Mirror photo by Cati Keith Julia Schokker fixes a dress on display at Baker Mansion's bridal gown exhibit that belonged to her mother.

While Julia Plummer Schokker is being lauded for her work helping the Blair County Historical Society weather the COVID-19 pandemic, she said “it’s a team effort here, no one does anything by themselves.”

Schokker, 65, recently received the society’s Executive Director Choice Award 2023 for not only her efforts to carry the organization through the pandemic as the acting executive director but also for her work researching and writing “First Frontier: A Sesquicentennial History of Altoona, PA 1868-2018.”

The Altoona native said she was both “honored and flattered” by the recognition.

A graduate of Bishop Guilfoyle High School, Schokker attended Penn State University on a ROTC scholarship, earning a bachelor’s degree in history.

She served in the Army where, after six years, she resigned her commission with the rank of captain.

She then joined with BDM Corp. in Washington, D.C., on Capitol Hill as a project manager for the sergeant-at-arms in the U.S. Senate computer center and later worked with Magellan Health. She returned to Altoona in 1998 to raise her sons and worked for Delta Health Systems, which eventually became Siemens. During her time with Siemens, she lived in Germany from 2005-07, working as a program manager for a large IT project serving the National Health System for Scotland.

From 2010-12, also with Siemens, she headed an international team based in India and Ann Arbor, Michigan. That team delivered a $3 million clinical system for use by cardiac care centers such as the Mayo Clinic, she said.

After 38 years in the workforce, Schokker retired at age 57 and returned home to Altoona to spend time with her family, plunging herself into history and volunteering with the historical society.

Fall back on experiences

When the society’s executive director resigned in March 2020, during the pandemic, Schokker managed the group’s daily operations.

Under her tenure, Baker Mansion remained solvent despite mandatory closures and a 90% drop in attendance.

By January 2021, the museum was in a strong enough financial position to hire current director Kate Rimbeck and Schokker willingly stepped down to continue her volunteer work as treasurer.

Michael Farrow, board president, said Schokker has been transformative for the historical society. “I can truly say that we would not have survived the COVID-19 pandemic (without Schokker),” he said.

Farrow said as treasurer, Schokker put the society’s financial status in the black and reorganized long-term finances.

“Julia has been an invaluable resource,” said James Lowe, board chairman.

Endowment fund created

Schokker said she is most proud of two accomplishments: creating an endowment fund and the bridal gown exhibit.

The pandemic showed the society how close it was to financial disaster and the fund was created with a goal to raise $2 million, she said.

With $1 million raised so far, Schokker said the fund will cover the society in the event costly repairs — such as a new roof, driveway or HVAC system — would be needed.

Farrow credits Schokker’s tireless work with the endowment committee to help secure the initial goal and reorganize the museum shop finances to make the operation self-sufficient.

Bridal gown find

The bridal gown exhibit happened by chance, as during the pandemic, Schokker began opening boxes at Baker Mansion.

“I noticed that they all said bridal or gown, and I started wondering how many they had,” she said, adding she ended up finding dozens of gowns dated from 1831 to the 1960s.

She found the gowns fascinating and figured “a lot of people in Blair County would come to an exhibit of the gowns.”

The bridal gown exhibit — opened in 2021 — will end in December after having been viewed by hundreds of visitors from not only the local area but from across the state, Maryland and Virginia.

Schokker said she enjoyed telling stories about the women who wore the dresses, including Elizabeth Bell, daughter of Edward Bell, iron master and founder of Bellwood.

“Something like the bridal gown exhibit takes a lot of work to put together. The dresses are from many different eras, and Julia made sure the stories that went with each were accurate,” Lowe said.

Some visitors compared the exhibit to one at the Frick Museum in Pittsburgh and the Smithsonian’s display of the first lady dresses.

“I’ve even had brides and their bridesmaids have mini showers here,” Schokker said.

Farrow said Schokker also organized several other major exhibits, and she is currently spearheading the German-American Heritage display that will be put in place next year.

“Her drive and enthusiasm never stops — she is truly a wonderful asset to the society and to Blair County,” Farrow said.

For her part, Schokker said it’s fun to be around historic objects and around people who know more history than she does.

“When we give lectures, it is gratifying to see how many are interested — we get 100 people in a heartbeat,” she said.

That’s not only true today, but was also true in the early 1900s, she said, as she found information about history lectures held in the mechanics library that were well attended.

“People flocked,” she said. “These were railroad workers who were eager for knowledge.”

Preserving history

One of her favorite projects is preserving local veteran stories.

“Every one of the World War II veterans I interviewed have since passed away, and I’m glad I was able to get their stories before that,” she said.

The society also collected stories on Korean War veterans and now it is working to get Vietnam veterans.

“So many of the veterans were shy about telling their stories or they wanted to forget about the war,” she said. While she never saw combat, her two sons served in six combat tours, she said, and are able to talk with veterans.

The plan, she explained, is to have interactive kiosks in the museum where people can look up veterans’ names and read their story.

Schokker said the preservation of history — including the heritage, buildings and stories — is important.

In Europe, she said “they preserve their buildings and they preserve their heritage and celebrate it.”

She wants to see the same thing happen here and is heartened by downtown Altoona, which is starting to see a revival as attitudes change about preserving the old buildings.

Preservation efforts will extend to Baker Mansion, she said, where the pillars and structure will be studied, thanks to a grant, to see what needs done to bolster the structure.

“This is an icon along with the courthouse in Hollidaysburg and Mishler Theatre — if you showed anyone just the silhouette of those, they would know exactly what it was,” Schokker said.

Looking toward 2024, she said the Mishler Theatre will host a premiere of the first feature film on the history of Blair County. Schokker.

The event is planned for April 18, she said.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am.”

Mirror Staff Writer Cati Keith is at 814-946-7535.