Lititz Moravian Souvenir Bell

 Bells had graced the steeple of Lititz Moravian church from its early days. Then in 1850 Samuel Grosh – shop keeper, church officer, and one-time member of the Pennsylvania State Legislature – left a bequest of $100.00 to the congregation for purchase of a new bell. Negotiations for the selection and purchase were entrusted to Jacob Tshudy, who wasted no time in contacting the Meneely Bell Foundry of West Troy (now Watervliet), New York. 

In a letter dated 7 August 1850 Andrew Meneely responds to Tshudy’s initial inquiry, providing a cost of $0.28/pound for a bell of any size, plus a charge of $32.00 for complete hangings of yoke and wheel for bells of 500 or 600 pounds and $35.00 for those of 700 or 800 pounds. Apparently Tshudy had provided dimensions of the steeple in his initial correspondence, for Meneely offers the opinion that “the interior of your steeple or bell room is sufficiently capacious for a bell of 800 or 900 pounds. The aperture however at the side through which the Bell must be introduced will not admit of a larger Bell than one of my 500 pound pattern.” The letter also offers a credit of $0.20/pound for the old bell, provided that it is shipped back to them after the new one is received. 

Statement To Warwick Area School Board re ILC, 21 May 2024

Good evening. My name is Marian Shatto, and my topic is the danger of engaging with the Independence Law Center, relating to Agenda item 8, Approval of Additional Legal Counsel.

The ILC calls itself a “religious liberty law firm,” but the “liberty” they support is the exact opposite of our nation’s declared “liberty and justice for all.” Instead, the liberty they advocate is reserved for a small minority who are determined to impose their rigid, corrosive reading of Christian scripture on all the rest of us.

Statement to Warwick Area School Board 05-07-2024

 Following is the statement that I made to the Warwick Area School Board during the public comment portion of their meeting on May 7, 2024.

Good Evening. My name is Marian Shatto, and my topic is support for good libraries.  I have lived in Lititz since 1973. I own my home and gladly pay school taxes to support our public schools. My mother was a librarian and my father was a high school science teacher. They made sure that my sisters and I had ready access to a wide variety of books, both at home and in libraries. We learned about people, places, and ideas far beyond our little community, and that knowledge has served us well throughout our lives.

History of the Mill Building

 

The following pamphlet was written in 1990 at the request of Farmers First Bank, where I was then employed. It was distributed to schools and companies in the area, was handed out to customers and visitors to the bank facilities, and sent by the marketing department to other interested persons and organizations. In 2013 it was reprinted in the book “Lititz: Our Community in Story” published as a joint effort of the Lititz Historical Foundation and the Archives Committee of Lititz Moravian Congregation. Because neither the pamphlet nor the book is now available, I’m posting it here. ~ Marian L. Shatto

A New Company Founded in Lititz

Soon after the turn of the century a group of local businessmen banded together to bring a new industry to the borough of Lititz.  They secured a large lot just to the west of the first block of North Cedar Street, bounded by the railroad on the north, Eby's Mill on the east, and Lititz Springs Creek on the south.  They drew plans and blueprints for a one-story brick and stone factory building, with a two­ story office annex.  They advertised their plans to the people of Lititz and the surrounding communities, who willingly responded by subscribing to a bond issue to finance the construction of the buildings.  Within a few months the initial goal of S 100,000 had been reached, and the Consumers Box Board and Paper Company was chartered as a Pennsylvania corporation on 8 April 1905.

The original shareholders included P. J. Roebuck, E. E. Bruner, E. E. Weaver, G. A. Hoffman, A. L. Lane, C. B. Risser, and H. C. Seldomridge, all of whom comprised the Board of Directors, with Roebuck as president and Bruner as secretary, plus H. H. Gingrich, J. F. Stoner, and S. F. Glatfelter.  All but Bruner and Glatfelter were Lititz residents.

The Lutz Family

 

Note: This article was first written and published in 2006 for a collection celebrating Lititz’ 250^th anniversary.

Musical dynasties are not uncommon in European history.  One thinks immediately of the Bach family in Germany and the Strausses of Vienna.  Lititz can boast of five generations of Lutz family members who were and remain active in the musical life of the community.

A butcher by trade, Benjamin Fry “Benny” Lutz was the patriarch of the assembly.  As early as 1913 he formed the Lutz Family Quintette, consisting of himself, daughter Ruth, son Benjamin, and nephew Winfield Wilson on cornet, and son John playing the baritone horn.  For several years the group played for church and community gatherings and fairs throughout the county, gaining a wide reputation for their entertainment skills.  Then tragedy struck; daughter Ruth succumbed in the great influenza pandemic of 1918, dying at the youthful age of 17.  Benny’s wife Nora never quite recovered from the loss of her only daughter, but Benny continued for decades to encourage the youth of the community in both musical and athletic endeavors.  Reconstituted as The Lutz Family Band, he and his descendants brightened lives in such venues as church picnics, Conestoga View, area fairs and farm shows, and the county jail.

As director of the Sunday School orchestra at the Lititz Moravian Church, Benny was a familiar figure to many.  He was also a prolific hymn tune composer, setting the texts of a number of different writers.  Collections of his hymns were published in Lititz in 1942 and 1943.  These booklets include “I Love Jesus” with words by Ella Buch, which bears the notation “This song was first sung in the Moravian Church, at Lititz Pa. by the infant class on Christmas 1907.”  The song “Closer to Jesus,” to a text of the Rev. H. J. Heydt of the School of the Bible in Lancaster, was included in Tabernacle Hymns No. 4, becoming the first hymn written in Lititz in more than a century to find its way into a nationally distributed hymnal.

Benny’s sons were gifted both in church music and in the more popular music of the day.  Besides being stalwart members of various vocal and brass choirs, John, Benjamin, and Robert all played the musical saw, while Henry held forth on banjo, spoons, and bones.  For a few years in mid-century Benjamin and his daughter Marian entertained on the marimba, an instrument which enjoyed great popularity at that time.

Robert, a French horn player, joined the Army Band during World War II and was sent to Japan near the very end of hostilities.  Feeling a deep concern for the people of that country, he cherished a dream of returning some day as a missionary.  Though he trained for the ministry and was ordained in the Church of the Nazarene, he was never to realize the fulfillment of that desire.  He inherited his father’s gift for hymn writing, and in the 1940s saw publication of “Crucified for Me” and “I Can Always Sing to Him,” for both of which he wrote both text and music.

The third generation continued the musical tradition of the family.  John’s daughter Nancy and Benjamin’s daughter Thelma both had lovely voices which graced church choirs and family band concerts alike.  Nancy’s younger sister Patricia is a clarinetist and pianist who also directs bell choir.  Besides daughters Thelma and Marian, mentioned already, Benjamin also had a son Benjamin who, after completing studies at Lebanon Valley College, went to New York City to try his hand at a career in show business.   The possessor of a fine tenor voice, he sang for a few years as a member of the vocal group Mello-Larks.  When the heavy touring schedule proved to have a negative impact on his family, however, he abandoned the life of the professional musician and moved to California, where he became an office manager.

In the 1950s Patricia and another cousin, Roberta, daughter of Robert, starred in an original play, written by Lititz historian Mary Huebner and titled “The Singing School.”  This local production, directed by Julia Zercher Keehn, also featured Julia’s husband George and contralto Jean Hanna Bender, a member of another Lititz family noted for their fine singing voices.

As interest in preserving and performing Moravian music of the 18^th and early 19^th centuries increased, Julia Keehn and Thelma Lutz Stauffer, together with Thelma’s daughter Marilyn, formed The Moramus Trio.  This ensemble was active through the 1960s and ‘70s, singing at various local churches.  Marilyn’s brother Bill Stauffer is well-known for his stirring solos at Lititz community functions, including Memorial Day services and events in Lititz Springs Park.

Representing the fifth, and thus-far youngest, generation of the Lutz family is Debra Copenhaver, daughter of Marilyn.  Like her mother before her, Deb was selected as first chair soprano in State Chorus during her senior year of high school. She then went on to study at Eastman Conservatory.  An accomplished violist as well as vocalist, she now teaches privately in the State College area, while also finding time to sing in Nightshade, a band that does music of the 1970s and ‘80s.  And just to maintain connection to her Lutz family heritage, Deb also plays the saw, a skill passed on to her by her great-great-uncle Robert on one of his last visits to Lititz.

Thus for nearly a century Lititz has benefited from the musical ministrations of members of this extraordinarily talented family.  We are certainly fortunate to be the recipients of their gifts.

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Twenty: Conversation with Bishop Medardo Gomez

The following notes have been edited to correct errors and to add explanations and updates. Parenthetical notes and remarks from the original are enclosed in parentheses. Present day [2022] updates are italicized and enclosed in square brackets.

Sunday, 20 October 1991 7:30 PM The Guest House

Bishop Medardo Gomez has joined our delegation for our final evening meal in El Salvador – pizza, soda, beer, and ice cream. There is laughing and joking around the table, and I wonder a bit at the ease with which we continue with ordinary conversation in the presence of this great man. Then suddenly he is addressing our gathering, and light-hearted banter turns to serious attentiveness, all eyes fixed on the head of the table. There is a scramble for notebooks and pens as we realize that what we are hearing is no longer social chatter, but rather a significant discourse, important for all of us to remember in the days and months to come.

"Even though I have seen you before, and said this before, let me say my greetings. I am glad to have you here, especially at the service this evening. As I look around, I see some familiar faces, and this is good.

"The times in which we live right now are very historical. We're at a very historic moment because the war is coming to an end and we are able to construct peace. We are very optimistic.

"In five hundred years of history, this is the first time that we have had a chance to live in real justice. We come from a long history of injustice, with this so-called 'discovery.’ For it was not a discovery. It was a pillage, an invasion, an intervention. We were rich. These people weren't always poor. It was a fact that the princes of the indigenous lived in great splendor. Indigenous people lived in a system that was social, with things held in common. They didn't know private property.

"If we could build again what was built by the indigenous, how beautiful it would be! The conquest came and destroyed all that was beautiful. It took away all the riches. They turned the indigenous into slaves, and also took away the land. Cuscatlan, which is the indigenous name for El Salvador, means land of riches. Specifically, it means land of precious stones. The people called themselves Cuscatlanos, the rich. But we aren't rich now. All the riches here went to Europe.

"For this reason there has been a great reaction among the indigenous. They have begun to write their own story. Before, it was the rich who wrote the story.

PVC 1991 Delegation – Part Nineteen: San Miguel

The following notes have been edited to correct errors and to add explanations and updates. Parenthetical notes and remarks from the original are enclosed in parentheses. Present day [2022] updates are italicized and enclosed in square brackets.

Saturday, 19 October 1991 - San Miguel

Today the ciudad group is to join the campo group out in San Miguel, spending one night with our sister community and then returning Sunday afternoon to the capital. By 7:30 AM we have the van loaded for what is predicted to be about a three hour drive. The day is clear and the scenery lovely as we make our way east around Lake Illopango. The van engine has a disconcerting habit of overheating, so we make regular stops to add water to the radiator. This requires removing the bench seat behind the driver's seat, which in turn requires emptying the front half of the van of passengers. We don't mind the opportunity to stretch and take pictures, however. One stop is at a small roadside stand, actually a private home with drinks and snacks served on the porch.

The day had been almost cool when we started out from San Salvador, but the closer we get to San Miguel, the hotter and more humid it becomes. Later we learn from the campo group that San Miguel is noted for being the hottest part of the country. Now they tell us, after we have already made the sister commitment!

It is a bit after 11:00 AM when we arrive, and we stop first at the Lutheran Church of the Divine Redeemer in downtown San Miguel. There is a Bible training session going on for lay leaders who have come from several different communities to attend, so we meet on a sheltered porch area behind the church. There is much to catch up on with the other half of our delegation. Nancy Jones, the ELCA long-termer who had led the campo group out to San Miguel via public bus on Wednesday, had stayed until Friday with them, then returned to the capital. Pastor Leslie, a Presbyterian from the U.S. who is married to a Salvadoran, had helped to coordinate their stay, and she meets with us now to tell us what is planned for the rest of the day.