From Lancaster County to the ends of the earth and back again.

This morning Dick and I drove to our hometown of Manheim for a Witmer Reunion to be held at the Manheim Christian Day School where I used to teach.  It was a reunion of my dad's family - his remaining siblings and their children and grandchildren.  

Dad came from a family of 10 children, five of whom are still living.  Many of them are very conservative Mennonites.  But if you think that these conservative Mennonites live cloistered lives with all their children and grandchildren living nearby, you would be wrong.  There is a very strong mission mindset engrained in them, causing them to be willing to scatter far and wide to start churches.  While all of this Witmer family started out in Lancaster and York Counties of Pennsylvania, there are probably more of them living outside of PA than in it anymore.  Of my cousins present at the reunion today we represented Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois, Florida, New Mexico, Colorado, New Jersey, New York, Alberta (Canada), and Colombia (South America).  In looking through the directory of my cousins' families, I see there are some in Paraguay, Mexico, Kentucky, Guatemala, Arizona, Texas, California, Maine, Vermont, Georgia, New Hampshire, Michigan, Sweden, West Virginia, Utah,  Idaho, Missouri, the Bahamas, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Egypt, Mississippi,  Washington DC, the state of Washington, Manitoba,  British Columbia, Philippines,  Indiana, and Ohio.  Wow!  I could sit and count the number of people listed in this directory, but I don't have time.  I just know its hundreds.  There were almost 200 there today, and probably a lot more than that missing.  

I took a few pictures from the back of the gym.

We ate, we sang together - good four-part acapella harmony, we told stories and memories, and we introduced our families.  The only family that was 100% represented was my Aunt Grace's family.  She and her husband, David Shenk, raised their family on the mission field in Africa.  Now the majority of their family has settled in Lancaster, which is interesting.  They are such a wonderful family, and I had a great time getting better acquainted with these Shenk cousins.

These are my dad's remaining five siblings - Arlene Hertzler, Luke Witmer, John Witmer, Lois Good, and Grace Shenk.  The other five were the four oldest in the family - Anna Eshbach, Dorothy Miller,  Paul Witmer (my dad),  Roy Witmer, and the youngest sibling, Jean Bender for whom I was named. 

And now we're back home again - just two-and-a-half hours from Lancaster County, much closer than most of my cousins!