Donegal townlively.com
JANUARY 8, 2025
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL LXV • NO 48
Celebrate creativity at “Women of MHG” BY CATHY MOLITORIS
Visit MH Art Gallery & Studio this month, and you’ll enjoy a wide variety of artworks, all created by women. “Women of MHG: New Works” will run through Sunday, Jan. 26, at the gallery, 42 W. Market St., Marietta. The exhibit hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
“These are six women who have a passion for art and love to share their experience and talent with anyone who visits the gallery,” said Marita Hines, owner of MH Art Gallery and founding member of Marietta Art Alive. “Visitors can expect a visual feast that covers a wide variety of styles, media and subject matter.” Artists whose work will be See Creativity pg 4
Deb Gepfer displays a sampler in front of the Maytown Historical Society museum.
Unraveling history through a needlepoint sampler
M
ore than a year ago, Deb Gepfer was at a family picnic when her phone rang. The caller was Susan Heydt, a fellow needlework aficionado, and she had exciting news. A sampler - a small textile adorned with cross-stitch or embroidery made to showcase a young lady’s sewing skills - was listed on an auction site, and the piece was attributed to a young girl from Maytown, dated to 1855. “I screamed out and got all excited,” Deb recalled. “It’s not the most beautiful sampler, but it was made by a local girl when she was 11.”
Deb was even more excited when she bid on the sampler and won it. While waiting for it to arrive by mail, she started doing research on the girl who stitched the piece, Ann Francis Breneman. From information provided by the auction house, she learned that the young stitcher, who went by Francis (sometimes spelled Frances), was born in 1844, married John E. Hunter around 1865, had at least three daughters, moved to Ohio by 1870 and died in 1926. She’s buried along with her husband at Maytown Union Cemetery. Along with fiber arts, another passion of Deb’s is genealogy, so she began digging deeper on
sites such as Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com. “That’s when I was able to connect Francis to someone in Maytown who I knew,” she said. She found a descendant of Francis who held an important position in town and whose nephew is still a resident. While doing her research, Deb also decided the sampler could be a nice fundraiser for the Maytown Historical Society, where she serves on the archive committee and as secretary. Susan and her husband, Bruce, reproduce antique samplers for cross-stitchers and sell the charts through their business. Deb and Susan hoped to reproduce
With education fair, local Christian schools are organizing and uniting BY JEFF FALK
Christian schools in Lancaster County have never really been competitors. Now they’re working together to align their missions and streamline their efforts. The upcoming Christian Education Fair is an event that’s designed to draw strength from numbers, explore and promote the increasing popularity of
See Needlepoint pg 4
Christian education and provide families with learning opportunities that are aligned with their beliefs and their children’s needs. “It’s not that we were against each other; it’s we weren’t working together,” said Jill Armstrong, Lancaster County Christian School’s events and communication coordinator and one of the organizers of the event. “I just think there wasn’t See Education pg 3
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BY CATHY MOLITORIS
A crowd enjoys artwork at MH Art Gallery & Studio.