front (left to right): Pauline Walters, Esther Ebersole and Ruth Zercher back (left to right): Homer Kraybill, Elbert Smith, Erla Stump, Ferne Niesley

When Homer Kraybill recently invited six members of his high school graduating class to his cottage to celebrate their seventieth anniversary, they did not have far to travel because all seven (including Homer) live at Messiah Village. Homer, president of the Messiah College Academy Class of 1941, states that of the twenty-five graduating students, thirteen are still living and, of that number, seven have chosen to retire at 100 Mt. Allen Drive!  

The first of the seven to be associated with Messiah Village is Erla Zercher Stump who grew up in Lancaster, Pa. After marriage, a family, and fifteen years as an office manager in Massilon, Ohio, she was hired by Messiah Village to develop a volunteer department. At this time she lived off campus. In 1992, she took up residence here. One of her great accomplishments is founding the Golden Mouse Club.  

The first of this group to actually move here was Esther Ebersole in 1986. Her home had been in Palmyra. She moved into the second cottage built on Aspen Ave. and still resides there. Esther spent eight years in Kentucky mission work followed by twenty one years in the secretarial field, nine years in the Brethren In Christ Missions Office and also some years in the church denominational office. After moving here, Esther continued working and retired at age 77. She still volunteers at the church and college archives and at the Village.   

Ruth Niesley Zercher from Mechanicsburg has lived and worked in four states. She served as one of the managers of the College bookstore for eighteen years. She knows a lot about Messiah Village because her husband, Ray authored the book To Have a Home, the centennial history of Messiah Village. Ruth and Ray moved here in1993. Ray passed away in 1998.

In 1996, Ferne Pfautz Niesley moved to the Village from Cleona. She and her husband had a dairy farm for many years in Mechanicsburg where they processed milk and sold it in their own store. Later Fern worked as a receptionist at Messiah College. At the Village, she joined the staff as a Home Care Companion and still serves several clients a week. She does many volunteer jobs and is known for her musical talents.

Elbert Smith, born in California and raised in Chicago, moved to Grantham when he was sixteen. He earned degrees at Goshen College and at Eastern Baptist where he also received his Doctorate. He taught Religious Education for five years at Messiah College and pastored four churches. Three were in Pennsylvania and one was in California. He and his wife Arlene have lived here since 2002.

Day student Homer Kraybill lived in Grantham most of his life. After school he got a job at the Enola Freight yards of the Pennsylvania Railroad where he worked 42 years as a switchman and then as a general yard master. He and his wife Mildred moved here in 2003. Homer is an active volunteer here and continues serving the Grantham Church in several capacities.

Another day student, Pauline Shoemaker Walters, living at that time near Dillsburg, was the last of the seven graduates to enter Messiah Village. She came in December 2010. Pauline was the class valedictorian and had the distinction of graduating at age fifteen. She later graduated from Dickinson College and taught before having a family of four children.

As the class reminisced, they all remembered their senior class trip and one amazing highlight – seeing President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s motorcade pass them on the streets of Washington, DC. As the streets were lined with people, these students were excited to get a glimpse of their president. They were, however, embarrassed at the class clown who shouted “We want Wilkie.”

The class discussed old times and expressed appreciation for Messiah Village. They departed the Kraybill home saying, “Who would have thought seventy years ago that we would live so near each other some day?” And one remarked, “Some sort of providential magnet must have drawn us together to this place.”

Surely this is a good recommendation for Messiah Village and a tribute to seven  residents who made wise choices.