—Lancaster Farming, Saturday. May 20, 1972
22
Mrs. Robert Lefever
Her Family
“National
Mrs. Charles McSparran
Farm Feature Writer
Last Sunday was Mother’s Day
and last week was National
Hospital Week. Mrs. Robert
(Anna) Lefever, Manheim RD2,
qualifies in both categories. She
is a mother of four daughters and
two sons. All four daughters
graduated from Lancaster
Mennonite School. Three are
registered nurses. One is a
medical secretary and her
husband is in training to become
a nurse.
Mr. and Mrs. Lefever’s oldest
daughter, Ella, trained at Lan
caster General Hospital. After
graduation she spent three years
in voluntary service at
Twilhngate, Newfoundland. She
worked there two more years,
then married Galen Peters of
Kansas. They lived two years in
lowa They now live in Green
ville, Illinois where Galen
teaches at a Methodist college.
They have two daughters and a
son
Florence trained at the
Reading Hospital. She worked at
the Oreville Mennonite Home
three years after graduating and
has nursed the past three years at
the Osteopathic Hospital in
Lancaster She lives at home. She
mows the lawn and does the
trimming She says “I love to
drive the tractor.” She works the
ground for her dad. She used to
plow, help harvest and just about
any farm job
Vera also gradauted at the
Reading Hospital school of
nursing She worked there a year
or two, then married Raymond
Kurtz of near Reading They live
on a 200 acre dairy farm at
Shoemakersville in Berks
County They keep about 50 cows
They have mostly Holsteins but
have some Guernseys. They have
two sons
Mary went to Medical
Secretary School m Hagerstown,
Md and is a medical secretary at
Philhaven Hospital in Lebanon
County She is married to Leroy
Beitzel who is in nurses training
at the Harrisburg Hospital
Martin is the third oldest of the
children He married Norma
Jean Book of East Petersburg.
They live in New Jersey where he
is employed with Green and
Company, who make metal
things to order. His job takes him
far and near by plane. They have
a son and a daughter.
A baby shower cake and a sympathy cake background that Mrs. Lefever baked and
with an anniversary cake in the decorated.
Really Celebrates
Hospital Week”
James, 15, is the youngest of
the family. He attends Lancaster
Mennonite School and Willow
Street Vocational Technical
School where he is taking an
electrical appliance course. He
enjoys fixing all kinds of ap
pliances.
Mrs. Lefever, besides being a
busy homemaker and mother,
has been baking and decorating
cakes to sell for thirty years. It
started just as a hobby with
baking and decorating cakes for
her family. Then, as a favor for a
fnend, she baked an anniversary
cake, then a wedding cake. And
so it went, by word of mouth, till
now she bakes on the average of
15 or more large cakes a week.
She doesn’t advertise. She sells
just from her home. Sometimes
she turns away as many as she
bakes. She says “I enjoy doing it
and it’s hard for me to say no.”
She has cakes booked now till
August.
Mrs Lefever bakes whatever
kind of cake her customers
desire, however, her specialty is
angel food She also makes
chocolate, banana, chiffon, spice,
devils food and yellow cakes. Her
cakes do not come from a box but
are made from scratch. She had a
tmsmith make pans of various
sizes for her
She never had any training in
cake decorating but has
cultivated a natural talent. She
makes gorgeous cakes of every
description She has quite a trade
for sympathy cakes. Many people
give a decorated cake to a family
at the time of bereavement, in
lieu of flowers, to express their
sympathy Mrs. Lefever writes a
beautiful poem on the page of an
open book and places a spray of
colored flowers on the other page.
She makes the prettiest baby
shower cakes in die shape of a
bassinet and puts a doll in them.
She puts bride and groom, bells
and real flowers on top of the
wedding and anniversary cakes
according to the order. Many
people buy a small tier cake then
have her make circle decorated
cakes to match, marked for
serving a certain number of
people, which are easier to cut
and serve. She knows exactly
how many pieces each size cake
will serve. She delivers some of
her cakes and puts them in place.
Mrs Lefever buys 15 to 30
dozen eggs a week for baking.
She sells egg yolks by the quart to
someone who makes noodles.
Sometimes she sells four of five
quarts of yolks a week.
Here are recipes for some of
Mrs. Lefever’s cakes, also a
recipe for icing she uses.
Angel Food Cake
(9 inch tube pan)
cups egg whites
V « teaspoon salt
teaspoon cream of tartar
Beat till stiff but not dry with
an electric beater. Gradually add
1% cups granulated sugar,
folding in rather than beating.
Fold in:
% teaspoon vanilla
% teaspoon almond extract
1% cups sifted cake flour
Put in tube pan and bake at 300
degrees for 1 hour. For a 13%
inch tube pan, use 3 cups of egg
whites and for a 16 inch tube pan
use 4 cups egg whites and other
ingredients in proportions to the
basic recipe above.
XXX
Spice Cake
Measure in sifter and sift into
bowl:
2 1 / 2 cups cake flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
% teaspoon salt
y 4 teaspoon cinnamon
% teaspoon cloves
Add:
% cup shortening
IV4 cups sweet or sour milk
Mix and add;
2-3 cups light or medium brown
sugar
2 eggs.
Beat. Makes two 9 inch layers.
Bake at 350 degrees for a half
hour or till done.
XXX
Chocolate Cake
2 cups cake flour
2-3 cups cocoa
1 2-3 cups white sugar
% teaspoon salt
IVa teaspoons baking soda
IVa teaspoon baking powder
Sift all above ingredients into
bowl. Add;
1 1-3 cups water
2-3 cups vegetable shortening
Beat till well mixed. Add
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
Beat till thoroughly mixed. Put
in two 9 inch cake pans. Bake at
350 degrees.
XXX
Icing
v 4 lb. or 1 heaping tablespoon
Crisco
Mrs. Robert Lefever, Manheim RD2, decorating an an
niversary cake.
1 lb. 10X sugar
teaspoon flavoring
Coloring if desired
Enough milk to moisten to proper
consistency
Mix with electric mixer.
XXX
Here is a recipe for a one-dish
meal that you don’t have to use
immediatly. It can be reheated
and served quickly. It can be
frozen for later use.
Chili Con Came
Cut up a large onion and brown
in butter. Add 1 pound ham
burger. Stir and code till not red.
Add 1 quart tomato juice. Add 1
rounded teaspoon salt. Cook
slowly about % hour. Add 1 pound
can of kidney beans. Break up
about % pound spaghetti and
cook slowly till soft with lid off.
Add water if necessary. Add %
teaspoon chili powder last. Allow
about 1 hour or longer to make.
Stir occasionally.
XXX
Mrs. Lefever makes chocolate
covered mints and decorates
them with tiny flowers and
leaves. At Christmas time she
puts three holly leaves or poin
settias on them. She gives these
to relatives and friends.
She bakes a lot of Christmas
cookies. She used to make hun
dreds of dozens to sell but now
sells only about 100 dozen
because she has too many other
things to do. She makes 10 or 12
kinds. Florence helps some with
cookie baking.
Robert was born and raised
east of Lancaster. Mrs. Lefever,
the former Anna Brubaker, was
born and raised in Manor
Township. She went to school in
Manor Township and Neffsville.
They lived on a farm on the
Fruitville Pike before they
moved to their present farm.
They had cows, chicken and pigs.
The first two years they were
married they had part of a
market stand and sold eggs,
vegetables, cakes and cookies.
They have lived on their 100
acre farm on Hossler Road, near
the Mount Joy Road, for 22 years.
They used to have cows, pigs and
chickens and also raised
tomatoes and carrots for cash
crops. Mrs. Lefever helped out on
the farm a lot then. They do not
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have livestock now and get some
custom work done. They raise
com, barley and wheat.
Their beautiful old stone house
was built in 1803. Mrs. Lefever
has several flower beds of
beautiful perennials and annuals
which she tends to.
Lefevers are members of
Kauffman’s Mennonite Church,
between East Petersburg and
Manheim. Robert and Florence
used to teach Sunday School
classes and Mrs. Lefever helped
in the primary department. She
was also in the home department
and saw that the sick were
remembered with flowers.
Florence used to be librarian
also. Mrs. Lefever helps at the
Clothing Bank on the third block
of S. Duke Street, Lancaster, the
first Wednesday of each month.
Although Mrs. Lefever does not
belong to organizations other
than the church she donates
cakes to the Manheim Fire
Company for their bakes, dinners
and carnivals. She also donates
cakes to the Farm Women. She
used to exhibit cakes at the
Manheim Community Farm
Show. She still exhibits flowers
and ferns.
Mrs. Lefever says she enjoys
cooking very much. She doesn’t
have as much cooking to do since
her family is smaller. She does
her own housework, usually the
first part of the week when she
isn’t baking cakes. With June
weddings just around the corner
Mrs. Lefever will be busier than
ever.
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