WRITING One’s Life continued


Barbara Reed, who was born in the countryside of Elizabethtown, trained as a registered nurse and served in that role primarily at Philhaven, a mental health hospital in Mt. Gretna, PA. “Other than occasional letters as a very young adult when distant from home, my writing began in the 1960’s when my husband and I relocated to Somalia on the east coast of Africa,” said Barbara.


Barbara served with her late husband, Harold, in Somalia from 1961-1975 and one year in Kenya from 1992-1993.


“Our sending organization, Eastern Mennonite Missions (EMM), required periodic letters to keep supportive constituency informed and also requested articles for publication in Missionary Messenger. I wrote several articles, which were very well received. Additionally, three other periodicals, Christian Living, Gospel Herald and Timbrel each published an article of mine.”


Barbara is in the process of writing her autobiography, Standing on Holy Ground – and Some Not so Holy: A Memoir. “Tis is my first attempt at writing anything more extensive than articles” said Barbara. “Te main reason I am doing it is for my family and I hope for a broader readership.”


Barbara’s family includes a son, three daughters, a son-in-law, a granddaughter, a grandson-in-law and two great granddaughters. “While our children have heard some of my and my late husband’s stories, our granddaughter knows less about what shaped us into the grandparents she knows or knew,” said Barbara. “Tis is even more so for the great granddaughters.”


Barbara quoted an African Proverb which says, “When an old (person) dies, a library burns to the ground.”


“Although we may not be remembered for illustrious deeds, I do not want Harold’s and my ‘library’ to pass into oblivion when I follow him to meet my Maker,” said Barbara. “Hopefully, people beyond family may also be encouraged and helped by our life experiences, including uncertainty, threats to life, depression and other unusual challenges for we learned resilience and experienced great joy.”


Barbara and Harold moved to a Landis Homes cottage in 2007. Harold’s end of life journey included loss of memory and declining health due to Alzheimer’s disease.


As an interesting side note, Barbara pointed out that Landis Homes had its early origins with EMM, and Harold, as EMM’s Human Resources Director, was influential in hiring Ed Longenecker to be the retirement community’s second administrator. Ed and his wife Rhoda are now fellow residents.


In response to how the project is going, Barbara admitted, “Writer’s block sometimes inhibits progress, but I find it best to put my hands on the keyboard and write something, almost anything, just to get past Go.”


“Ten, I tweak and tweak and tweak, perhaps every day for a week or more, until I am usually quite pleased,” she said. “When a chapter is in my hand as printed pages, I may see things which escaped notice when reading from the screen.”


Barbara concluded, “I love to write and find it life-giving. I think I see light at the end of the manuscript-writing tunnel. I have an editor and, hopefully, will find a publisher. If not, desktop publishing, here I come!”


26 • Landis.org | FLOURISH | Spring 2020


CULTIVATING GROWTH


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28