Marilyn Grace Engle Wolgemuth

EARLY YEARS: My earliest memories are of moving to the farm from our house in Upper Lawn when I was three. I remember running downstairs to dress beside the heater. I argued with my mother about wearing long stockings for school and rolled them down as soon as I could. Much of our clothing was sewn by Mom, including boys' shirts.

I was third in birth order, but first daughter, so that meant being very occupied with helping my mother's tasks. I learned early how to do Monday laundry and fold clothes. I mastered the art of ironing all those cottons, and there were plenty as the family grew. My mother would often give a choice between tasks. I preferred cooking to garden work, and could prepare a family meal at age 12.

We always had a garden and enjoyed fresh, varied vegetables, learning the progression from spring onions, lettuce and peas to sweet potatoes and pumpkins of late fall. Lima beans were our great family favorite, always a treat. Fruit-filled canning jars accumulated in the cellar. There was a dirt floor with planks to walk on when it was muddy. We started freezing vegetables and took them to the frozen food locker in Elizabethtown, before we had a freezer of our own. When we did kitchen work, especially washing dishes, Joanne and Mom and I would sometimes break out into operatic style singing, at a high volume naturally. That was great fun (for us).

Joanne and I helped watch and entertain the younger brothers. They were cute and we liked them. We played table games with John Edward and James, as well as outdoor games after supper - kick the can, prisoner's base, red rover, hide and seek. Occasionally they persuaded me to play baseball or basketball, but my head was always in a book. My memory of free time as a child was reading any and every book in sight. One teacher had trouble believing my reading record that we were assigned to keep in 7th grade. I was also drawn to playing piano and took lessons for about seven years. I liked to play through the hymnal, which improved my ability to sight-read music. It also gave me a love for many hymns and old hymn tunes. Singing was important in our family and at church, learning to sing harmony came naturally.

When I started first grade at Lawn School, someone figured out after while that I couldn't really see what was on the blackboard from a distance, so I got glasses. When I started second grade, I was advanced a year to third. This made the work more interesting, but was a challenge socially. In these early years I was painfully shy, timid and fearful away from home. It was challenging for me to make friends at school. I felt different too because of our plain church background.

For grades 7 and 8 our class was bussed to Campbelltown school. I liked having a variety of teachers there and meeting some new classmates. Joanne and I had weekly piano lessons in Campbelltown; we would walk back to Grandma Kreider's, where Mom was waiting. Sunday afternoons were spent visiting extended family or entertaining church friends. The family trips to visit our relatives at a distance were not optional. We all went together. We didn't have a TV until I was 12, but even then it wasn't turned on very much. There was so much more social interaction than now with all our electronics.

TEEN YEARS: In 1955, after 8th grade when I was 12, I chose to be baptized and join the Palmyra Brethren in Christ Church. This was not a difficult step, as there were a group of us. Palmyra was a progressive congregation and plain dress was not required then. We young teens wore coverings for services, avoided slacks, makeup, and very short hair.

The trip to Hershey H. S. was a twenty-minute bus ride, good for last minute cramming. Attending a big school like Hershey was exciting and scary. I found the college prep courses stimulating and demanding, with many good teachers. I didn't do after-school activities because my mother wanted me to help at home. Because James had a car, I could sometimes stay to watch his track meet and go to football games where he played in the band. We didn't go to the school dances. I enjoyed singing in the chorus all four years, and got to go to District Chorus one year. For several years I played piano accompaniment for the "Boys' Quartet" and that was fun, although I suffered greatly from performance anxiety. One time we got $10.00 each for a performance at the Lebanon County Club. Now that was memorable!

Our social life involved church activities and the Hershey Youth for Christ group, where we had Bible quizzing and Bible study groups. One summer I got to go to Ocean City for quizzing at the YFC conference. This was a wonderful treat for me at that time.

COLLEGE DAYS: Two years at Messiah College was a valuable time of mind-expanding learning and spiritual stimulation. Great church leaders brought an inspiring and thoughtful challenge to be committed to a Christian life. Jack and I met during that time. Other friends we met there are still close, over forty years later. Jack and I both took biology with K. B. Hoover and began a life interest in ornithology. I transferred to Millersville to study Library Science for public school work. Learning about children's literature and how to run a library was an easy fit for me.

During this time my aunts, Alma and Marion Engle, invited me to stay with them in Lancaster, to save on expenses. Living in a city was interesting, a new experience for me. I had to learn how to commute on public transportation. Grandma Engle lived on N. Lime Street also, and we benefitted from her tasty cooking. Spending time at the "Aunties" was valuable to me. I learned about their experiences in the working world. I expanded my interest in good music from the use of their record collection. We found humor in little things and laughed often.

I worked summers at Continental Press in Daddy's department, stuffing advertising envelopes all day. There was a mix of young and older folks to work with, often little dramas of personality differences - another good life experience. At break time we could use the pool table.

It was during my college years that my parents moved from the farm to Grandpa and Grandma's house in Campbelltown. We always liked that house, especially exploring the attic and basement. We have years of holiday meals to remember, when the dining room table was opened the length of the dining room to accommodate our growing families. Nothing gave my mother more joy than having some of her children and grandchildren come to visit.

MARRIAGE AND PHILADELPHIA: In 1963 after our college graduations, Jack and I were married on July 27th, my 21st birthday. Jack's parents, Musser and Ruth Wolgemuth from Mount Joy, graciously shared their home with us- for a month, before we moved to Philadelphia. I worked that summer with a librarian at the Lebanon V. A. Hospital, seeing many men whose minds were destroyed by war.

Jack and I moved to an apartment near Temple Medical School. While Jack began rigorous studies, I began work as a school librarian in Lower Merion Twp. in the suburbs. I was at a beautiful new school and enjoyed my peers and the challenges of the job for almost 4 years. Driving every day on the Schuylkill Expressway in a VW bug was one of challenges for this "country mouse." During these years I had a wonderful opportunity to sing in the church choir at Germantown Presbyterian. We did a lot of great music, not surprising because our organist and director was a professor at Westminster Choir College.

BRUSSELS AND ZAIRE: In 1967 Jack took a leave from Temple Med. Sch., and we signed on for a three-year term with MCC. Just before we left for French language study in Brussels, Belgium, we got the exciting news of a baby on the way. Our months in Brussels were culture shock, because we had studied German before, with no French. I also had a week in hospital there, following unexpected surgery. Jack's parents came to visit, and we spent some time touring other European countries with them. Our months in Brussels and subsequent years in Zaire (Belgian Congo) had a profound effect on our lives, which continues today.

I could fill pages telling of the hospital work, the people, the setting, our experiences as young parents far from home. IME (Evangelical Medical Institute) was a large complex of buildings, with a mix of Protestant missionaries from USA, Canada, and Europe. Jack taught in the nursing school, using his newly acquired French. He also worked with pediatrics and medical clinics.

We were thrilled with the birth of Eric in August, 1967. I found great fulfillment in being a mother. I read a lot about child development and really enjoyed seeing the various stages of growth. There was a supportive community of other missionary mothers and young children around. We left MCC a bit early so that Jack could resume his work at Temple to graduate with the class of 1970. Eric and I spent long days together at our apartment in Drexel Hill. It felt isolated after the large community at the IME compound.

LANCASTER: In the summer of 1970 we moved into the Roseville House Apts. in Lancaster, PA. Jack was in a newly started program for Family Practice at Lancaster General Hospital. Our new church home was Lancaster Brethren in Christ, where we are still members. I did childcare for a few other children, and there were other young families around, so Eric and I had company while Jack worked the grueling schedule of a medical resident. We had always stayed in close touch with our parents and siblings, but it was a treat to be living nearer to our roots for these two years.

In 1972 we agreed with MCC to go back for another term at IME, at the end of Jack's residency. Then we had the joyful event of Roger's birth in August. Aunt Alma was still working in OB-GYN at Lancaster General, and she was there when Roger was born. Then we had the challenge to move from our apartment and prepare for our time overseas with a newborn. We stayed for a brief transition time with my parents at Campbelltown.

IME 1972-1974: During our second stay at IME, Jack was again very busy with his responsibilities and I was occupied with childcare and housekeeping. We welcomed Mark into our family in April 1974. At this time Mother and Dad Engle travelled to Africa to give us support and assistance we needed for several weeks. They also helped us when we came home at the end of our term. We stayed at Campbelltown until we moved into our home in Lancaster.

30 YEARS at Beacon Hill Road: Now with Jack starting Family Practice in East Petersburg, we were finally done moving. During these years we followed our children's school activities and their music and sports interests, from nursery school through college. I was involved at Lancaster BIC with choir, church library, Christian Ed, Personnel and Church Boards. We did a lot of entertaining, many dinner gatherings and sometimes large groups. Over the years I have enjoyed preparing meals and sharing them with family and friends. As a family, we usually spent vacations driving to visit siblings and friends who lived at a distance. In 1982, while our three sons were still living at home, we went on a grand trip overseas to parts of Europe, Kenya and England. Jack and I still like traveling to visit family, plus in recent years we have made memorable trips for birding in the U.S. Southwest, Gulf Coast, Belize and Costa Rico.

For twenty-five years I sang with a chorus which performed annually with the Lancaster Symphony. It was wonderful to participate in great choral music at Lancaster's Fulton Theatre. How remarkable to sing Brahms' "Requiem" in rehearsal, at the time of my mother's death.

I developed an interest in the antiques and collectibles business in 1995, when Jack's parents broke up housekeeping. I also assisted my parents and Aunt Alma with extensive downsizing. I still continue part-time work at the Antiques Co-op as a hobby.

NOW: Since Jack's retirement in 2003, we have moved to a new home on Centerville Rd. Here we have a woods with lots of birds and other wildlife. We have time to know and enjoy our dear grandchildren, Emma in New York and William in Atlanta. We are delighted to have two daughters-in-law, Linda and YiPing, taking the place of daughters in our lives. Jack shares in visits to Messiah Village to see my father, his sister Alma, and his brother Harold. We feel blessed by a wide circle of family and friends.