Mr. Joseph Norman Statler Jr.

Joseph Norman Statler, Jr, of Chambersburg, PA, died on Friday, April 24, 2025, at home. He was 95.
Joe was the 9th generation of Statlers born in Franklin County. Although work required him to leave his hometown and spend the next 50 years in other parts of the country, his heart was always in Chambersburg and it was an easy decision to return home upon his retirement.
Joe met his beloved Liz at the Valentine’s dance at Chambersburg High School during their sophomore year. After graduating high school, he attended Shippensburg University, and then, upon receiving a job offer that changed his life, gave up his dream of becoming a professional baseball player, married the love of his life and went to work. He was asked to join the J.C. Penney company as a store clerk at the Chambersburg store. This began a long career doing what he loved with a company he revered.
Being a Penney man meant moving stores with each promotion. Over his 41 year career, the family moved 13 times. His 4 children were born in 3 different states and attended 8 different high schools. His wife opened and closed her storefront business in 4 different cities. But Joe had found a career for which he was uniquely qualified. Starting as a clerk on the selling floor, he was soon promoted to junior management and eventually retired as store manager in one of the biggest stores in the country. At one point he was offered a prestigious position in the corporate offices in Manhattan, but he refused. He was not a corporate guy. He was a store guy.
Liz was very aware of how traumatic retirement would be for him, and immediately enfolded him into her antiques business (a move she later regretted as he put his 40+ years of management into changing her rather haphazard style of running a business!) With the business, they traveled extensively, sharing their passion for collecting with many young people and with their fellow dealers.
Joe enjoyed the occasional round of golf, swearing at the Boston Red Sox, and refinishing furniture. He was never comfortable doing nothing, and filled every minute of his retirement maintaining his portfolio of stocks, polishing silver for the business, or working in his yard. Relaxing for him came at the end of the day with a martini and a Sudoku.
Joe was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Elizabeth (Young) Statler, his parents J. Norman and Mary (Coble) Statler, his brother-in-law Paul L. Mills, and his grandson Charles Joseph Wilson.
He was the beloved father to Jane Wilson, James Statler (Diane), William Statler and Susan Ventresca (Benjamin), brother to Mary Rebecca Mills, uncle to Kathy Lutz (Mark) and Karen Reinhart (Andrew). He was the proud grandfather of 10 and great grandfather of 12.
Joe Statler was a quiet man whose mission in life was to care for his wife and family, and never become a burden to those he loved. His life diminished when he lost his beloved Liz to Alzheimer’s Disease just after they celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. But he never stopped caring for those around him, never stopped with his dry wit, and never stopped being the true gentleman he was.
There will be a funeral services held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, May 1, 2026, at Sellers Funeral Home, 297 Philadelphia Avenue in Chambersburg. Interment will follow immediately after at Lincoln Cemetery, 950 Lincoln Way East.
Memorial donations can be made in Joe’s memory to the HCSC Foundation, an organization founded in 1960 by James Cash Penney to aid former Penney associates who were having financial difficulties. This organization was very near and dear to Joe’s heart. HCSC Foundation, 4641 E Ashford Ave., Orange, Ca. 92867 (HCSC Foundation)