This is the true story of a mural painted in 1976 on the house at 8309 Walbert Lane, Alburtis.

Debbie Trexler and Patricia Ruth have been friends since the eighth grade. When the friends were growing up they loved riding their horses and doing other things good friends do together.

A good many of Trexler's relatives lived in the vicinity of Mertztown Road and Walbert Lane when she was growing up. Being a close-knit family, Trexler even kept her horse at her aunt Lorraine Reichert's house on Walbert Lane as she lived nearby.

Trexler and Ruth were 18 years old when they graduated from high school in 1976; Trexler from Emmaus High School, Emmaus, and Ruth from Allen High School, Allentown. After graduation Trexler's aunt, Lorraine, decided to have siding put up on her home. It was then she came up with the idea of painting a mural on her house before the siding was installed. She told the girls they could paint something on the side of the house before the siding was put up if they wanted to, and thinking it would be a fun project they got to work.

Trexler and Ruth designed the mural together. They thought of the Phillies part of the mural because Reichert was an avid Phillies fan, and the patriotic part of the mural because it was the bicentennial of America.

"Ruth was the artistic one," Trexler said, "so she drew the mural and then we painted it together. Just the two of us, no one else helped with the design or the painting. We did it together over a weekend."

Reichert's sister, Jean Bogert, also was living on Walbert Lane at the time with her husband Dick. When the mural was finished Trexler's family liked it so much her Aunt Jean took a Polaroid photo of the completed mural before it was covered by the siding.

When John Rivetti bought the house in 1994, Bogert showed him the photo she took so he knew the mural was there but had never really seen it before Eric Zodel, a contractor working for Craig Smith Construction, of Emmaus, was tearing off the old siding and uncovered the original mural said Peggy Powell, Rivetti's fiancée. The siding had protected the mural as though it had been in a time capsule.

Other examples of Ruth's work can be found in the area including murals on a barn, in a small storage shed and on a milk can in Trexler's home.

Trexler and Ruth still keep in touch. Ruth is married now and living in Arizona with her husband, Larry Ruppert. She is aware the mural on Walbert Lane has been revealed.

Ruth no longer paints murals on walls or on milk cans.

Trexler's Aunt Jean and Uncle Dick Bogert have now passed away. Trexler's Aunt Lorraine is alive.

Rivetti, the owner of 8309 Walbert Lane, will leave the mural as it is and new siding will be installed over it as it was before. Once again the mural will remain hidden on the house, unseen and undisturbed, to be re-discovered by future generations.