Annabelle and Harlan Smith not only shared a love for each other over the years, but also shared a deep love for their community.

"My mother, born Annabelle Snyder, in 1932 and my father, Harlan Smith, born in 1929, met in the mid 1940s," said the Rev. Dr. David Charles Smith of Jordan United Church of Christ, South Whitehall. "It is interesting from their love letters to see how much my parents loved each other."

Smith's mother grew up on a farm known today as Rocking Horse Stables in Heidelberg Township. His father was raised at Shale Ridge Farms.

"My mother worked in an Allentown sewing factory until I was born in 1962," Smith said.

In 1967, his mother began selling Avon. Then, from 1982-97, she worked as an order checker at the receiving market for Hess's Department Store, Allentown.

"My father drove a grinder truck for Phillips Feed and Grain Service in Germansville, what is now known as The Mill in Germansville, today," Smith said. "From 1964 to 1981, my father drove a furniture delivery truck for Hess's Department Store."

Smith said his father who died in 1981 and his mother who died in March kept everything over years.

"My parents have old Avon decanters, Hess's memorabilia, train sets, toys, books, a 1798 Pa. German Bible, a Spartan radio and three school desks, my parents used when they were in school, and more," Smith said.

Smith is offering these items to the community during a public auction 9 a.m. Oct. 26 at his mother's home, 4754 Lowhill Church Road, New Tripoli.

"My parents cared for these things all these years and I wanted to have an opportunity for people to look at them and decide if they want to have a piece of Annabelle and Harlan's life to remember them by," Smith said of the auction.

Public auctions bring people together and allow them to see a glimpse into that person's life, he added.

"At an estate auction, the items being auctioned tell a story," Smith said. "For example, the scores of canning jars at the auction will inform someone who did not know Annabelle that she loved to can."

Smith said he and his three children, sons Josiah, 16, and Jonah, 13, and daughter Jordan, 14, have been sorting through his parents' belongings and preparing them for the auction since the summer.

He has also donated some items to the Weisenberg-Lowhill Historical Society.

"I have not decided what to do with the remaining items that do not sell at the auction, it will basically come down to what is left," Smith said.