Remembering Mom

   We had our family dinner on Christmas Day. Our children and spouses took time out to go visit Grandma Stauffer. She was sitting in her chair as usual and they had a nice visit with her. No one guessed how near she was to the end of her life. From that point on things went rapidly downhill.

    On January 2 the Home where she lived put Mom in a hospital bed. She was very weak and not eating or drinking more than a few sips or bites. She grew too weak to speak clearly but once in awhile we could understand a few words or a sentence. From January 5 -10 we went to the Home and sat with her (and whoever of Leroy's sisters were there) all afternoon. 

   On January 8 Mom had what they call rallying. She was awake most of the day and talking clearly a lot. I sat on a chair beside her bed. When she heard my voice she looked at me and said, "Romaine, it's good to see you again." That was the last thing I remember her saying to me personally. Her mind was clear. When the nurse told her it was snowing she said, "Oh schmatza!" She had told us repeatedly she wanted to go before it is icy cold. She didn't want us to be cold at her burial.

   The next day was a different story. She only said a few mumbled words and slept most of the day. The day after that she was totally unresponsive. At 3:10 a.m. January 11, she left us for her eternal Home. She lived on earth 101 years 4 months and 10 days. She outlived all of her immediate family.

   A viewing was held on January 15 at our church where she was also a member. Her ten children were all there.

   One of the many quilts she made and other things she used or liked were on the memory table.

    She wanted to be buried in white. A pink quilt she made was used as a cover.

   One of her grandsons led the singing and another delivered a powerful message to the living. Six more grandsons served at pall bearers. Our church is in town and has no cemetery so the burial was at the Mennonite church on the other side of town. It was snowing when the service ended. We were very thankful arrangements had been made for a tent that was large enough for everyone to be inside.

   A mother-in-law is never exactly the same as your own mother, but mine came pretty close to it. I'm sure I did some things she would have done differently but she never said an unkind or critical word to me. She lived a consistent Christian life and had a great concern for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. When she was in her nineties she said with tears to some of her grandchildren, "Walk with the Lord, children. It's a dangerous world out there." Her life was an example to all of us, showing us how to live and endure faithfully to the end.

Photo on her 101st birthday

Sarah S. Stauffer, 101, left time for eternity with her Lord on January 11, 2025, at the Richland Christian Home, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. Born September 1, 1923, in Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, she was the daughter of the late Amos R. and Amanda (Shaub) Wenger. She was the last of her immediate family.

Sarah was the widow of Phares B. Stauffer who died July 12, 2004. They shared 61 years of marriage. She was a member of the Fairhaven Mennonite Church in Myerstown since its founding in 1973.

She was a dedicated dairy farmer’s wife and mother of their ten children. She enjoyed quilting and gave many quilts to her children and grandchildren. The greatest legacy for her descendants was her example and consistent faith in God.  She was active in the Sewing Circle at the church and in her later years volunteered at Jubilee Ministries. The story of her early life was written in the book A Home for Sarah.

She is survived by her children: Leroy (husband of Romaine), Bernville; Kathryn, West Willow; Edwin, (widower of Carol), East Earl; Sallie Martin (widow of Luke Martin), Greencastle; Irene, Myerstown; Jane Martin (wife of Clifford), Ephrata; Rose Boll (wife of Randy), Manheim; Bonnie Hurst (wife of John), Newmanstown; Nelson (husband of Teresa), Elverson; and Gloria Hurst (wife of Paul), Myerstown. She is also survived by 26 grandchildren, 74 great-grandchildren, and nine great-great-grandchildren. In addition to her husband, she was predeceased by four grandchildren, Beverly, Benjamin and Steven Stauffer, and Ryan Boll.

A viewing will be held on Wednesday, January 15, from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. at the Fairhaven Mennonite Church, 801 S. Railroad St., Myerstown. The funeral will be at the church on January 16 at 10 a.m. with a viewing one hour before the service. Interment will follow in the Myerstown Mennonite Cemetery.

 In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Fairhaven Mennonite Church or Richland Christian Home.

The Roma People

    Have you ever said you were gypped? Do you know the origin of that word? I just learned the answer to that question and also that they suffered genocide with the Jews in the Holocaust. The following article on the gypsies (now called Roma) says it better than I could, so read and learn with me.

By Cameron Hewitt and Honza Vihan

Europe is home to a largely overlooked population of 12 million people who share a language and a culture quite distinct from the European norm. While spread out across the continent, the biggest populations live in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia. Together, the Roma people constitute a bigger European nation than the Czechs, Hungarians, or the Dutch — and yet have little political voice or cultural presence in the wider society.

The once-common term "Gypsy" (derived from "Egypt," from where they were thought to have originated) is now considered not just inaccurate but derogatory. The Roma are now thought to be descended from several low north-Indian castes. (The language still spoken by about two-thirds of today's European Roma — called "Romany" or "Romani" — is related to contemporary Indian languages.)

A thousand years ago, the Roma began to migrate through Persia and Armenia into the Ottoman Empire, which later stretched across much of southeastern Europe. Known for their itinerant lifestyle, expertise in horse trading, skilled artisanship, and flexibility regarding private property, the Roma were both sought out and suspected in medieval Europe. Similarly, the gadjos (non-Roma) and their customs came to be distrusted by the Roma.

The Industrial Revolution threatened the Roma's traditional livelihoods, making their wandering lifestyle difficult to sustain. Many Roma became entertainers (fortune telling, music and dancing, horse shows, dancing bears), outlaws, and metalworkers. Roma were initially not allowed to enter Austrian territory, but as the Habsburgs recaptured lands once controlled by the Ottomans (including Slovakia and Hungary), they permitted the Roma already living there to stay. In the 18th and 19th centuries, as "Gypsy music" funneled into the theaters of Vienna and Budapest, a romantic stereotype emerged of the Roma as people living an idyllic, nomadic lifestyle, with dancers swirling nightly around their campfires to intoxicating music — and all while weilding mystical powers over white Europeans. This notion still persists in many corners of Europe today.

But white Europe's image of the Roma also had a sinister side. Even today, people might warn their children, "If you don't behave, I'll sell you to the Gypsies!" And when someone is cheated, many English speakers say they've been "gypped" — an ethnic slur so deeply ingrained most don't realize its origin. The widespread bigotry had long been encoded in many legal restrictions that kept the Roma from enjoying full citizenship.

In the 1930s, Nazi Germany stripped the Roma of all citizenship, and in the 1940s, Hitler addressed the so-called "Gypsy question" (how to deal with the Roma population) with full-on genocide, sending hundreds of thousands of Roma to the gas chambers on the basis of ethnicity.

After the war, communist governments in central and eastern Europe implemented a policy of forced assimilation: Roma were required to speak the country's predominant language, settle in towns, and work in new industrial jobs. Rather than producing well-adjusted citizens, the policy eroded time-honored Roma values and shattered the cohesiveness of their traditional communities. It left the new Roma generation prone to sexual, alcohol, and drug abuse, and filled state-run orphanages with deprived Roma toddlers.

When the obligation and right to work disappeared with the communist regimes in 1989, rampant unemployment and dependence on welfare joined the list of Roma afflictions. As people all over formerly communist Europe found it difficult to adjust to the new economic realities, they again turned on the Roma as scapegoats, and state-sanctioned persecution continued in many areas.

Today, many Roma live in segregated ghettos. Most children start attending school, but a high percentage drop out, and many have children of their own at a very young age. Those who make it against the odds and succeed in mainstream society typically do so by turning their backs on their Roma heritage.

Many countries have no viable, organized movement for Roma rights, leaving many Roma stranded on the fringes of mainstream society. However, Europe-wide organizations (including the European Union and NGOs such as the European Roma Rights Centre) are working to seek justice for the Roma people.

Some areas have seen success stories: In the Czech town of Český Krumlov, for instance, the large Roma community of 1,000 people — about 5 percent of the town's population — are well-integrated in the life of the town while remaining proud of their cultural identity. Across Europe, many are hopeful that with the EU's increased focus on cooperation and human rights, the Roma will find a place in contemporary European society.

https://classroom.ricksteves.com/videos/romania-s-roma-or-gypsy-population