Former Amish in the News
Amish Bull - Rider Aspires To Big Leagues of Sport
| May 28, 2009Being an Amish bull-rider might appear a bit against the grain, but Yoder said it’s a natural fit for him. Yoder grew up around farm animals on his parents’ farm at Jamesport. When his parents weren’t looking, “my cousins and I would dare each other to try to ride calves and young steers....."
Man's Spiritual Journey The Focus Of Book
| May 3, 2009ABINGDON, Va. – For David King, a change seemed to be in order. This farmer had grown up in an Amish community at Lancaster County, Penn., then settled along the North Fork of the Holston River with his wife, Barbara, in 1995 and helped start an Amish community in rural Abingdon. King followed the traditional rules of the Amish, like shunning modern machinery....
Focus on Faith: The story of an Amish woman
| January 11, 2009Lucinda Streiker-Schmidt grew up on an Amish farm in Indiana and has nothing but fond, loving memories of her childhood. Yet, throughout her early life, Lucinda never stopped questioning the differences between her life and the "outside society." When she got a little older, Lucinda experienced the horrors of abuse, incest, neglect and emotional torment after being forced to marry into another Amish family.
Former Amish man honored for volunteer driving
| November 24, 2008In the first nine months of this year, Ken Hershberger volunteered 422 hours to drive more than 1,200 veterans a total of 15,733 miles to their doctor appointments.
Escaping the Amish
| June 24, 2008Those peace-loving bearded folks from Witness? I called Torah, and after just a few minutes, I knew this post had to be written. For those of you who feel trapped because of a job or self-imposed obligations as an entrepreneur, this will put things in perspective. How do you escape your environment if you’re unable to control it? If almost no one on the outside realizes what’s happening?
Special Report: Leaving the Amish Life
| May 2, 2008It's the perfect May day in Elizabethtown, and the Schrock family is out enjoying the breeze. Today, the family's five strong, but seven years ago, Saloma and Isaac were a young dating couple in Senora, Tennessee as part of an Amish community.
The Rumspringa years
| March 20, 2008The definition of Rumspringa is running around. This term refers to young Amish people, anywhere from the age of 16 until they get married. It is the time of dating and getting together with other Amish young people that have not married and it is a chance to get to know one another. This is also the time for the boys to take the girls on dates. In my experience (24 years living as an Amish person) it was not okay for the girls to ask boys on a date, the boys always asked the girls.
Shunned from her Amish family
| March 19, 2008Anna Dee Olson, who lived the Amish lifestyle until age 24, describes her journey from growing up Amish to be shunned by her family for sinning and acting against the Amish faith.
Life with and without the Amish
| March 18, 2008I saw many of the people I grew up with, went to school with, and worshipped with do a lot of wild things on Rumspringa – the time when Amish teens get to live outside traditional Amish society without strict rules. I wasn’t nearly as adventurous as many of my friends, but ironically now live a life as a musician that perhaps many English (non-Amish) would consider wild even by their standards. Though, from what I have seen on television, still relatively tame compared to most musicians.
Coach at loss over wins
| February 14, 2008Part of his childhood was spent without electricity or running water, and his family traveled to town each week by horse and buggy. In fact, the first time Leroy Troyer rode in a car he got sick; he wasn't used to the speed. He grew up Amish in Wilmot, Ohio. There was no television, or time for sports.
Portrait of a young Amish man: a world apart from "Englishness"
| January 22, 2008Jacob Stoltzfus is in his final year of formal education, and it shows. His bright eyes and smile exude the confidence of a pupil who has mastered all that his school has to offer him, a young man who is about to put his childhood behind him and start the rest of his life.
How an Amish girl left her community but kept her family
| September 14, 2007Elizabeth Byler remembers a time when she would do anything to lead the life the average American is accustomed to. She felt like a slave to the black, blue or purple dress that made her so hot in the summer, and longed to cut her hair into a cute bob that was then the trend.
Born Amish Then Shunned: How I Reunited with My Amish Family
| August 29, 2007One of five children, I was born in 1979 to an Amish Family. My parents decided to leave the Old Order Community in Central Pennsylvania to make a new life. Upon leaving they took their children with them. When my parents left they were "shunned." Shunning practices vary within each Amish Community. Generally, Old Order Communities tend to shun severely (you don't exist to them), while more modern communities tend to do so with less harshness.
My Life as an Amish
| July 10, 2006ONE week ago the tiny Amish community of Nickel Mines lived in peaceful isolation from the evils of the modern world. That innocent idyll was cruelly shattered by crazed gunman Charles Carl Roberts.
Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels
| June 24, 2006Founder of Auntie Anne’s Pretzels and Author of Twist of Faith was educated until the 8th grade in a small Amish school in PA. Her close-knit family celebrated a sincere Christian faith and also valued a marketable work ethic with a good eye for business opportunity....
Dr Albert Miller Grew Up Amish
| June 24, 2006When Albert Miller finished college and applied to medical schools across the country, he got his very first rejection letter from the school he wanted to attend. Instead of accepting his fate, Miller called the University of Cincinnati with one simple request. I simply said, "I simply said, I know my application isn't the best you've had, but I have an unusual background. I asked for an interview, and if they felt after that, that I didn't belong there, I could accept that." Miller, now a doctor in Wooster, recalled. Miller was granted an interview and received another letter a short time later.
Mary Byler: Abuse and Incest Among The Amish
| January 24, 2005When she wrote the letter that she hoped would protect her sister, Mary Byler was lying on a twin bed, surrounded by rainbow-colored walls and a sky-blue ceiling decorated with bright white clouds. A stereo sat on the floor beside her. There were no signs of the Amish upbringing she had left behind—no plain wood furniture or chamber pot. Nothing except a stuffed doll that had belonged to her 6-year-old sister. The little girl had put the doll's bonnet on backward.
Leaving the Amish Life Behind
| July 25, 2003The choice between living the rustic Amish lifestyle, or joining the fast-paced, convenient modern world, has always been an option for Amish teens. Many continue to embrace the security of their strict communities, where a horse and buggy is the mode of transportation, an 8th grade education is the norm, and a simple life is the road to salvation. But, as we hear from Kevin Niedermier, there are still young Amish who look for more in their lives, and choose the challenges of the outside world.
