Retta was educated through the eighth grade only. A stranger appeared at the door of their home one day who turned out to be a Hesselgesser from Ohio, looking for possible family connections. Instead, he fell in love with Retta and she they married. They lived in southwestern Ohio on a farm and were good church people. She had dark hair and was called "Aunt Ret". The family remembers that Retta was a good cook: butterscotch pie, noodles, escalloped corn, and once a week of course, they had chicken. They rarely had beef. Instead they smoked hams and made sausage. Just like children - they were embarrassed because they only had sausage gravy for breakfast instead of eggs like other children! Retta did som sewing and embroidery and was accustomed to getting her work done in the morning, then sitting on the porch all afternoon. The newspaper and daily mail were big events in their lives. She was probably lonely because they only went to town once a week and she did not drive. She did go on a Columbus Dispatch tours, once traveling to Washington D.C. along with Chester's mother sometime between 1947 - 1953.

Retta often visited her parents in Pennsylvania. She would board the train in Urbana, Ohio which went through Columbus, Pittsburgh, Freeport, then Sarver. They would leave one day and get there the next, so always stayed at least one week, maybe two weeks. She happened to be visting there when her father, Earl had a stroke in 1932. Retta herself had heart problems and arthritis. She died 20 Dec 1960 while making a bed.

Harrison and Retta Hesselgesser in 1942 at Delmar's home in Concord Township, Champaign County, Ohio.

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