I was six years old, the youngest, and my oldest sister was 19. My father accompanied a freight car packed with our furniture and other belongings, including some farm machinery, two of our horses and a few cattle, half way across the country to the Shenandoah Valley. My mother herded the rest of us on the long trip east by passenger train.
The primary reason they chose to make this major move was not to better themselves financially, though with my uncle Ed Mast's help my parents were able to build a small dairy and poultry operation on the 120 acre farm that supported their family. We always struggled financially, and times were hard, but when he and my mother sold the farm and went into semi-retirement, they found themselves amply rewarded for their hard work and many sacrifices.
But their primary reason for moving was for the sake of their children and teens. Many of the youth in the Amish church we were a part of in Kansas were a negative influence, whereas the congregation we became a part of in Virginia proved to be a big improvement.
It paid off. All but one of my seven older siblings found good marriage partners in that congregation and established stable and healthy families. My one older sister who remained single became an admired nurse and midwife who served in numerous locations both in the states and abroad.
Partly through the influence of a Mennonite public school teacher and other teachers and mentors I decided to enroll at Eastern Mennonite College, now EMU, at age 21, and after graduation married the wonderful woman I met there who became my wife.
The rest is history.
I've often wondered how that history would have turned out had my parents not chosen to make that brave cross country move. I owe them so more than I could ever repay.
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