1998 Hepler Family Reunion Memories
1748 Celebrating our 250th year in America! 1998

JANIS HEPLER BELL'S MEMORIAL SPEECH
AT GOTTES ACKER CEMETERY

Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. It's an honor to share in this 250th anniversary with you. Preparing for it also gave me a chance to reflect on what it means to be Pa German -- something I've never done before even though every generational line in my heritage is Pa German/Swiss.

As Pa Germans Caspar and Susanna Hepler would have held the Bible in high regard. It wasn't just a table ornament but it was likely read daily and committed to memory as well.

The Bible tells us to look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn. In other words, look to your father Caspar, and consider your mother, Susanna, who gave you birth. Who were these PA Germans and what can their lives tell us about who we are today?

I believe one word describes our ancestors, INDOMITABLE. They had an unconquerable spirit. They could not be subdued. While others tried to carve out the land and make it produce -- no one did it with the tenacity or the success like the Pa Germans. Just look around you -- consider there were no paved roads and no signs to point the way. How else could they have accomplished what they did and produced what is known as the "Garden Spot of the World."

Where did this indomitable spirit come from? Just as we stand here and know that the 250 years since Caspar's arrival to the new world have molded and shaped us, the 200 years that preceded Caspar left an indelible mark on the people who became the Pa Germans.

In the 1500's it took that kind of indomitable spirit of one man -- Martin Luther -- to stand in opposition to a Church preying on people's fears and superstitions. Martin Luther confronted the church and said no we do not need to earn salvation by paying for it. Salvation is a gift of God's grace and we accept it by faith. And, faith is developed by hearing the word of God. The Bible became accessible to the people in their language and just as a fire ignites in a burst of energy, so too, the Reformation was ignited in the hearts of the people. That indomitable spirit in the form of a deep religious nature manifested itself among the common people for centuries to come. It is said that when Muhlenberg, a minister, came to PA, great crowds flocked to hear him and that no people in America were more intune to worship than the Pa Germans during the 18th century.

If the Reformation gave Caspar's ancestors an indomitable spirit to stand against the church to declare a personal faith in God, what came next would be an even greater test of that spirit. The 30 Years War was one of the most destructive in history. The whole intellectual, moral and religious character of the Palatine/Swabian people, Caspar's forbears, was threatened with annihilation. And, no one was more at risk than the peasant farmer. Not only were horses and cattle carried away, but homes, barns and crops were burned. Families had to hide to save their lives. One Swabian farmer, Johannes Heberle, wrote in his diary that he was forced to flee for his life 30 times.

But, no amount of corruption, tyranny, or extravagant heartlessness of those in power could crush the indomitable will of the people to survive. If anything it made them more determined than ever to relocate when William Penn traveled to Germany to describe his "Holy Experiment" in government -- a government in which religious as well as political freedom would be granted to all.

Friends began telling friends and a wave of emigration started that could not be contained by the powers that be. Previous to the American Revolution it is estimated that over 100,000 Germans and Swiss settled in PA alone.

They came and experienced what was to them the American dream -- liberty and justice. The typical German in PA, the farmer, laid claim to several hundred acres of land -- many more than the dozen or so they had access to in Europe. Nor was he overwhelmed by burdensome taxes and the precarious rule of monarchy. "What pleases me here in PA," one man wrote, " is that one can be a farmer, a scholar, a priest, and a noble man all at the same time."

The PA German character has been marked by honesty, industry, deep religion, joy in work, extraordinary skill in agriculture, frugality, and a serious view of the responsibilities of life. That produced not only very productive farmers, but also deep thinkers and great scholars of which the Hepler family has been blessed.

We can see why they had a love for independence and a deep hatred of tyranny. That indomitable spirit created an enthusiastic patriotism not only during the American Revolutionary War. Nearly 100 years later the first force to reach Lincoln in Washington in 1861 was a regiment of 5 companies composed almost entirely of descendants of the German patriots from the Revolutionary war.

Every generation faces it own set of challenges. That indomitable spirit exhibited by our PA German ancestors wasn't just for them. It is for us and future generations. Caspar and Susanna Hepler and all the other PA Germans were real people. Their world -- just as insecure as ours. Yet they mustered the courage and relied on a discerning belief system to do what they had to do to beat the odds. They didn't do it just for themselves. If their story isn't re-told we will forget that indomitable spirit and forfeit what belongs to us and our children.

Today there is a push to preserve our national treasures. Because of the tireless efforts of Dr. Don Yoder and Mrs. Avice Hepler Morgan, we have preserved for us the history of the Heplerfamily. I believe the Pa German culture, but more specifically, the Hepler story, is a national treasure.

Now we need to protect what has been so lovingly and carefully preserved for us so that future generations can also know that indomitable spirit of the Pa Germans and remember the Hepler story, our story. Let's covenant together to do that by responding now with these words: - "Because who we are is who we were."

{JANIS} On this special 250th anniversary we remember Caspar and Susanna Hepler.
{ALL} Because who we are is who we were.

{JANIS} Their lives are a testament of faith and courage.
{ALL} Because who we are is who we were.

{JANIS} Today we commit to the future -- that 250 years from now -- our children's children's children will still remember that indomitable spirit of the Pa Germans.
{ALL} Because who we are is who we were.

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SATURDAY'S EVENTS - August 8, 1998
MONDAY'S EVENTS - August 10, 1998

    
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