Class Year: 1976
Bibliophiles Delight: 100 Years of EMU Library History
From one book (Virgil’s Aeneid) to more than 500,000 items today, the library has always been a source of knowledge, wisdom and social life at first Eastern Mennonite School, then Eastern Mennonite College and now Eastern Mennonite University. Sadie A. Hartzler Library Director Marci Frederick combed carefully through the reports of previous directors to find … More
EMU Athletics timeline
1921 – Daniel (D.W.) Lehman becomes the school’s first athletic director and conducts weekly physical education classes for dormitory students. 1925 – Students are required to walk, do physical labor, or hike for a minimum of two hours per week. 1926 – Upon observing students playing ball, President A.D. Wenger notes that students need to … More
First Bible class offerings grow into Eastern Mennonite Seminary: a short history
When Eastern Mennonite Seminary needed to raise funds for a new building in the late ’80s, students stepped up as they had in times of past need: with an auction. Perusing the items, Dean George R. Brunk III ’61, SEM ’64 was struck by the charm of a butter churn, hand-painted by Harold G. Stoltzfus … More
Ten a cappella groups to compete at April 8 Shenandoah Valley Sing-Off
Ten a cappella groups will compete for cash prizes during The Shenandoah Valley Sing-Off, an amateur contest hosted by the Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir (SVCC). The event is 7 p.m., Saturday, April 8, at Harrisonburg High School. During the evening, the groups will perform an up-tempo song of no more than four minutes. Up to … More
Election documentary ‘Hope Was Not On The Ballot’ explores the promise of Christian witness in tumultuous times
Three days before the 2016 presidential election, two Mennonites arrived in Washington D.C. from Ontario, Canada, on a kind of exploratory mission, a self-described “pilgrimage” to the American capital. Their pilgrimage was a reprise of one taken five years ago, when the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial was unveiled on the National Mall. Over the … More
Two languages, one love
While Miriam Charles, 89, quilts over a frame in the basement of Habecker Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, six fellow congregants make steady progress on simple drawstring bags that will be Mennonite Central Committee school supply and hygiene kits. Say Li works at a nearby sewing machine. Ler Lah, a widower and father to seven children, … More
‘The first but not the last’: attorney Sharon R. López will lead the Pennsylvania Bar Association
Overlooking a courtyard in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Triquetra Law offices are home to attorney Sharon R. López ’83, her law partner Andrea Farney, and bilingual litigation paralegal Anne Sensenig ’83. The three women work together on cases involving discrimination, civil rights, employee rights and appeals. President-elect of the 27,000-member Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA), López will become la primera Latina … More
Theme House program carries on intentional community legacy
Eastern Mennonite University has a long history of students living in intentional community settings on campus — from cohabiting groups of the ‘70s to the current Theme Housing program, which began in 2015. The Shenandoah yearbook first mentions group-house living in 1971, when 53 women and seven cats were divided up among Martin House, Suter … More
Alumni of the Year 1976: B. Charles and Grace (Brackbill) Hostetter
Charles (C 48, S 54) and Grace B. (HS 36, Cng38) Hostetter were named joint recipients of Eastern Mennonite College’s tenth “alumnus-of-the-year” award during the Alumni Association’s homecoming April 24. The Hostetters completed six years of mission work in West Africa this month under the auspices of the Mennonite Board of Missions, Elkhart, Ind. They … More
After thirty years with the campus physical plant, director Eldon Kurtz leaves behind a changed landscape
This profile of Eldon Kurtz was originally published in the Feb. 18, 2016, edition of The Weather Vane. We’re grateful for the contributed copy, as we can’t possibly profile each one of the many long-time employees retiring from EMU this spring. An article featuring vignettes about each of our retirees will run in April. The … More
Emeritus professor Calvin Shenk, who led Bible department and championed cross-cultural program, lived a life of Christian witness
Calvin E. Shenk, professor emeritus of religion who taught at Eastern Mennonite University from 1976-2001, has died. He resided in Harrisonburg, Virginia. His wife Marie passed away in 2010. The couple, both 1959 graduates of Eastern Mennonite College, returned after 14 years of missionary work in Africa to make an indelible mark on the vision … More
Professor honored for forty years of dedication to social work education
Jane Wenger Clemens looks back over a lifetime of dedication to social work and recognizes the early influence of her family in creating an awareness of the needs of others. In the 1950s, her uncle pastored an interracial church where blacks and whites worshipped together and respected each other, her mother reached out to neighbors … More