ISSN 1098-6359 Volume 18. No. 1, Spring 2015 Snow Geese in the Butter Valley, March 2015. Photo by Sarah Heffner In This Issue Changing Times p.2 You are invited p.10 Memories of Ralph W. Berky p.3 Annual Heritage Fundraiser p.11 by Pastor Bob Gerhart Whack and Roll Reception on Hymn Sings p.9 the Lawn p.12 Memories of Ralph W. Berky and his “Larkland” Changing Times Recollections by Pastor Bob Gerhart The handsome clock face in the photograph is from an Abram Schwartz grandfather clock that was recently donated to the Mennonite Heritage Center by Emily Clemens. Built circa 1825, the clock still has original green paint. This thirty hour clock was built towards the end of the era of thirty hour clocks. Times were changing and eight day clocks were more commonplace. We are grateful to the individuals and families that consider donating artifacts to the Mennonite Heritage Center. Our collections committee carefully reviews potential donations and considers factors such as whether the artifact is documented and tells a story of a particular time in this community, whether it is unique to our collection or whether we do already have similar items. Accepting an artifact means that we make a commitment to care for and house the piece appropriately as well as share the artifact with the public through exhibits and programs. Another important component of the collections are congregational collections. Records, such as annual congregational meeting minutes, are essential for researchers when they are working on congregational and conference Abram Schwartz clock. histories. Even church bulletins are good sources of information Photo by Joel Alderfer on changing times in local congregations. Changing times on our Yoder Road campus recently included saying goodbye to our Franconia and Eastern District Conference staff friends as they moved from the 569 building on our campus to their new offices on the Christopher Dock Mennonite High School campus in January. We welcomed Peaceful Living, a faith based nonprofit working with individuals with disabilities, to the 569 building in February. Changes in MHC staff are occurring as well. Susan Liberace has accepted the part time position of Volunteer Coordinator and will be starting in April. Susan has extensive experience with nonprofit organizations and organizing events. We will also be saying good bye to Director of Advancement Alyssa Kerns this spring. Alyssa has brought new, creative ideas and contributed in many ways to events and programs here. She will be very much missed. Our feature article in this issue is about Ralph Berky, a twentieth century Butter Valley, Berks County inhabitant, who was not particularly concerned with changing times or current societal mores but who “marched to a different drummer”. His love of nature and his faith were his life focus. Much like the folk historian Isaac Clarence Kulp of Vernfield, Ralph was thought by some to be unproductive and eccentric but both Ralph and Clarence contributed to their communities through their dedication to unconventional interests and pursuits and have left legacies worth preserving and sharing. Along with the feature article, the quarterly contains information on upcoming events. I hope to see you at the Heritage Fundraiser on Friday, May 1 and invite you to the Reception on the Lawn on Friday, May 29. Please reserve your tickets early. You can also join a team for the senior croquet tournament or play for a nonprofit organization at the Whack and Roll Tournament on Saturday, May 30 and enjoy the fun and camaraderie. Sarah Heffner Director MHEP Quarterly Volume 18. No. 1, Spring 2015 2 Memories of Ralph W. Berky and his “Larkland” Recollections by Pastor Bob Gerhart Ralph W. Berky (1890 - 1977) photo by Bob Gerhart Roasting marshmallows on a stick over a dying campfire is the best way to conclude a “doggie roast”. But you don’t want to use just any stick. The best sticks are green pepperwood sticks, easily stripped of twigs and leaves. Sweet birch saplings work, too, and have a nice fragrance. But since pepperwood grows rapidly as underbrush in a Pennsylvania woodland, cutting their thin stems is not destroying saplings of more useful trees that should be allowed to grow. How do I know? Ralph Berky told me and showed me as he showed numerous other grade school boys visiting Larkland in the 1950’s. Doggie Roasts at Larkland were an annual community event for nearly four decades in eastern Berks County. Farm folks and workers from the villages, school children and the older folks, made their way on a summer evening each year to gather at twilight around a campfire circle of gathered stones from the hillside. Seated on logs arranged as benches they enjoyed a program of singing, recitations and recollections, prayers of thanksgiving and musical talents, before hearing from the main speaker of the evening: perhaps a clergyman or an educator or a significant citizen of the community. As dusk turned to dark and the kerosene lanterns hanging from tree limbs shone with their golden glow, it was time for the doggies, the hot dogs roasted over the campfire, followed by the eagerly anticipated marshmallows. For some of us, this seemed to be the only time we had such a luxurious gooey treat. Marshmallows were too expensive during World War II and its post war years to be commonplace. For both the hot dogs and the marshmallows, the guests could choose their sticks, either pepperwood or birch, forked or straight, that we boys had cut in preparation for the picnic evening. MHEP Quarterly Volume 18. No. 1, Spring 2015 3 Located on the western slope of the Butter Valley, Larkland was a two and a half acre corner of a forty acre woodland, set apart as “sacred ground,” to be an arboretum and a bird sanctuary three miles north of Bally, Pennsylvania. Larkland’s woods were laced with trails, some named for persons that Ralph Berky admired, such as Helen Keller and Joyce Kilmer, or had met, such as Henry Van Dyke. Other trails were named for favorite birds of the hillside such as the Cardinal, Wood Thrush and Card by Ralph Berky sent to Cyrus Lutz. Collection of Bob Gerhart the Towhee Trails. One section was planted with trees in the form of a circular maze. Old turtle shells were turned upside down to hold rainwater for birds to drink. Hemlock seedlings were available for visitors to plant as a remembrance of their visit. Interesting rocks from across the country were brought by friends and added to arrangements along trails or in shady groves. And, of course, there was the campfire circle that was often the weekday setting for visits by student groups from the one-room schools of Washington or Hereford Township or Saturday visits by Boy Scouts or Campfire Girls. To understand Larkland one has to know something of Ralph Berky who was Larkland’s founder in 1933 and “director of activities” until his last years in the 1970’s. Who was Ralph Berky? Well, to those who only saw him walking along Route 100 from Bally and Clayton to the Huff’s Church Road, he was often mistaken for a tramp or a vagabond, but he was anything but. His long tattered topcoat worn during all but the warmest months of the year may have looked like the garment of a homeless man. The top coat was necessary not for just for warmth, but it provided the deep pockets needed for carrying bird seed and suet, peanut butter and cheese useful for feeding the birds along the way, and a well-worn bird book. Pockets also concealed the fountain pens and small spiral bound notebooks for writing poems or sketching items of God’s creation that might inspire. Summer months saw him wearing a long out of date suit coat over a long sleeved, frayed white shirt frequently accompanied by a limp necktie. His steel rimmed glasses and snow white hair under a tweed cap hinted of a degree of scholarship about him, but his shuffling walk in very worn high-topped shoes raised more question than his appearance would answer. To those who met Ralph in one of the village of Bally’s four general stores or in the unique variety store known as Eli Gehman’s (and then as Clara Gehman’s, and more recently as Sarah Gehman’s) store, and Ralph patronized all five, the community knew Ralph was not a tramp nor homeless. Though he stopped in each of the stores more to visit than to purchase, more to learn the latest news, not for the sake of gossip, but so he could stay informed as to who was sick and needed one of his postcard greetings. Learning of a new baby would prompt a hand drawn card of congratulations. Those grieving would receive an original poem of comfort of encouragement. The community knew Ralph was a brilliant poet who could rapidly compose on the spot, with his fountain pen, perhaps in green ink, spontaneously without the need to write and rewrite to get it just right. For decades Ralph had been writing a poem for each new day, and for each new sunset, and frequently adding a poem for a noontime, as well. He composed in both English or in the local Pennsylvania German dialect often called Pennsylvania Dutch. To his Pennsylvania Dutch friends he signed his cards, “Der Busch Amschel”, (German for “the Wood Thrush”). The Penny Postcards on which he composed his early verses, through years became Three Cent Cards, then Five Cent and finally it required six cents worth of postage to convey his poetic greetings in the 1970’s.