Obituary of Russell John Neithammer, Jr.

Russell J. “Rusty” Neithammer, Jr., age 68, of Media, PA, passed away on Wednesday, May 8^th at Chester County Hospital.  Rusty was born June 27, 1955 at Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Drexel Hill, PA and lived for more than 60 years in the Media, PA area.   He graduated from Penncrest High School in 1973 and received his BS in Electrical Engineering at Lafayette College in Easton, PA in 1977.  Rusty held Professional Engineering licenses in numerous states and worked for various companies in the Philadelphia area as an Electrical Engineer, retiring in 2022 from Ballinger. 

Rusty was passionate about music, especially old-time music, and was self-taught on the banjo, guitar and fiddle.  He was a dancer with the Mill Creek Cloggers in the 1970s, played fiddle and banjo with the BowRockers, and guitar with the Cliffhangers old time music bands. He especially loved attending the Clifftop music festival in West Virginia. He liked old vehicles, especially old Volkswagens, and owned several VW Beetles, a VW bus camper and a 1951 Ford F1 pickup truck.  Rusty was an avid walker, usually walking 5 miles around Media every day.  He grew a garden every summer and was an aficionado of hot peppers.  He had a quick wit, loved a good pun, and directed some good-natured humor at those who knew him well.

He was the son of the late Russell J. Neithammer, Sr. and the late Ann Barnard Neithammer.

Survivors: wife, Nancy (Dols) Neithammer, son, Jeffrey Neithammer, sisters Cris Ann Noel, Janelle Downey, Teri Winter and Donna Cusano.  Also survived by nieces Dominique “Nikki” Noel, Beth Ann Downey, Bridgitte Amaut, Sahsha Amaut and nephew Joshua Noel, as well as innumerable old-time music friends and work colleagues.

Visitation: Saturday,  May 18th from 1:30-2:30PM at the Minshall Shropshire-Bleyler Funeral Home, Middletown (Rte. #352) & Knowlton Rds., Middletown Twp., Media, PA, 19063.

Sharing: Saturday, May 18th at 2:30PM at the funeral home.

Interment: Private.

Memorial contributions:  

Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music (Slippery-Hill account), P.O. Box 3672 Greenville, DE 19807

Website: brandywinefriends.org (specify Slippery-Hill account)

Prostate Cancer Foundation, 1250 Fourth St, Santa Monica, CA 90401 Website: pcf.org