thing the couple did during their tenure was create the tradition of placing geraniums in the planters on the second floor of the façade of the museum.

That tradition carries on today, although they have gone from placing live geraniums to silk flowers.

“When the geraniums were real, Lowell would carry a water bucket up the steps on a regular basis to water them,” Youngen-Beaber said. “It was a ton of work, which is why we eventually went to silk flowers.”

The flowers add beauty, but the work the couple put into the museum was paramount to its survival.

“At one point we decided we needed to put out the word that we were in need of volunteers for the information center, and people came forward and said they’d help,” Youngen-Beaber said.

Volunteers have always played a key role in the museum’s success, and for many years Youngen-Beaber has been a part of that, either as a volunteer in her later years or as a board member for close to a decade.

As part of the volunteer program at the museum, she said investing her time and effort paid off in one glorious way.

“Just meeting all the people who came in, learning where they were from and talking to them was so much fun,” Youngen-Beaber said.

She said she has no doubt she will continue to stay closely connected with the museum. She said it was simply getting to the point that serving on the board was becoming too difficult, including adding the new silk geraniums.

Becky Detwiler, the current museum curator, said Youngen-Beaber has been an important figure in the museum, serving in a capacity that has made her instrumental to the sheer existence of the museum.

“The state of the museum is strong today, and that is very much due to the effort of Diana and Lowell,” Detwiler said. “Diana has served faithfully and been an incredible part of our museum.”

Today, Alpine Hills Museum is prospering, adding new displays, keeping the history and tradition of the Swiss community alive and well in Sugarcreek, and helping locals and tourists alike gain insight into the role the Swiss people played in shaping the culture and community of the village.