Cover photo for Victor R.H. Yarnell's Obituary
Victor R.H. Yarnell Profile Photo

Victor R.H. Yarnell

October 5, 1919 — January 22, 2015

​​Former Reading Mayor Victor Robert Hewlett Yarnell died January 22, 2015 in Reading, Pennsylvania. Mayor Yarnell was 95 years old.
​Victor Yarnell was born in Montreal, Canada on October 5, 1919. He was the son of Sarah Jane Hewlett Yarnell and Llewellyn Robert Yarnell. At the age of eight, he began school at Bedford Modern School in Bedford, England. At fifteen, he left school and began work with a surveying firm, his first job. At this time he also joined the Bedfordshire Yeomanry, the British equivalent of the National Guard. In 1939, following the declaration of war by Britain against Nazi Germany, MayorYarnell began an eight year service in an artillery division of the British army. During his service Mayor Yarnell became an officer and was given the rank of Left Lieutenant, the British equivalent of First Lieutenant. Left Lieutenant Yarnell soonbecame the commander of a squadron of tanks. Narrowly escaping from the overwhelming Nazi offensive early in World War II in Northwestern France, he managed to get to Dunkirk and was fortunate to be part of the historic and dramatic evacuation of the allied troops. On D-day however, he came back to the Normandy beaches as part of the equally historic and dramatic allied invasion. At the time of his death, Mayor Yarnell was one of fewer than fifty people still living in the world who had served during the Battle of Dunkirk, the D-day invasion, andlater in the strategically crucial Battle of the Bulge in Belgium. In 2008, he traveled with his wife, Louise (Nancy) Ahrens Yarnell, to Dunkirk to celebrate the anniversary of the battle. After Germany’s surrender, Left Lieutenant Yarnell served for a year in the British army of occupation in Kiel, Germany.
​Following the war, Mayor Yarnell traveled to Reading, Pennsylvania to visit his father, who lived and worked in Reading. While visiting, Mayor Yarnell met his wife, Nancy, to whom he was married for sixty-six years and nine months. Mayor Yarnell graduated from Albright College, for which he would serve as a Trustee years later. Following his graduation, he accepted a position as a teacher in York County. After one year in York County he moved on to Muhlenberg High School,where he taught social studies for many years. While teaching,he obtained a master’s degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania.
​Once settled in Berks County, Mayor Yarnell began hislong and active career in community involvement. In the late 1950’s, Yarnell was actively involved in board memberships and issues related to mental health care. He advocated for the rights of the mentally ill, and also participated in organizations to encourage people who were alcoholics, who often had mental health problems, to seek lives that were free of substance abuse and to care for their mental health issues.
In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, Yarnell and friendsfrom Albright College and other community groups began an organization known as the Berks Independent Democrats (BID), in order to build within the Democratic party a group not tainted by the influence of organized crime. The earlier Kubacki administration had been the subject of FBI investigations and ultimately Mayor Kubacki was sentenced to prison.
As part of the BID reform effort, Yarnell ran for and was elected to the Pennsylvania State legislature. He served one term. Then in 1967 Yarnell ran for Mayor of the City of Reading and was elected as part of a BID ticket of candidates. He served from 1968 to 1972.
Yarnell’s years as Mayor, at a time when the city faced many serious problems, were a time of great energy and many progressive changes.
The police force was reorganized under a new Chief, Bernard J. Dobinsky, and a civil service system was implemented within the police department.
The city’s administrative structure was revamped in significant ways so that the city’s eligibility for federal grants, which had lapsed under the prior administration, was restored.
An aggressive effort to bring millions of dollars in federal resources was undertaken through urban renewal projects both downtown and along the riverfront. Reading was one of a handful of selected cities approved for participation in the federal Model Cities program. Through the Reading Housing Authority, three new high-rise elderly apartments were constructed. Parking resources were expanded through a reorganized and reenergized parking authority.
Mayor Yarnell also handled a number of crises head-on, including the failure in downtown Reading of the boilers in the Reading Steam Heat and Power Company, which through an antiqued system of piping provided heat to most of the major buildings downtown: banks, department stores, office buildings, etc. This crash of the city’s heating system occurred during the first week of Mayor Yarnell’s term in office. The creative solution to the problem was to bring two Reading Company steam locomotives to the city where they were parked next to the failed boilers of the Steam Heat and Power Company and hooked up to pump steam right into the piping system. Mayor Yarnell quickly learned that not all problems that he faced were anticipated during his campaign.
Other issues that could not be foreseen involved the national trends of urban unrest that occurred during the late 1960’s. The assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy led to the escalation of understandable frustration and anger within minority communities in Reading. The Yarnell administration responded to these problems with an open door policy in the Mayor’s office enabling delegations and groups to raise their advocacy concerns directly to the Mayor, as one head of the perceived “establishment”.
More specific support from the Yarnell administration involved passing an ordinance that for the first time established a City of Reading Human Relations Commission. Through Mayor Yarnell’s efforts the moribund Police Athletic Leaguewas revived. In addition, the Mayor and his staff were involved actively as partners with the YMCA, the Economic Opportunity Council, and other organizations that provided important outreach to low-income communities in Reading.
These were years of urban unrest in many American cities, while Reading’s problems were minimal. Some national press reports singled out Reading, along with Mayor John Lindsay’s New York, as two cities where responsible city government helped diffuse what could have been explosive situations.
In addition to all of the above, the Yarnell administration instituted the program of fluoridation of the city’s water service so that to this day children of the city of Reading have significantly reduced incidences of dental cavities in comparison to the rest of the county.
​Early in his administration, Mayor Yarnell, his wife, andother community leaders met at the Yarnell home to discuss the creation of a community college. Mayor Yarnell became a strong advocate of the need for a community college. He was a leader in the campaigns to gain its approval and played an important role in urging the Reading School District to assume sponsorship of Reading Area Community College (RACC) in 1970. The college operated out of several locations before moving to its present home at Second and Penn. Mayor Yarnellwas an active member of the RACC Board of Trustees until his death on Thursday.
​Yarnell completed his term as Mayor in 1972 and was appointed Deputy Secretary of Commerce for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He left that position afterGovernor Milton Shapp asked Yarnell to become the Deputy Director of the Office of State Planning and Development.
​In 1979, following the election of Republican Governor Richard Thornburgh, Yarnell left the state government and returned to the City of Reading where he, in conjunction withhis friend Ferdinand Thun, turned his energies toward cleaning up and preserving the Schuylkill River as an important natural resource. The result was the Schuylkill River Greenway Association (SRGA), of which Mayor Yarnell was the first Executive Director. He worked in this capacity for almost 23 years to obtain the cooperation of municipalities along the Schuylkill River and sought funding for the development of trails from the source of the river above Pottsville all the way to Philadelphia. Today these trails are in use by thousands for hiking and biking.
Throughout all these years, Yarnell continued his public service in Reading and Berks County by working with the Youth Outreach Program of the YMCA, the Reading Library, Berks Community Action Program, and many other organizations that helped to improve the community. He played an important role on Reading’s Bicenquinquagenary Committee, which planned and carried out events celebrating the city’s 250th anniversary in 1998.
​Mayor Yarnell is survived by his wife Louise (Nancy) Ahrens Yarnell, his son Stephen Victor Yarnell and his wife Barbara Porter, and their three sons, Thomas, Colin, and David. His sister Betty Lou Lenz, and her husband Peter also survive him. Mayor Yarnell is predeceased by two sons, Robert and Peter and by a sister, Florence Sellick.
​A gathering will be held on Saturday, January 31, 2015 in the River Room of the Yocum Library at the Reading Area Community College, 10 South 2nd Street, Reading, Pennsylvania, from 3 – 5 p.m. Interment will be private. A memorial service will be held on May 16, 2015 at a time to be announced in the Miller Center of the Reading Area Community College. Contributions in memory of Mayor Yarnell may be made to the Reading Area Community College. Lutz Funeral Home Inc. Mt. Penn is in charge of arrangements. For online condolences please visit www.LutzFuneralHome.com
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