Neighbor Spotlight: Bell Acres historian believes everyone has a story to tell

When it to comes stories, local historian Debby Rabold believes everyone has one to tell.

This is what she told two sisters she met to interview for the Franklin Park History book, published in 2006. The sisters asked Rabold why she wanted to interview them, because they felt they had nothing interesting to tell.

Rabold knew the sisters had interesting stories to tell because they had lived through the World Wars, the invention of television, the dawn of space exploration and many more impactful events.

“I can guarantee that as soon as you start talking to someone, they immediately find something in their experience that is unique and really interesting,” Rabold said.

It is a strategy she has been able to use successfully throughout her years of gathering and preserving history around the area.

The 69-year-old has worked as a local historian for more than 20 years between Franklin Park and Bell Acres. She was eyeing retirement in 2015 but was asked to work part-time as a historian for Bell Acres. Through her role there, Rabold has managed to create an abundant web page of Bell Acres’ history.

As a historian, Rabold gathers and collects information to preserve it and make it accessible to the public. The history she researches contains communities’ histories and oral accounts from those living in the area.

“History books don’t get into the day-to-day lives of people. I think what might turn people off is that it’s always taught as wars, treaties and the political part. I think people would be more interested in the social history,” she said.

In grade school and high school, though, her favorite subjects were history and geography. She has degrees in anthropology and secondary education social studies. Her interest in genealogy is what inspired her to investigate community family history.

“When you start combining family experiences, you get family history. Then when you take family histories of people that have lived in the same community for years, that’s how your community evolves,” Rabold said.

The process of finding stories starts in newspaper archives for Rabold, who will fall down a rabbit hole of history as she reads old articles. While she has uncovered many interesting facts, one that stands out is that Haysville had a water cure spa during the Civil War.

“People believed they could cure illnesses by drinking large amounts of water, like alternative medicine,” Rabold said.

To continue her local history hobby, Rabold created a personal Facebook page called “Sewickley Valley Stories & More” to give brief accounts of historic interest from communities located in the northwestern suburbs of Allegheny County.

“I can’t imagine ever giving it up completely. It just becomes a part of your life,” Rabold said.

She wants to continue to raise awareness about local history and encourages people to keep the memories they collect over time, because someday it will be needed for local historical societies and local committees accepting donations of artifacts and documents.

“While someone may not see any value to it, it is valuable to someone else,” she said.

Editor’s note: Neighbor Spotlight is a monthly feature that aims to let our readers learn more about the people in their communities who are working to make them a better place, who have interesting stories to tell or who the community feels deserve “15 minutes of fame.” If you would like to nominate someone as a Neighbor Spotlight, see sewickleyherald.com, select the “Post Story” button in the upper right corner and complete the form to publish your nomination. Questions? Email Neighborhood News Network editor Katie Green at kgreen@triblive.com.