Table of Contents 1944-1967

Signifying

The Education of Levi Miller

  

1944  Mattie Schlabach. Birth September 15, my mother Mattie Schlabach Miller, buying the Lapp and Hummel places, Mattie’s schooling and practical education, Sarah Troyer’s death and a sad Christmas 1927, Mose Troyer, romance and death of Raymond D. Yoder, Nora Miller, marriage to Andrew A. Miller, Harold S. Bender’s “The Anabaptist Vision,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Mennonites, Amish and World War II. 

1945  Andrew A Miller. My father’s many abilities, Martin and Martha Miller family, a hunting accident, schooling and Clarence Zuercher, Martin’s addiction and gifts, a family of singers and music, Andrew’s Christian conversion, family separation and the ban; higher education, Edward Yoder and World War II, Karl and Arthur Compton and Hiroshima.

1946  Levi L Schlabach. Grandfather, family’s martyr history, arrival in America, Levi’s optimism and family tragedy, death of Sarah Troyer, her children Roy, Mattie, Clara; marriage to Susan Raber her children Melvin, Abe, Katie, Mary; the work ethic; life during the depression; farm animal and food specialties; hunting; Mennonite beginnings in Puerto Rico.

1947  Martha Miller. Grandmother, relation to Andrew and Mattie, early Millers in America, Sarah (Salli) Hochstetler considered a Native American, how Martha met Martin, a young bride and unusual marriage, keeping the children in the church; Nora Wingard’s cautionary story of white slavery; John Howard Yoder studies the ban, Andrew J. Yoder’s Meidung lawsuit in Wayne County, Ohio; the Russian Mennonite Exodus from Soviet Union and Berlin, Germany; Martha’s renown as tailor and seamstress. 

1948  Mennonite Publishing House. Paul M. Lederach, a young bishop from Franconia Conference, his education and work at Mennonite Publishing House. Overholts and Loucks family of Scottdale, Pennsylvania, coal and coke history and institutions to mid-century, Abraham Jacob Metzler; Andrew’s invitation to work at Scottdale, its mid-century vitality and image; Miller domestic life, fourth son David is born, and Andrew’s urge to move; Roy R. Miller and Berdella Blosser, birth of daughter Gloria Elaine.

1949  Holmesville, Ohio. finding the Holmesville farm, description of house, barn and location; Amish districts and briefly buying a car;  English neighbors and Mel Marquis, Telephone office visits and Paul Jameson grocery, the Pennsylvania Railroad, tramps, the founding of state of Israel, Amish, Mennonites and Jews.  

1950   Beginning School. six years old that fall. Eva Sterling Humrichouser, beginning elementary school; Christmas and Santa Claus, anxieties and my parents’ consolation, death of grandfather Martin Miller, April 1950; Holmesville classmates Patty Dilworth, Benny Miller,  Alice Ramseyer, Joyce Paulocsak, Roy Snyder, Sarah Miller, Mary Miller, Joe Gooding, Eli Hostetler; beginnings of Goodwill Book Exchange, Andrew’s publishing and piety.  

1951  Animals and Visitors. Grade 2, pets and projects: Buster, Patsy, Sally and rabbits and ducks. Sunday afternoon services at Beechvale; A.A. M. invited associate editor of Herald der Wahrheit; Andrew at 2^nd Amish Mission Conference at Nottawa, Michigan, September 2-4; visitors Russell Maniaci, Gertrude Enders Huntington, John A. Hostetler, Alma Kauffman; James born on December 24.

1952  Amish and Mennonites. Grade 3, Miss Betty Litteral; relations with Mennonites, Roman Stutzman and summer Bible school, memorization; Paul Erb and Mennonite Publishing House staff visit; writing with Paul and Roy; Andrew’s leadership with Amish Mission Interests Committee, third annual conference in Indiana; Jacob A. and Orpha Yoder and Roy L. and Ivy Schlabach families;  comparing two renewal attempts: Amish mission movement and Mennonite Concern pamphlet group.

1953  Strangers and Pilgrims. Grade 4, Nellie Signathaler, spell downs, flag salute, Uncle Melvin Schlabach, Neighbor William Bill Miller, Emmanuel Schrock, Joseph John Clauss, Witnessing and Amish Christian Fellowship Bulletin, Oklahoma David A. Miller meeting; Fourth Amish Mission Conference in Hutchinson, Kansas, signs of Andrew’s separation from the Amish. Rhoda born September 3.

1954  Becoming Mennonite. Grade 5, Ida Rumbaugh, Parent Teacher Association (PTA), Andrew’s interest in schooling and  professions, Elmo M. Estill, James H. Miller; horses Dick, Bob and Bess to Ford-Ferguson and Plymouth, trip Arkansas, Rudy and Susie Wickey family and John R. Martin; Christian Fellowship Review, Maple Grove Mission, resignation from Mission Interests Committee, leaving the Amish and becoming Mennonite.

1955  My First Story. Skipper, horses, books and reading; Roy’s mechanical skills, builds a tractor; finishing hogs and the Wooster livestock auction, bulls and auctioneers; Maple Grove Mission organizes, the dilemmas of Amish and Mennonite modernizers; Paul Erb, Lorie Conley Gooding, the poet; a Thanksgiving program; citizens and subjects; Stalin to Khrushchev; responses to the Cold War.  

1956  Operettas and Poetry. Grade 7, Elsie Snyder; religion in school, the 1963 Supreme Court school prayer ruling; after lunch reading of Caddie Woodlawn; chorus from India at the Federated church; annual spring operettas; verses in School Memories book; Jackie Burkhart;  Miriam born April 16; the Mennonite tent evangelists Augsburger, Brunk Jantzi and Mattie’s Christian service.

1957 Baptism and Murder. Paul begins construction work at 15, Andrew falls, fractures vertebra, diminished parental role; Jacob. S. and Elizabeth Miller; the murder of Paul Coblentz on May 20;  instruction class and baptism by Harry Stutzman; Grandma Martha Miller’s death in April; Grade 8 teacher Henry Troyer; Holmesville School principal Roy Stallman.

1958  Pop and Choral Music. An end of my Amish friends; swimming in the Salt Creek; beginning Waynedale High School, top forty music on Lloyd Dye’s bus; the Chuck Wagon Gang,  Miller brothers quartet, Maple Grove Mission music; Pleasant View Mennonite midweek service and chorus; high school chorus; Future Farmers of America and Terry Burkhalter; radio and milking; the Cuban Revolution and the Castros; Ruth Ann born on November 29 and enlarging the house.

1959   Brunks, Beeches, Birds. Brunk Brothers revivals, George R. Brunk family; responding to invitation and Roman J. Mullet; revivalists Rex Humbard, Oral Roberts, and Billy Graham; Holmesville renewal in families: Howard and Sally Hovatter, Lewis and Ruth Beech, Sidney and Lois Corl;  bird watching, Waynedale biology teacher Alden Schaffter, considering new vocations; crow hunting. 

1960   Waynedale High School. Frequent absenteeism from school, continuing high school, changing to college bound courses; Roy and Ronald Fike, chemistry class; teachers: Ira Amstutz, Melvin Black, Stella McCleary, Harold Henderson, and Dorothy Drushal; a separate social life among Pleasant View Mennonites; socials and parlor games, girlfriends and cars; examples of international Christian service; winter skating and summer baseball and the 1960 World Series.

1961  Debating and its Limits. John F. Kennedy elected president; Eisenhower’s farewell address; Maple Grove Mission church bus;  Amish Mennonite to a community evangelical mission transition; Maple Grove softball team, Valentine Popeye Miller; Waynedale senior year, class officer and beginnings of Central Christian High School;  the Waynedale Debate Club, Robert Kinkaid, jazz, and the limits of debating.

1962  Spring track season and running; visit of military and college recruiters to Waynedale; the death of Harold S. Bender; graduation week, end of classmates; summer activities; Sunday radio broadcast on WWST; youthful optimism and hope; building basketball court; end of summer camping trip to Michigan.

1963   Higher education for Andrew and sons; final years of Maple Grove Mission and distributing The Way; Andrew’s troubles and a telephone conversation; the end of Maple Grove Mission, transition to Millersburg Mennonite; Miller Cabinets; Kent State University at Orrville, Henry Adams, Aldous Huxley, E.M. Forester, James Baldwin,  Gordon Parks; Fanny Mae hears the Lord’s call; Clyde M.  Narramore counsel; President Kennedy shot, Aldous Huxley dies.

1964   Coming of age at 20, Alvin Ruess, Millersburg guild of elders; my brothers and sisters Paul, Roy, David, James, Rhoda, Miriam, Ruth Ann; first movie “How the West Was Won,” Bob Dylan at Newport, Mississippi’s Freedom Summer and brother Paul; William Moore McCulloch,  the 1964 Civil Rights act; Barry Goldwater Lyndon B. Johnson presidential election; Rex Humbard’s New Year’s Eve broadcast. 

1965   "Lee" in St. Louis. finishing at Kent State Orrville, my last biology class, Roy and Ruby Burkholder wedding in Mississippi; Summer voluntary service in St. Louis, Missouri; Dayton Street and the Pruitt-Igoe; Vacation Bible School and day camping; St. Louis Cardinals baseball, a summer as “Lee,” Near North Side Team Ministry, reading Harvey Cox, Michael Harrington; transferring to Malone College; Joseph Grabill, Burley Smith, becoming an English major.

1966   Malone College. writing early goals, Malone basketball; student journalism, becoming the Aviso editor; University of Minnesota, the Twins, New Christy Minstrels, Oklahoma; meeting Gloria at The Spot, her family and the Berlin sesquicentennial (1816-1966), Carol Steven’s family in Pittsburgh; the Aviso staff and editorial policy, the All-American award; Sunday afternoon movies; dormitory rules; two Quaker friends and prayer.

1967 A New Year's Eve Conversation. government class with Paul Perkins; February Washington DC seminar with Milford Hinkel, summer intern at Wooster’s The Daily Record, Harold Murray, visiting College of Wooster admissions with Raymond Dix; New York City theater week, marriage thoughts; Professor Lauren A. King,  “Mating in the Faith”; Seiske Kohno, Gloria Miller and a New Year’s Eve conversation.