THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 18, 1995 TAG: 9512180032
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Just as they united to build houses and harvest wheat, Amish Mennonites have joined to evoke loving memories of their farming community at Kempsville, Virginia Beach, 1900 to 1970.
The book fills a gap in the history of Hampton Roads. Packed with stories, funny and sad, it is a book that oughtn't be missed, an ideal Christmas gift at $29.95.
The venture's moving spirit, Leon R. Zook, compiled facts and funded the publication to record a fading rural way of life. Journalist Leroy Miller edited it. Donning Publishers printed the 144-page volume.
There are 18 personal recollections, including one by Lloyd Swartzentruber who, as a boy, was sent to the store to buy groceries, with a nickel to spend for himself on a candy bar or soft drink.
Instead he plugged his nickel into the alluring slot machine and pulled the lever - and hit the jackpot. Coins gushed forth, overflowing the tray, and he, seeing the men staring at him, felt a rush of guilt. Amish Mennnonites weren't supposed to gamble. He panicked and ran without retrieving his own nickel.
Viola Yoder Swartzentruber recalls that one day her father was ill so her mother set out with the wagon to take produce to the Norfolk Market. Unsure of the way, she dropped the reins and gave the big Percherons the lead. Perch and Pearl didn't hesitate. The horses knew the way and delivered her and the cargo to downtown Norfolk.
Mary Miller Yoder recalls her father, Eli S. Miller, whose humor made up for lack of farming skills. When someone disparaged his corn crop, he said, ``Yes, well, this year we're growing the stalks, next year we'll grow the ears.''
Among delicacies customers sought were pork brains. One raw, cold day, a client asked, ``You got brains, Mr. Miller?''
``No, Ma'am,'' he replied, ``If I had, I wouldn't be out in this weather.''
He usually underpriced wares, selling honey for 35 cents a pint. Scolded by friends, he said he didn't want to be rebuked at heaven's gate for having overcharged someone here on earth.
With their eyes on the Promised Land, the Amish Mennonites had to reshape their code in the face of rapidly changing worldly ways.
In 1940, the Old Order stuck with horses and buggies for travel, but the auto group insisted that increasing motor traffic made the roads hazardous for buggies. The autos were painted black.
The congregation split, but the two sides continued to share the Kempsville meeting house on alternate Sundays until 1942 when the horse and buggy faction, by then a minority, moved to Stuarts Draft in the Shenandoah Valley.
Cheap land in Virginia Beach drew Amish Mennonites from Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland, but a construction boom of subdivisions began crowding out well-kept farmsteads.
First some migrated to Montezuma, Ga. (1953-58); then Franklin, Ky. (1966-67); and Abbeville, S.C. (1970-71).
Word of that 1966 exodus sickened me. Some of us would rather have kept those staunch God-fearing Amish folk and their nourishing produce than gained a hundred shopping centers.
Talk of family values! Many of them still won't let their young folk listen to radio, or, more especially, watch trash-strewn television.
More than 150 snap shots offer faces every bit as eloquent as their words and deeds. You want to pore over their features. It is an engrossing family album. You feel a part of it. No wonder Messrs. Zook and Miller want us to remember.
Copies are for sale at Kempsville Cabinets, 217 Jersey Ave., Virginia Beach; Yoder Dairies in Kempsville; Bergey's Dairy on Mt. Pleasant Road and its branches at Virginia Beach Farmers Market and North Battlefield Boulevard. For information, call 497-3569. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
One can read 11 stories just studying these 11 faces in a photo of
the Denver and Emma Yoder family taken about 1960.
by CNB