by MarianBeaman | Mar 23, 2022 | blog, book review, Literature, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, popular culture, Quotations, Uncategorized
Sociology professor receives a dire diagnosis He is stopped in his tracks He is also a Mennonite pastor How can he find a path forward? These four lines describe pastor and professor Conrad Kanagy, a Mennonite author who lives with his family in my childhood...
by MarianBeaman | Mar 9, 2022 | blog, Coming of Age, Education, Mennonite History, Reflection, Uncategorized
Sophomore Class, Elizabethtown High School 1957 Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania Have you found (or kept) an individual or a group photo from your school days? School snapshots are available online. Have you discovered a digital copy of a school...
by MarianBeaman | Mar 2, 2022 | blog, book review, Cliff Beaman artist, Family / Nostalgia, Kiev Ukraine, Mennonite History, Quotations, Travel, Ukraine, Uncategorized
I received a copy of Elfrieda Schroeder’s memoir, Ellie’s World, about a month ago. Though eastern Europe was rumbling louder in the news in early February, I had no idea how timely her story would be considering the horrific events of this past week....
by MarianBeaman | Jan 19, 2022 | blog, Coming of Age, Memory, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Quotations, Travel, Uncategorized
Trains take me back to grade school, evoking the fondest of memories, like this one. My friend Wayne and I paused in our play in the woods during summer vacation. We waited for the dusty, black engine to emerge from the heat haze around the feed mill on the edge of...
by MarianBeaman | Jan 5, 2022 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Quotations
Photos re-create family history like nothing else can do. Before the Henry R. Longenecker family built their home near Rheems, Pennsylvania, they lived in a small house on the corner across from Bossler Mennonite Church. In the winter of 1922, someone (perhaps...
by MarianBeaman | Dec 15, 2021 | blog, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Quotations
I wasn’t sure it would open. So my husband Cliff gathered assorted tools in case the clasp on Aunt Ruthie’s Diary had clamped shut with rust. A faux-leather, brown diary with an attached key has lain on my desk for years now. Ever since we cleared out Aunt...
