Pequea Valley townlively.com
MARCH 6, 2024
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL LX • NO 11
A gift of grace Book details story of forgiveness BY ANN MEAD ASH
O
n a Saturday in July of 2020, Tim Rogers learned online that his brother-in-law, Justo Smoker, had been arrested for the kidnapping of Linda Stoltzfoos, a young Amish woman abducted in Bird-in-Hand and later murdered. Tim and his daughter, Megan Shertzer, who was the only other family member at home, were reeling from the shock of the news when the doorbell rang. “My first thought was that I didn’t want to go to the door,” recalled Tim. Waiting on the front step was an Amish neighbor who had heard the news and brought her family along with flowers and vegetables from her garden. The woman had been the teacher in the Nickel Mines Schoolhouse on the day of that tragedy in 2008. “She said, ‘I want you to know that there’s hope and God will take care of you,’” Tim reported. “We could
see the tears in her eyes, and they were in mine too,” he noted, adding, “(That she would be) the person at the door offering what she offered,” recalled Tim. “It was simple, but the gift of presence in that space was really powerful.”
“The story for us is the grace of the Amish community and the mercy they offered to us in the middle of such a terrible tragedy.” That day was the beginning of a journey that would show the Rogers family the depth of grace to be offered by the family members of Linda Stoltzfoos and the greater community. Those experiences would lead both Tim and Megan to begin journaling - recording events
as well as their emotional reactions and the questions the situation forced them to examine. The result of those writings is “Beechdale Road,” a self-published book that represents Tim and Megan’s goal to share with others the hope and mercy they found in the aftermath of a terrible crime. Because Stoltzfoos was an aide to children with special needs in a one-room schoolhouse, part of the proceeds from the sale of “Beechdale Road” will help support Amish special education in Lancaster County. For Megan, the crime committed by someone she knew and cared for brought her face-to-face with questions she never anticipated having to answer. “(Justo) was a fun uncle,” she recalled. “One of the biggest things I have wrestled with is what to do when someone has done such a horrific, evil thing when that’s not who you know them to be.” Megan pointed to Tim Rogers (left) and his daughter, Megan Shertzer, are the authors of memories of an uncle she knew to the book “Beechdale Road,” the story of how they received grace in the See “Beechdale Road” pg 7 wake of Linda Stoltzfoos’ murder.
WordUP to host free movie screening
Local quilts help support Fairmount’s Sharing Fund
BY FRANCINE FULTON
WordUP Community Ministries has planned a family-friendly event on Saturday, March 16, that will include a free showing of Disney’s live-action adaptation of “The Lion King,” along with food and a craft. Activities will take place at WordUP, a nondenominational church located at 160 Route 41, Gap, in the Dutchland Inc. building. An Easter craft will take place at 3 p.m., and attendees will be Pastor Buck Mowday provided with hot dogs. The Disney ’s “ The Lion King ” prince of an African savanna. movie will begin at 4 p.m., and it will be shown on two 65-inch follows the story of a young lion When his father, Mufasa, dies named Simba, who is the crown in an accident staged by his television screens.
BY ANN MEAD ASH
In 1990, Fair mo unt held its first auction and chicken barbecue. From the beginning, handmade quilts, made by area sewists, have been a part of the event. “In the first year, a quilt was donated, which was what started the auction,” reported Swailes. “ T hen in the nex t couple of years, people would donate completed quilts (to be sold).” According to Swailes, about four or five years after the first
See WordUP pg 2
auction, the initial Quilting Days was held. Quilting Days brings together stitchers who live in the area surrounding Fairmount, which is located on a plateau in Ephrata high above the surrounding farm fields, to stitch beautiful quilts, which are later sold to benefit the organization’s Sharing Fund. This year, Quilting Days took place in Fairmount’s Farm Crest Community Room, 1100 Farm Crest Drive, Ephrata, on Feb. 17, 20, and 21, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. More than 200 quilters See Fairmount pg 6
FREE TO ROAM. LLC.
3867 Old Phila. Pike, Gordonville, PA 17529 Store Hours: Mon.-Wed.: 8-4:30, Fri: 8-7 Sat.: 8-12. Closed Thurs. & Sun.
SAFE AT HOME. Create a secure environment for your pet to run, explore and play with our electronic fencing systems. They’re safe and effective for dogs of all sizes.
Call King’s Pet LLC (717) 614-9484 • www.KingsPetLLC.com • Follow us on
R104540
King’s Pet POSTMASTER: PLEASE DELIVER MAR. 6, 2024
PRSRT STD ECRWSS U.S. Postage Paid Engle Printing Co
Postal Patron
PEQ
A bright patch