John R. Galbraith | Cloth cutter, 98

John R. Galbraith, 98, formerly of Broomall, a cloth cutter who made military uniforms for the U.S. government for 38 years, died Thursday at Masonic Village, a retirement community in Elizabethtown, Pa.

Mr. Galbraith grew up in South Philadelphia. At 17, he went to work for the Army Quartermaster Depot in Philadelphia and took courses at night at the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science, now Philadelphia University.

When he was 19 and his brother, William, was 7, their father died. Their mother had died earlier. Mr. Galbraith became the breadwinner, said his daughter, Barbara J. Mowrey. In 1940, he married M. Jane Leitch. They'd had a years-long courtship, their daughter said, because he had to raise his younger brother.

During World War II, Mr. Galbraith served in the Army in the States.

After retiring in the 1960s from the Quartermaster Depot, he worked for textile manufacturers for nine years.

Mr. Galbraith enjoyed yard work and vacations in Ocean City, N.J. He was a 75-year member of the Thomas R. Patton Masonic Lodge in Delaware County.

He is survived by his daughter and brother. His wife died in 1998.

The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Frank C. Videon Funeral Home, 2001 Sproul Rd., Broomall. Friends may call at 10 a.m. Burial will be in Arlington Cemetery, Drexel Hill.