Monthly Archives: March 2008

On the couch, from left to right:  David, Uncle Jesse, Aunt Gladys, Paul and Shirley
In front:  Jonathan and Robert

Later, two more children were added to the family, Joseph and Naomi.
Tragically, Robert and Joseph were killed in an automobile accident on April 24, 1977.
I often think about my young cousins.  Robert had just turned 18, Joseph was 13.
I wonder what they would have become.  I wonder how they would have affected the world for good.
But the one thing that Uncle Jesse and Aunt Gladys have taught me is this:
There are things far worse in this old world than having two sons safely HOME.
I cannot begin to imagine their grief.
But they have exampled their hope.
And the strange thing about hope is this:
It is contagious!

And for those of you who don’t know, here are the names.
In back, on the left,  is my Sweet Mama, Alene Wert Yoder, holding my Youngest Sister, Alma Jean Heatwole.
Beside her, in the white shirt, is my Daddy,  Mark B. Yoder, Sr.
Beside him, to the right (our right, his left) is my Oldest Brother, Clinton Edward Yoder
In front of him in the striped shirt is Polly the Patchworker’s husband, my Youngest Brother, Mark B. Yoder, Jr.
The little blonde haired girl in the front with little curly ponytails is my Middle Sister, Sarah Jane Slaubaugh.
Standing directly behind her in a blue polo shirt is my Middle Brother, Nelson Roy Yoder.
And the girl in the brown print dress is me: Buckeyegirlie, Certain Man’s Wife, but legally, Mary Ann Yutzy.
I’m not exactly sure when this was, but I know that I had my school picture taken in that very dress when I was in fifth grade, so it had to be 1963-64.