My grandma grew up in a Pennsylvania Dutch farming community - and the first time she saw poodles at a city park, she thought they were sheep. After graduating from nursing school, she worked at a psychiatric hospital. When her friend suggested they attend a Mennonite college and get a BS degree, they set out together for a new adventure. Now, the story continues in Part II of the interview...
What was college like?
While I was going to school, I paid my way; I didn’t get money from my parents at all. I worked part time as a nurse, and went to school full time.
The Mennonites at college were not Pennsylvania Dutch, so their lives were entirely different, and they were considered modern; we were Old Mennonite. I could’ve gone to another college that my parents would’ve liked, an Old Mennonite college in Virginia. The most obvious difference [between Old and New Mennonites] is dress, because that was what you could see. The Old Mennonites wore plain clothing. My father asked me after I was baptized if I would now wear The Dress, and my answer was no. I could do that because working as a nurse, I wasn’t in the church very much. Yet it was a change that was occurring in the Mennonite church as well. Many more changes happened.
Why don’t you dress like a Mennonite now?
Mennonites have changed, at least outwardly; it has become a choice. I went back east to a funeral, and I had my hair short like I have it now, with no head covering. I thought I would feel out of place, but they’ve changed. Others there had a perm or something.
The fact is, there aren’t many Mennonite churches to go to. I do attend one here, but I’m not a member. I was baptized in the Mennonite church; but then I married a Lutheran and attended other churches.
Was there a time you didn’t go by the dress code, and you got scolded?
Same as the Amish, the Mennonite bishops are very much involved in the life of the church and how they live their lives. For Old Mennonites, the dress code and lifestyle is as important as studying the Bible. The Amish do even more - they have what they call Ordinances that you follow. The Mennonite church has that too; mostly unspoken, but it’s there.
Once, I was home, because I had a weekend off and was with my parents. Apparently I walked down Main Street or wherever with some friends of mine, and I didn’t have stockings on. I was seen by the bishop, who then talked to my father about this infringement. Having been at the hospital so much, I went many times to a church to worship God, but not a Mennonite church necessarily. So I had gotten pretty careless, I guess. My father told me that the bishop had talked to him, and left it with me, because I was older.
The hot desert wind blew hard, rattling the window. Outside, the palm tree leaves rustled as they shook. Grandma paused, gathering her thoughts, then continued.
Like I’ve said, my father was ahead of his time. Mennonite men wore jackets that looked like a Catholic priest’s. They believed that you should not look like the world, and took this very seriously, which is why they wore this special dress. The idea was that you should be ready to give a testimony. Therefore, you could share your testimony with strangers or anyone that you met when wearing these clothes.
But my father would've been fine not to wear them. He was like another Mennonite preacher that I knew, who did things just because the church asked him to, not because he thought it was necessary. My father was very effective in sharing his testimony. He shared it with his Jewish boss in the factory where he worked. He spent a lot of time talking to him, took him a dozen eggs, and all kinds of things, and witnessed to this Jewish man.
Talk about the religious implications of growing up Mennonite and your spiritual journey.
We went to the Mennonite church in town, and we went two times a week to a prayer meeting on Wednesday night, church and Sunday school on Sunday morning, and a service in the evening. My father was a men’s bible school teacher. My teacher was a single Mennonite woman, and later went to India as a missionary. I had a very good, forward-looking teacher. I wasn’t allowed to go to the New Mennonite church, and never went to any other churches up to the age of 18. I was baptized when I was 19 in the Mennonite church. But I didn’t attend very much, because I was working as a nurse most Sundays.
What would you tell your younger self?
The quick one that comes to mind - sometimes the quick one is the best one - is take advice. Take advice and follow through on it. Make your own decisions, but take the advice and think a little about it. It’s a matter of learning from what you are advised to do and then making it a part of your life.
Speaking of advice, if you could give us one piece of advice, what would that be?
Seek the right friendships. Hear and learn from your parents and other leaders from your church or schooling. You’re learning from people online, and you’re very much influenced, see. That’s part of taking advice. It’s important that you not just take the advice, but that you spend time in prayer and studying the Bible. I spend a lot of time in Christian groups, and that’s where being concerned for other people came into play: how much are you applying what you’re learning? How much do we care for other people? We hear, but do we do anything about it?
Once, a pastor shared personally about a word he chose for himself. It was different than making a New Year’s Resolution - it’s a word that you feel you need.
I chose time.
At my age, in the late 80s, time is very precious. My time is very valuable, but it has to be committed to the Lord. For me, time means today. My prayer is: rejoice and be glad, for this is the day that the Lord has made. I think what I’m saying is, that at your age and even your mother's age, you’re not really thinking about the time. You’re thinking about schedules. You’re thinking about what you need to do, all these kinds of things. But I’m thinking about how much time do I have to be with…
She breaks off mid-sentence and looks thoughtfully across the room. Slowly, she concludes:
I don’t know whether I’ll still be here or with the Lord by the time my son moves me into his house. That’s what I mean by time. And so time...time is valuable. I don’t think it’s a negative thing that I’m concerned that I don’t have the time. It’s good to be conscious of the time and what you do with it.
Hear about technology from the perspective of an 88-year old, find out who was most influential in her life and why, and more in the next post of this four-part series!
Note: This post was inspired by a writing friend, who mentioned she was going to interview her grandma. Check out her blog here: gloriakuth.blogspot.com