Friends of the Nicholas Stoltzfus
Preservation Society:
Let me introduce myself. My name is Iva Pochuski and I am a daughter of Harvey & Pauline Schlegel, the last official residents of what we now know as the Stoltzfus house. They lived there from 1965ยท1980's.
On March 6,2010, my Mother passed away in the Reading Hospital after a short illness. Thankfully she did not suffer and had little or no pain. Our Father passed away back in 1999. My parents had 7 children, 13 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren. Most of the children and some ofthe grandchildren lived in the home at one time or another.
My one sister, living in Arizona, and her one daughter, who resides in Michigan, both made the trip home for Mom's funeral. Naturally, we all got to talking about the good times we all had "down by the Tully" as we used to call it. I thought it might be a nice idea to see if I could set up a time for us to go through the old house for one last time. I e-mailed the Stoltzfus web sight, and the next morning I received a telephone call and we set up an appointment for a tour at 3:30 on Wednesday, March 10th, which happened to be the day of our Mother's funeral.
I Informed everyone of the tour arrangements during our gathering after the funeral. I had thought there might be 5 or 6 of us who would be interested in seeing our parents home. Imagine my surprise when nineteen family members showed up for the tour. Paul Kurtz gave us a wonderful tour and everyone was very impressed with all that has been done to the home.
We all shared many stories and remembrances of the times we lived there or visited our parents/grandparents there. I think everyone's favorite memories are of our parents 4th of July picnics there. We always made every effort to be there. It would start about 11 :OOAM with barbeques, potato & macaroni salads and other picnic fixins, all home made, of course. In the afternoon was a softball game with our special Schlegel rules-through the fence was a double and over the fence was an automatic out. These rules were made to keep the men from overpowering everyone else. That way women and even the youngest child could play. Later in the day and even after dark was hide-and-go-seek-no hiding in the house. After dark was sparklers with the children seeing who could run the farthest without the sparklers going out. Sometime in between was dinner with hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill, with leftovers from lunch. Nobody went home before 10:00PM.
No 4th of July picnic was EVER complete without a water battle breaking out. Usually starting with somebody finger spritzing somebody and before you knew it, the buckets and hoses got involved. Did I say a water battle? Nope, it was more like a water war. And we'd all keep at it until Mom came out of the house yelling, "Will you kids knock it offl" After our parents moved, I had the picnics at our home, but it was never quite as much fun.
Recalling this and many, many other memories was a wonderful way to end a very sad occasion and I think it gave many of us closure for our beloved Mother's life.
I would encourage everyone who is able to take a tour, or at least visit during the annual auction, as I have done several times. Many of my family has been there, including Mom, who when she was able to go, was made to feel like a queen. There is no charge for the private tours but, as Paul said, "They always take contributions!" I intend to do just that! No amount of money could ever replace my family's memories and it does my heart good to see so many people working so hard to preserve this home. To us will always be "Mom & Daddy's Place."
Sincerely,
Iva Pochuski