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Christmas Caroling from the Bed of an Open Truck, 1950s

Christmas Caroling from the Bed of an Open Truck, 1950s

by MarianBeaman | Dec 17, 2025 | blog, Christmas, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Reflection, Uncategorized

Where was I? Sitting on the back of an open truck bed on itchy hay bales in temperatures just above freezing sounds like torture. But it actually didn’t feel that way for me many, many years ago. Teens from our church and young adults used the open, long bed of an...
Too Much of a Good Thing

Too Much of a Good Thing

by MarianBeaman | Mar 19, 2025 | blog, Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized

It’s sometimes easy to spot too much of a good thing!     An Overeaters’ Tanka Fried chicken and pie Burger with bun, cookies too Huge slice choc’late cake Oh, you sure must wish to die Too much of a good thing—fie! ©MLB  2025 A Tanka is a...
Martin and Suie Kraybill, Pillars of Faith: Post 505

Martin and Suie Kraybill, Pillars of Faith: Post 505

by MarianBeaman | May 13, 2020 | blog, Conflict, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Tips, Uncategorized

        With strands of black and gray hair combed obediently over the curve of his head, my pastor saw the world and his place in it clearly through wire-rimmed glasses, a fixture on his nose. Even now, I cannot imagine he took many sideways...

Mennonites at the Beach 1950s style

by MarianBeaman | Jul 2, 2014 | Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Reflection, Travel, Uncategorized

Atlantic City, New Jersey was the beach mecca for vacationers on the East Coast in the early 1900s. Still dressed in fancy Victorian formality, vacationers caught the salt air as they strolled along the famous board-walk at the Steer Pier, a combination theatre and...

Mennonites, Ventriloquists, and Memoir

by MarianBeaman | Mar 1, 2014 | Coming of Age, Conflict, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite Lore, Neighborhood / Environment, Nostalgia, Reflection, Uncategorized

The wild, permissive Rentzels with a red porch light live next door to our family, the Mennonite Longeneckers, one of several plain families that live on Anchor Road. In their parlor, the Rentzel’s old Emerson black & white TV has introduced me to the...
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