Blog Entries, Please!

Thank you to all who have sent a posting to the blog site so far. We have promises from a couple more classmates who are in the process of writing wisdom for the rest of us to enjoy.

My "first assistant", pictured above, and I will be sending out another arm twisting email to those of you who have not yet indicated you will be contributing. Several people who had concerns about their computer skills, found out that becoming a blog contributor is no big deal.

There is a lot of interest in the blog judging from the number of hits recorded so far. The site monitoring this blog indicates that some 550 hits have been made as of this date. Just send me an email at maryjanetroyer@yahoo.com and ask to be invited to join the blog.

My "first assistant" dropped out of a tree in a park in Tena, Ecuador. It was kind of a surprise but I knew immeditately it was NOT one of the guys from the Class of 60. It had hair.

Where we live in Canada.

This is where we live during the months of June, July and August in Canada. You can learn more about our summer ministry with Avant Ministries at www.avmi.org/familycamp.

If you enjoy fishing come to camp. Eldon's a good guide. You will catch and eat Walleye! You will relax because you will not hear a phone ring, or watch a TV or use any of those other high powered tech instruments we use everyday in this world. You will not even use your cell phone during your time at camp because there will be no bars on your signal meter. You are 45 minutes from town over a rough road which isn't conducive to traveling unless it is really necessary.

This is from our dinning room window in our home in Wellman, Iowa.

Marv Stoltzfus

After high school I went into I-W service in Colorado Springs. John Rhodes and Keith Litwiller went to the same place. After my service I moved back to Iowa. I worked for a farm machinery dealer until I started my own farm tractor repair business.

In 1966 I married Zelda Yoder. We have 3 children. Todd, our oldest, is married and has 5 children. He has a carpet cleaning business here in Sarasota and is active in their church in children's ministry. Craig, our second son, lives in Denver and is a computer tech. Our daughter, Angela, lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and is a tour guide into Yellowstone National Park. In the winter she does tours by snow coach and snowmobile and in the summer by van.

In 1978 we moved to Florida. I had a lawn business for 25 years. When I semi-retired, I began working for a company in sales of Amish made playsets. I sell and install the sets. I also sell property insurance and own some rental properties. This keeps me as busy as I care to be.

My wife was a travel agent, so we had the opportunity to travel quite a bit during those years. We went on approximately 20 cruises to the Eastern and Western Caribbean, Alaska, and the Mediterranean.

I now have time to attend the Iowa breakfast, once a week at Troyer's Dutch Heritage Restaurant. This only happens for about 3 months in the winter. It used to be for older retired people, and now I find it is my age group who attend. I enjoy seeing people like Omer and Mary Jane Troyer, Wilbur and Mary Litwiller, and Jim and Lois Bare, and many others from Iowa.

I also enjoy reading the blog that our "great" class president has started. I hope to hear from many more of you and hope to see you at the reunion next year.

Marv Stoltzfus

Hello from Sarasota! I don't have my profile put together yet but will do more later. I have enjoyed reading everyone else's comments. Because Omer has been twisting my arm, I am now signed on. I live 30 miles from Omer and since we see each other quite often, he has been putting the heat on for me to join in the blog. When I get my history put together, I will return.

From Graduation until today

Well, isn't this amazing! To be able to communicate to all my classmates of the past. Thanks Omer, you have done a great job.

My history in a nutshell:

In 1960 Eldon and I were married July 2. September found us living in the middle of Chicago, serving with Mennonite Voluntary Service until September of 1962. We served at the Blue Island Mennonite Church helping with boys and girls clubs, youth programs, and many other things involved with inner city church work.

From September 1962 to 1964 we lived in Puerto Rico serving with the Aibonito Mennonite Hospital. Eldon worked in the maintenance department while I kept busy helping wherever needed. Our son Tony Kendell appeared on the scene in November 1963. He is a captain with Jet Blue and lives in Concord, N.C.

November 14, 1964 to January 14, 1966 we lived in the US. From 1966 to 2003 we lived in Ecuador. The first eighteen and half years were in the green jungles of Ecuador. Sherry Linn joined our family in October 1967. In 1984 we moved to the city of Quito where we served for fourteen years. After Christmas 1998 we moved to "Campamento Biblico Mangayacu" of Shell Ecuador, until March 2003.

We were asked in 1999 to direct our mission's camp on Dog Lake north of Thunder Bay, ON. We have been doing that since 2001. During 2001 and 2002 we served six months in Ecuador and six months in the US and Canada. Since March of 2003 we go to Canada June, July and August. If you enjoy fishing make reservations with us. Walleye are fun to catch and great to eat. Eldon has been driving truck since we came home from Ecuador. I have been involved with Bible Study Fellowship as a discussion leader. It is a great way to study the Bible. I would recommend it to anyone!

Looking forward to August 2010.

Phyllis Yoder

Perfecting my skills at uploading pix

My dog and I walked for the Race for the Cure last year.

ok, enough of my practice. Let's see some other pix. I think i have it mastered now.In case you can't tell, I'm the one with the dog in the middle.

A view from our veranda

A view from our house in Mexico. We are about 6000 feet elevation. The lake below is about 1000 feet below us. Mt. Garcia in the distance.
I am doing this so I can learn how to post pictures. It isn't as easy as it seems.

Hello from Paradise, Calif. Dennis E. Yoder

It's great reading the notes that have been posted. First thanks Troyer's for setting this up -it would also be nice (and helpful) if you ladies included your maiden name. For those of us that don"t remember as well as we did. Ha!
After IMS I worked at the U. of Iowa for four years. Then Uncle Sam said "here I am". So off to IW I went. I worked at Glendale Adventist Hospital in Glendale Ca. for two years. Following that I worked at Lockhead Aircraft Co. as a template maker for five years. In Jan. of 1971 they had trouble making of the Rolls Royce engines in England for the C5A we were working on. The same Tuesday the Sylmar Earthquake happened that Friday 6,000 of us got laid off.
So I went back to school to become a Respiratory Therapist. I have been a Respiratory Therapist ever since. We moved to Paradise Ca. in 1975 - working as a Staff Therapist Supervisor and Director of the Dept. ever since.
I retired in August but continue to work per diem every now and again. I also volunteer at the hospital and help with church projects and members needs when asked, so have only "retired" from formal full time work.
I married a nurse who worked and went to school at Glendale Adventist Hospital. We have been married for almost 40 years, and have two grown unmarried daughters. One is 35, Denise is a Nurse Practitioner who works close to home. After graduating she worked for Carnival Cruise Lines and made it possible for us to take several cruises with her which included the Bahamas, the Caribbeans, and Alaska, Alaska being our favorite.
Our younger daughter Deborah, 32, went on a mission trip and contracted Typhoid Fever. When she returned home to recover, she decided to switch from pre-med to being a Wildland Firefighter/Smoker Jumper for the last ten years. She is now in the middle of the nursing program at Boise State, and owns a home there in Boise.
While the girls were in High School we went on several mission trips - several times to Mexico and one to Russia/Ukraine. I'm hoping to do some of that in the future, in fact, I'm signed up to go on one in July to Nicaragua for ten days. My wife is alittle younger (six to be exact) so will continue to work for a couple more years (she's planning on semi-retirement at 62).
Sports is still a passion for me - playing as well as watching. However, my body isn't co-operating, so my orthopedic sugeon says my left knee and right shoulder are protesting - so no more softball or basketball I guess. But, fishing isn't hard on me physically, so since that is another passion, I'll just have to spend more time doing that! Lots of salmon and bass fishing VERY close by (about 15 minutes).
May add more later, look forward to our reunion as I plan on attending. The reason I haven't been able to attend in the past was that it always overlapped with our family reunion every five years, and that made it a difficult choice. Fifty seems to be a good time to come! Hope to see most of you there?

Sincerely, Dennis E. Yoder

Good information has been added

A big "thanks" to everyone who has contributed so far. Some very interesting stuff has been posted lately. We are looking forward to new contributors in the near future.
Some contributors have had to pass Computer 101 before getting on line. How about that? Sounds like two for the price of one when one shares information and learns a new move or two on the internet.
We need more pictures. Please look at "directions" number two to see how to post pictures. The pictures from the Litwillers from the Boys State Tournament are excellent additions.
Also, please note that you can comment on people's postings. At the bottom of a posting there is an icon of a little pencil with the word "comment" to the side. Click on the word "comment" and a little box comes up where you can write something. Be sure to click on "post comment" when you have finished writing. You will notice I have commented on Martha's recent posting that she might consider getting out and seeing the world before she gets too old. My goodness, a fly lands more often than she does.
Looking forward to more from all of you on the blog.

We are an interesting class

I've enjoyed reading the stories of where everyone has been. Sounds like we have spanned the globe. Hadn't planned to tell my life story but maybe I will. After high school, I boarded the Rock Island train and headed for Eastern Mennonite College. Alice Wenger, Charlotte, and I roomed together the first year then Charlotte and I headed for nursing school in Newport News VA. After graduation I worked in Texas for a year then went back and finished my degree at EMC. The next stint was 2 years of voluntary service in Aibonito, Puerto Rico where I practiced as a nurse. I returned to Iowa for a brief time and worked at Uof I Psychopathic hospitals with children and it didn't take me long to realize that wasn't what I wanted to do the rest of my life. I was invited to come to Walsenburg CO to work there which I did along with playing golf, tennis, and bowling! I wanted to go to Europe for the summer of 69 and I needed a reference so I called on my former professor Labon Peachey who was then president of Hesston College. He agreed to give me a reference if I agreed to interview for a teaching job at HC. I agreed and then took the Hesston job after touring Europe and studying at the University of Barcelona in Majorca and in Barcelona for 6 weeks. It ended with a tour of France, Spain, Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland. While at Hesston, I met my husband, Kent, who was hitchking in zero degree weather one January Saturday. I felt sorry for him so that is why I picked him up. My brothers have felt sorry for him ever since. Seriously, we were just friends for about five years and traveled some in Mexico before we decided to try marriage. Neither of us had been married and by this time we were in our 30s. Anyway during that five years, I went back to Iowa for a masters in nursing then worked on one of the first federally funded nursing research grants before I married and went back to Kansas. I have been at Wichita State since 1975 in various capacities--faculty, department chair, associate dean, and now senior associate provost. I travel quite a bit but not as much as we used to. We have taken trips to Russia, Europe, Australia, China, Japan, and Central and South America. It's been a great life for me. Now I must put the dogs to bed. Kent is in Mexico with his mother right now. They had a car accident while there and she is in the hospital with five broken ribs. I plan to go down next week during spring break for a week.

Greetings from sunny Florida

It has been a "moving experience" living with Omer the last 45 years. Yes, I am good at packing up the house.
After graduation, I worked at the U of I hospitals as a nurse's aide for one year. I went to Hesston the next year to begin my training as an RN. After one year at Hesston, I went to Kansas City General Hospital to complete the RN degree. I worked only six months as a nurse in Kansas City before returning to Iowa.
I worked at U of I Hospitals from 1964 to 1966 in the women's surgical ward. I then became the school nurse at Highland of Riverside for two years.
In 1968, Omer and I had an opportunity to live in Kuwait City for a year. I was the school nurse at the American School of Kuwait. We had an opportunity to travel around the world that year as well as visit Russia during Christmas vacation.
Upon returning to Iowa, I went back to work at the U of I Hospitals. In 1971, Trent was born and I continued working part time until the summer of 1974, when Jason was born.
We moved to Anita, Iowa in 1974, where Omer was high school principal and for five years I was a stay at home mom caring for two small boys.
In 1979, it was time to pack up and go to Pella where we stayed for 12 years. I worked at Pella Community Hospital in surgery/recovery and out-patient care.
In 1992, I joined Omer in Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. I worked as nursing supervisor of surgery in American Mission Hospital.
In 1999, we moved back to Iowa and lived in Waukon. I came to know northeast Iowa as the most beautiful part of the state. Oh yes, after all this moving, I retired while Omer was superintendent of schools for five years.
In the summer of 2004, we moved into our home in Florida. I have kept busy with flower planting. quilting and volunteer work. Those of us who live in Florida get to run a sort of Motel 6 much of each winter.
This is true unless you do a mini-pack up and volunteer in Ecuador for 9 months. I made the switch from nursing to being a teacher of basic English. This was both interesting and challenging. Little kids with lots of hugs also have runny noses resulting in one of the worst colds of my life.
We have three grandchildren ages 4, 2, and 2 months. They live in Ankeny, Iowa and Maryville, Tennessee. Allegiant Air goes to both cities.

Good afternoon from Sterling, IL
It has been 49 years since I have seen a lot of you. I have been to some reunions. One year, we met up with Omar and Mary Jane in Pella, IA when we went there for the Tulip Festival.
I worked at the University of Iowa as a Medical Secretary. From there, I went to MCC in Akron, PA, and was secretary for Information Services. I married Doug Thomas in 1966, and we spent 2 years in Lewiston, PA, while Doug as doing IW at Belleville Mennonite School. We moved to Sterling, IL in 1968, and have been here ever since. I was a Medical Secretary at Sterling Rock Falls Clinic, retired in 1999, and then went to work for Medical Arts in Dixon, IL, and retired from there in 2004. Doug taught at Thome School in Rock Falls, IL, teaching 6th, 5th and 3rd grades. He retired in 2001, and is now substituting. We have 2 children, a boy and a girl. Scott lives in Goshen, IN and has 3 children. Renee lives in Genoa City, WI, and has 2 girls. It's good to here from all of you.

49 Years after IMS

My first job after graduating was working for one year at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City.
On Sept. 1, 1961 Jim and I were married.
We have always lived in Iowa. Dec. 1, 1961 to June 1962 we lived in Clinton.
Then we moved up the Mississippi to Bellevue and lived there till Dec. 1964.
From Bellevue we moved to western Iowa to Atlantic. We were there eight years.
On our 11th Anniversary we moved to Marion, where we have been ever since. Like I told Jim we will be here till they wheel us down a block to the “old people’s home”.
We have two girls Sue and Liz. Sue and her husband live here in Marion. Sue has three children, Katie, Joe and Sam. Katie and her husband Todd have two children, Audrey and Tyler. So yes I am a great-grandmother. Loving every minute of it. I spent 3 weeks in DC where Todd is stationed at Andrews AFB. when Tyler was born last Nov.
Liz and her husband live in Pella. They have one daughter, Mikaela.
I was a stay at home mother until we moved to Marion. Then I worked at Sears for 16 years.
I retired or got tired and quit working in ‘98. Since then have enjoyed volunteering at church and helping with grandchildren.
Jim retired as Senior Claim’s Supervisor from United Fire and Casualty Co. in Dec. 1999 after 39 years. He now volunteer’s at the grade school four days a week helping Title 1 children with reading and math. During his working years I was able to travel from East coast to West coast on many business trips. Spouses always had fun tours while the employees had to work.
Jim does not like to travel much anymore but never tells me I can’t. So if a chance to travel comes up I am ready to go. In April last year Joe and Sam and I went to DC to visit Katie for two weeks. It was hard to keep up with them going to all the sites there. Memorials, Museum’s also the Cubs opening game with the Nationals. Their main reason for the trip.
In Nov. I went back to help entertain Audrey, 4 yr old, when Tyler was born. Lots of puzzles, painting, reading and games! I had to come home to rest as little ones are very active.
2008 Christmas I spent in CA with my brothers and families. Great family time!

class of 60

Hi everyone from days gone by! Isn't it fun being old and enjoying life at a slower pace? I can't wait to hear everyones stories of days gone by and future dreams. My life has been fairly simple with being a farm wife and stay at home mom until the kids were in school then worked in the IMS office for 10 years and now 10 years at Twin County Dairy where I see all of you when you come back to Iowa and visit the famous spot along Hwy 1 buying curds. I am still there 2 days a week and enjoy the days out with people. We keep busy with church activities and friends. Two years ago we moved to Kalona and are really enjoying it. Ideal for taking walks, taking a spin on our bikes, or working together in the flower beds and lawn. Hope to see everyone in the summer of 2010.

John Yoder

I'm just trying out the system and don't really have time to give a complete update of my life since leaving IMS all those many years ago. Suffice it to say that my wife Janet and I have been living in Spokane, Washington since 1980. I teach history and political science at Whitworth University, a wonderful Presbyterian-related school. My chief area of interest is Africa and I do manage to get to some country or other fairly regularly. I look forward to hearing more about my classmates.

Even though I am not good at keeping in touch, I do often think about our times at IMS. Several years ago, I did something that I would highly recommend to all of you. I contacted Wilber Yoder and got the addresses of the teachers who were influential during my high school years. I then wrote to them and was touched by the response from people like Paul T and Ada Schrock. But then again, as someone who has spent my entire life in teaching, I know that there is nothing more rewarding that getting a word of appreciation from a former students.

John

We spent Monday afternoon at the arena in Des Moines to watch IMS Basketball. They won and will play a very tough team on Thursday. The above picture is of a few of the boys at the game. The Des Moines Register had a good write up, if you are interested. You can listen via the internet radio on KCII FM on Thursday noon. Yes, we are caught up in IMS B-ball. Our son-in-law is one of the coaches.
We got home from Florida on Sunday so we could go to the State Tournament this week. This is the final score. IMS sports has come a long way from those intramural games we used to play.

Hello, everyone

Ater I got out of high school, I didn't want to look at any more books. Got a job at the U of I hospital, June 1960 -1963, in the Nursing Dept. Worked my way up to the Ear, Nose ,Throat and Eye OR. Years later, I've wished that I would have gone to Nursing School - hind sight always better.
April 1963, Ralph Speas and I were married. We have 2 children - John, he has 2 daughters, Andrea and Alicia; Cathy, she has 1 daughter, Chelsea. I was fortunate that I didn't have to work outside of the home while the kids were growing up. Ralph was gone all week, truck driver. While the kids were young, I volunteered in church, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and PTA in their schools. Worked with Meals on Wheels for the senior citizen and now with our local Food Center - Caritas.
After the kids were grown, I worked at Target, took care of granddaughters, really enjoyed it,until they went to school, also took care of neighbor kids, and worked at Wal-Mart until 2003. Ralph retired, medical reasons, so I retired so we could travel.
We have been traveling since and really enjoy it. In 2007, we went to the Western States - OR and WA. At WA we cruised to Alaska by ship, our first cruise. Then Fall of 2008, we went to the most Northeastern city , Madawaska, Maine; of the USA. The Fall foliage was most beautiful! We have been to all of the states, but 8. Hawaii, one of the 8 - roads not too great and bridges not long enough! We have been to Canada and Mexico. We enjoy visiting with relatives and friends. If we see a "welcome" sign out, we may stop in to say "hello". No matter where we are - we go home every night to "our home away from home.
Waiting to hear from the rest of you! Janet Speas

Life after IMS

Sandy and I just celebrated 43-years of marriage this past January 8th. I have taught high school math for 18-years; pastored for 9-1/2 years, did cost accounting for 2-years and am presently working at Mennonite Mutual Aid Insurance in Goshen. We have lived in northern Alberta on 2 different occasions for a total of 12-1/2 years and both of us hold duel citizenships. We have taken mission trips to Germany, Kenya, Mozambique and Cuba. Our oldest daughter, Monica, lives in Alberta with 2 of our grandchildren. She and her husband pastor a church in Leduc which they started 17-yrs ago. Our 2nd daughter, Jennifer, is single and teaches kindergarten in Sturgis, MI. Our son, Bruce lives in Athens, Greece, is married to a Greek girl and they have a little girl, Kyveli with another one due in September. He is part of an archeological team. Sandy and I have gievn marriage seminars through the years and do pre-marriage and marriage counseling. We presently live in Goshen, IN and attend Zion Chapel, a non-denominational church in Goshen. We can be reached by email at: pshartz@verizon.net

Well, isn't this great. Thanks Omar for all your efforts of bringing us together with both the blog and the email addresses. We look forward to the reunion next summer.

No, we are not going to tell you our whole history.

We are still living in rural Iowa County. We are enjoying life in the retired lane which just started for Wilbur. Mary retired from getting a pay check a year ago. Whats RETIRED? We have been traveling a bit. If you are interested, we blog when traveling at http://litwillertravels.blogspot.com/ .

We have a grand daughter graduating from IMS this year and we had one graduate last year. she is in Sweden now and we hope to visit her in April.

Life since IMS

After I graduated grew to 6 feet 10 inches so I enrolled at U of Iowa and got on the basketball varsity as a walk-on and proceeded to lead them to a Big Ten and NCAA championship in my Senior year, then I went on and played a few years for the Chicago Bulls and .....

You don't believe me? Well, my fantasy life is much more interesting than real life, but come to think of it, my life has actually been quite interesting.

I went to Hesston for two years, spending 2 summers driving combines between Texas and Montana, then Lois and I got married and we lived in Kansas City for a year. We both worked at Hallmark Cards, but it was soon apparent that a degree was needed to succeed there so we moved to Goshen where I graduated from GC. In January, 1966 I started working for Miles Laboratories in Elkhart. I started in Research, then got into Toxicology, then Quality Assurance, then Compliance and before I knew it I had been with the company for 38 years. Of course, it was now Bayer Corporation and the last 7 years were in Connecticut. I left Elkhart because I thought they were going to close the plant in a few years (they did) but in Dec. 2003 they closed the CT plant also! Since I was 62 two days later, I retired and Lois and I went to London and worked as volunteer hosts at the London Mennonite Center for 3 years - a great experience. And now we are back in Goshen.

Lois will write her own bio, but she worked for 10 years at GC, and in 1992 she was asked to lead two SST (Study Service Term) units in the Dominican Republic. I took a leave of absence from Miles and we lived in the DR for 8 months. We supervised the programs for two groups of 18 college students each. A unique experience!

We have 3 children, living in Goshen, Champaign and Chicago respectively, and 5 grandchildren. More about them an another posting later.

You saw our pictures on Omer's posting. I hope to see all of you on here soon. Many thanks to Omer for getting this going.

Breakfast in Sarasota

March 2,09. Breakfast in Sarasota, Fl.
Five members of the Class of 60, Lois and Jim Bare, Mary Jane and Omer Troyer and Marv Stoltzfus, sat down to share breakfast and a little wisdom. Now what kind of wisdom do you imagine came out of a group like this? As they say, "a good time was had by all". (At your own risk, you can click on the picture to see a larger version)