In this column, I have written about the greatest sports teams at Bluffton High School I have seen, the greatest coaches there that I have rubbed elbows with when I taught there, and some great BHS athletes I have seen in action. This is based on my attending Bluffton Exempted Village Schools for 12 years, graduating, and being a Pirate fan up to the present.
This column might be my favorite. It is about a person who, in my opinion, was a most amazing person, and the greatest teacher I ever knew. She is Mrs. Margaret Weaver. Teaching Latin when I arrived as a mathematics teacher at Bluffton High School, she became a close friend. We even shared the same classroom my first year at Bluffton.
We hear so much about Christian Nationalism that it bears further examination. At its heart is the belief that America was founded as a Christian nation. And more: our laws and policies should reflect that. However, there are two terms in the phrase.
In my role as Chaplain at Mennonite Memorial Home, I was blessed to meet many special residents. Some modeled not only great faith, but also special talents. Grace Moyer Frounfelker was one.
Very sharp of mind in her nineties, she was a native of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and had been living in Bluffton. She was active at First Mennonite Church. She and her husband had lived in a wilderness area out west. He was an outdoorsman and psychologist and wore a beard before beards became commonplace among men.
A sober examination of American society today must acknowledge a state of political confusion and public anxiety. Abroad, we are in a war of choice with Iran with no developed exit strategy. We have drawn closer to Communist China than at any time since Mao Zedong announced the founding of the People's Republic of China. Meanwhile, we increase our distance from NATO allies, and have been less than enthusiastic about supporting Ukraine against invading Russian forces.
In thinking about “America 250,” my mind immediately jumps to its ideals, beginning with the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Bluffton resident Ron Lora is a retired history professor, past president of the Swiss Community Historical Society and member of the Bluffton University Sports Hall of Fame. We are pleased to begin providing his monthly guest column in the Bluffton and Ada Icons.
By Ron Lora
F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, two of the best American authors of the twentieth century, engaged in an intriguing exchange on rich people: “Let me tell you about the very rich. The rich are different from you and me,” wrote Fitzgerald. “Yes,” Hemingway replied, “They have more money.” That repartee didn’t actually occur face-to-face, but grew out of words they had written. Both had a point, but Hemingway is thought to have won the exchange.
