TITLE: Reminiscings of Mennonite Life in Waterloo County Part 3 AUTHOR: Mary Ann Horst Abstract: Mary Ann Horst was born into an Old Order Mennonite home. At the age of seventeen, she joined a church of the more progressive Mennonite Conference of Ontario, now known as the Mennonite Conference of Eastern Ontario. In her early twenties, Mary Ann began writing articles and poetry for Mennonite periodicals. Her first book “My Old Order Mennonite Heritage”, written in 1970, quickly became a bestseller and was chosen by the National Film Board of Canada, as their source of information for a film strip depicting Old Order Mennonite life in - what was then - Waterloo County; She received a Woman of the Year award in 1993 in the category of Art/History/Literature, in recognition of her literary efforts explaining and publicizing the ‘Mennonite Phenomenon’ in Waterloo County. Cross Cultures magazine published the book in a sequel that had started in April 1992. We are now proud to publish, in a sequel, her second book “Reminiscings of Mennonite Life in Waterloo County”, in which Mary Ann Horst continues to write about her heritage. Article:

Even at the little red schoolhouse where, as I have already indicated, the atmosphere was generally warm and friendly, there was a period when it seemed as though a cruel, unfriendly spirit had invaded our little school. While the larger, more violent battles were raging in Europe, it seems as though another cruelly aggressive little war was being waged at the school on the crossroads.

The aggressors in this little war were a small minority of older pupils, who, for a time, enjoyed the status of being influential ring leaders. Even to this day it is with a sense of sadness that I recall the vicious taunting and cruel teasing that some younger defenseless little pupils suffered at the hands of some of these older classmates. This sort of bullying I have learned since occurred frequently in quite a number of yesterday's rural schools.

Happily, I can say that my good pleasant memories of the pupils of the little rural schoolhouse studying and playing together in a spirit of friendly good will outweigh the darker recollections.

Except for a yearly Christmas letter from Evelyn Hattle, one of my dear classmates of red school days, I have lost practically all contact with my former schoolmates of the little country schoolhouse. This past year there was, alas, no letter from Evelyn. Several months before Christmas I received the sad news that the ravages of cancer had claimed Evelyn's life.

I occasionally have some contact with Elmeta, my little friend of Floradale school days. Elmeta still lives in the white brick house she was born in sixty-five years ago. (At least I assume she was born in her parental home - not in a septic hospital.)

While there have been a few changes in the inside of the Bowman homestead, such as replacing the off-the-summer kitchen privy with an indoor bathroom and the installation of electricity, the exterior of the house and lawn are pretty much as they were in my childhood. The pump is still on the porch and the little red barn that I once fell out of, scaring Elmeta half to death and hurting myself just a little, is still there.

Most of the teachers that I had in the two elementary schools I attended are no longer living. Two years ago, however I had the honour, I might even say awesome privilege of entertaining one of my former teachers of the little country school on the crossroads in my home. Forty-seven years had passed since the former Kathleen Crosson (now Mrs. Mudie) and I had last seen each other. Quite naturally we spent nearly all our visiting time reminiscing of past times at the red school.

Some time prior to the visit of my former teacher, my brother, Noah, who recently reached the age that qualifies him for the benefits of senior citizenship, visited us in our Kitchener home. More than forty years ago, Noah, at the age of twenty-three, left his home community to find work and set up a new home with his young bride in the city of Windsor.

Some of the relatives and friends who knew Noah back in his teen years when he worked as a hired man for various Mennonite Waterloo County farmers have been quite impressed with the academic and professional achievements of some of Noah's children - with the fact that the oldest son and youngest daughter are practicing medicine. And some are rather astounded when they hear that the second son of this former Waterloo County farm hand is presently serving as mayor of the city of Windsor.

Though neither my mother or father lived to see the day when their grandson was sworn in as mayor, I can imagine that if my mother were alive today she might make some such comment as "Ach, it wonders me that my grandson is mayor of Windsor." Still, status and prestige were never very high on Mother's list of priorities. Her main concern for her children and grandchildren was simply that they become good men and women.

While I share my mother's philosophy that simply being good is of greater importance than acquiring fame or fortune, there are times when, as Mother might have expressed it, "It wonders me that Mike is mayor of Windsor." I also at times rather bemusedly wonder how many Windsor residents are aware that their mayor's grandparents were simple living Old Order Mennonite farm folk. On this particular aforementioned Noah's evening visit, as on many of his visits of recent years, a good part of our conversation was about happenings of bygone days. As Noah, his two grown daughters, Jody, who is a medical doctor, and Cathy, a registered nurse, my sister, Sarah and myself were chatting together in our living room, Noah took notice of a sugar shack scene sketch on our living room wall.

When I pointed out that the artist's name on the bottom corner of the sketch was Roland Martin and that it was the same Roland Martin who had been one of Noah's classmates in bygone Floradale school days the conversation quite naturally turned to reminiscings of the time we had lived in the village of Floradale, of the day Oliver Wilhelm told our father that he feared young Roland "won't ever be much of a success".

We recalled this prognosis with some amusement and we agreed that the lad who had frequently spend his class time doodling sketches instead of working on the history or English lessons assigned by his teacher and who despite, or perhaps because of his lack of interest in completing his academic assignments, was now enjoying the acclaim of being recognized as a talented professional artist, that he could perhaps quite correctly be cited as the most prestigiously successful graduate of the Floradale village school.

The picture on our living room wall is, incidentally, a print of the original. The fee Roland is able to command for one of his originals is, we feel, considerably beyond our budget. to be continued … next time: The 1939 Schism in the Old Order Mennonite Church

This article was originally published in Cross Cultures Magazine in Volume 10 - Issue 1 - 2004. Unauthorized copying, distribution or other usage without express written permission of the publisher is prohibited.