Class Of - Shawn Snider

18 Class of ‘58
'
Roy Heishman
(no letter)
Erma (Horst) Taylor
James Horst
Rachel (Horst) Witmer
Fifty years have brought Don and me Full
Circle. We met in 1958 at then EMC, I a high
school student, he one of those wiser college
students.
We married in 1961 after my graduation
from Riverside Hospital School of Nursing. We
lived 13 years in HIS home state, Pennsylvania,
then moved to HER home state, Ohio, where
we worked at HIS and HER hospitals. Now, 50
years later, we’ve relocated to The Valley where
we like our proximity to our two daughters,
Donna van Horn and Heather Taylor, and their
families. Our son, Chris, and his wife, Mary, live
in Albuquerque; we have a “standing” invitation
to “winter over” in New Mexico.
Milestones. That seems to be THE operative
word of our “mature years.” This year in Ohio,
we celebrated with our church family there 25
years of God’s faithfulness at Peace Mennonite
Church. The church began in 1983 when a core
group first met for three months, each Sunday, in
our home. (No, I’m not an advocate of HOUSE
CHURCH!) We were fascinated to learn that
Staunton Mennonite Church, in which beginning
Don and I were both involved (YPCA outreach of
then EMC), celebrated 50 years this year.
We celebrated Don’s 70th birthday with
a party HERE shortly after our move to
(Left to right) John Zehr, Vernon Birky, and Mahlon Steffen
study together in the men’s dorm (above).
Harrisonburg. His 92-year-old mother, Catherine, was here from New Holland, Pennsylvania, as well as his 97year-old
aunt, Dora Taylor, a VMRC resident.
During our “moving” adventure, all kinds of treasures surfaced or re-surfaced! The 1958 yearbooks, HIS
(college) and HERS (high school), came to see the light of day – just in time for the 50-year reunion of the class
of ’58. I continue to read and enjoy OLD correspondence; so much that was forgotten can be enjoyed/re-lived
through old letters, notes, announcements, etc. (I’m a FAN of the written word.) I’m especially grateful to the
friend of my mother Melissa who also kept some such “valuables.” By a circuitous route one of MY “vintage”
birth announcements (none of which I possessed or had ever before seen), traveled from Harrisonburg to
Orrville, Ohio, to my youngest sister who presented it to me; 68 years after Mom Melissa wrote it and sent it to
her “twin” in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
My personal milestone past the Breast Cancer experience is 16 years this October. Yes!
Mark Twain advised: DANCE like nobody’s watching; LOVE like you’ve never been hurt; SING like
nobody’s listening; LIVE like it’s heaven on earth.
–Erma H. Taylor
Dear Classmates,
We can all say 50 years is a short time. Since graduation, I have been married for 46 years. We have 2
daughters and 3 grandchildren; ages 17, 3, and 1. I operated a dairy farm for 37 years. I had Registered Holstein
cattle and sold some throughout the U.S. and several foreign countries.
At present we live at Weyers Cave, Virginia. and I work full time for a small business. I have served in
various duties in our church. I do some volunteer work for VMRC.
—James Horst
Dear Class of 1958,
Fifty years sounds incredibly long, and of course, it is. Forty-five of those years post high school have been
spent married to my husband, Jim, and the adventures that we have had together have been truly excellent. Our
four daughters are grown, married and have provided us not only with sons, but also with twelve grandchildren.