Guy Knowlton Sembower
Guy Knowlton Sembower, son of Clarence Hagan and E. Lou (Orr) Sembower, was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, December 11, 1888. Receiving his early education in private schools, he later attended the Hill School. Upon the completion of his studies, Mr. Sembower identified himself with Orr & Sembower, Inc., and has now for some eighteen years borne a constructive part in the progress of that concern. Beginning in a minor capacity, and gaining a thorough familiarity with the business by the very practical method of experience in each department, Mr. Sembower fitted himself exhaustively for executive responsibility. The concern now manufactures seventy five or eighty different styles of engines and boilers, including vertical Maine and horizontal steam engines, and in addition to these groups they make a specialty of vertical and Scotch Maine boilers, hoisting engines, and concrete mixers. The plant is considered one of the finest and best equipped in the entire country, and requires upwards of eight hundred horse power in its engine room. The scope of the concern's business circles the globe, and the high quality and general excellence of the product places the enterprise in a leading position in the community.
In his other interests, both of local and of wider import, Guy Knowlton Sembower is broadly progressive in spirit, and he held the rank of captain in the Ordnance Department of the United States Army. Enlisting for service in the World War, in July, 1917, he was active until January, 1919, as staff officer, attached first to the Eighty-ninth Division and later to the Tenth Division on the staff of Major-General Leonard Wood. Captain Sembower is a Republican by political convictions, but never thus far active in an official capacity in public affairs. He is a member of Blue Lodge, No. 660, Free and Accepted Masons; also the American Legion; the Société des 40 Hommes Et 8 Chevaux; the Manufacturers' Association, and Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Sembower is also a member of the Wyomissing and Berkshire Country clubs, and attends Calvary Reformed Church of Reading.
Guy Knowlton Sembower married, in Reading, Pennsylvania, December 16, 1908, Gertrude Hare, daughter of Michael R. and Clara L. Hare and they have one son: Guy Knowlton Jr., born July 25, 1912.
Information Sources
- Reading and Berks County, Pennsylvania: A History, V2, by Cyrus T. Fox, 1925, pages 165-166