Alumni
Finger Lakes in Autumn was the name given by Mennonite Your Way to the three-day class trip enjoyed September 27-29, 2011, by 32 1956 class members and 20 spouses. Participants came from Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Our class celebrated the fact that 69 of 72 graduates are still living.
Our destination was Geneva on Seneca Lake where we spent two nights. Along the way we had wonderful stops at the Taughannock Falls, the longest water falls east of the Mississippi; the Cornell University botanical gardens and arboretum; the Harriet Tubman memorial (her house); and the Glenn Curtiss Aviation Museum.
Other highlights included a ride on the Canandaigua Lady (boat) and a bus tour through the conservative Mennonite community around Penn Yan. Pauline Weaver (and her young daughter) of Weaver-View Farms, showed us the farming country, some local businesses, and a school where her daughter was the teacher.
We enjoyed listening to this very authentic and free-spirited woman spin her short tales which concluded with hilarious one-liners. For example: “My husband keeps buying land; he’s what you might call ‘addicted to farming.’” She came to the area as a “confirmed 17-year-old ‘old-maid’ schoolteacher.” When asked why she chose to be an ‘old maid’ schoolteacher, she said, “Well, you see, I was the first of 11 children; ah, you know, forget the diapers!” She married after one term and now has seven children of her own.
We had wonderful opportunity along the way and at the hotel to spin our own tales, some of which were remembered as true. We celebrated the contributions made to God’s kingdom by our three deceased members (all died since 2005). And we recognized God’s grace and love that informed our individual lives these last 55 years. Our motto in 1956 was, “Our Lives for Service.”
Classmate Dan Wenger drove the very comfortable Executive Coach for our three-day excursion.
- Richard Weaver, 1956