On this web site, there are at least 55 transcriptions of cemeteries, baptisms, marriages, etc., that Al sent me, at his expense.  Also in my "to do" file, from Al, is a huge listing of marriages for Warren County, several more cemeteries, etc.  Without Al, mine would be a "nice little web site," with emphasis on "little."  Every time someone thanks me for making so much information available, he or she is really thanking Al Hosbach and Beulah Gangaware.  Al also made gifts to me of the Beers Atlas, Images of America: Blairstown, by Kenneth Bertholf, Jr., a book on the old New Jersey cemeteries, and Snell's book on Hunterdon County (which Al found at a flea market).  There was never any question of him accepting any money from me for all of this.

        Last spring Al and Jan came up to meet me.  What a lovely couple!  We did a tour of Niagara Falls, then we spent a few hours at Niagara Casino.  We went out to dinner, and even though I'd won a jackpot at the casino, he would not let me pick up the check.

        Millard Hawk emailed me the following:  "I'm terribly sorry to hear about Al's passing.  When I first started this website, and subsequently joined the various mailing "lists", Al was one of the very 1st persons to answer any of my inquiries about the Hawk family...."    "...His passing is a great loss to all of us.  My concolences to his surving family."  As I search message boards, very often I'll see a query with a response by Al Hosbach, trying to help someone find the answers they sought.  Mill's experience with Al was certainly not unique....Al just kept giving and giving.

        The last time I spoke with Al on the phone, he was excited because he'd gotten a scanner to go with his laptop.  His plan was to go to family reunions, etc., all ready to scan family records into the laptop, and to enter names right into his data base.

        We have all lost someone very special in our little corner of the genealogy world.

                                                                                                    Jan Reuther
                                                                                                    June 28, 2003

        Albert R. Hosbach, 56, of Belvidere, died Tuesday, June 24, 2003, in Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.  He was born 12 August 1946, in Hackensack, N.J., the son of Philip Hosbach, Jr. and Helen Woolf, both of Stewartsville.

        Al,  a 1964 graduate of Phillipsburg High School, was a chemical operator with Mallinckrodt Baker in Phillipsburg. He was a Delaware River enthusiast and loved genealogy.

        Al is survived by his parents and his wife, Jan; two sons, Christopher of San Diego, and Craig of Bloomsburg, Pa.; a daughter, Patti Young of Lamoine, Maine; two brothers, Philip of Stewartsville and Ted of Bloomsbury; a sister, Helen Keating of Pedricktown, N.J.; and two grandchildren, Scott and Heather Young.

        Services to be private.

        Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, Lehigh Valley Chapter, 2121 City Line Road, Bethlehem, PA 18017.