814-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 23, 1993
Draft Horse Queen Overcomes
Handicaps From Childhood Injury
LINDA WILLIAMS
Bedford Co. Correspondent
FISHERTOWN (Bedford Co.)
Beverly Oldham, Bedford
County Draft Horse Queen, con
siders herself quite lucky to be
alive.
At the age of 11, she was riding
a bicycle near her home with a
friend. “We were kids,” she
remembers, “And, we really
weren’t watching what we were
doing.”
Suddenly, on this peaceful sum
mer day, Beverly was struck by a
car and hurled from her bicycle
onto the rdadway.
She suffered head trauma, four
broken ribs, a broken jaw, and was
paralyzed on her left side for three
weeks.
“They tell me I was in a coma
for three weeks,” this spunky
young lady says now.
In order for her to breathe, it
was necessary to do a tracheotomy
in her neck.
Three major operations, and
much therapy later, Beverly still
has an airway that is 2/3 the nor-
mal size.
Because doctors were forced to
tie up one of her vocal cords,
Beverly will never be able to
speak loudly.
It’s a slight handicap that is
hardly noticed. The softness of her
voice goes with her gentle
personality.
“At one time, I didn’t think any
thing would ever turn out alright,”
admits Beverly. She had little
chance for a social life between
major operations. Her education
was obtained through home
schooling.
However, on Christmas day,
she became engaged to Tom Sau
ter, a young man who considers
himself very lucky to have found
Beverly.
Both now share a mutual inter
est in draft horses.
“Prior to knowing Beverly, I
didn’t really know anything about
draft horses,” admits Tom.
It was in the summer-of 1992
that the Bedford County Draft
Horse Association, headed by
Fred and Linda Sell, decided to
elect a queen.
“Beverly was our unanimous
choice,” Fred says.
Beverly is frequently seen at the reins of the draft horse drawn street car owned by
Fred and Linda Sell. Above, a group of Everett senior citizens were about to go for a
Beverly and her draft horse on the Oldham farm.
The Bedford County Draft
Horse Association has between 15
. and 20 members all owning any
where from one to 15 draft horses.
Beverly lives on an 84-acre
farm where her father has 15 head,
which he raises and sells to Amish
and Mennonite farmers.
“We also use them for our own
farm work,” says Russell Oldham.
“We rake our hay with them and
do some of the other field work.”
Beverly does the stable work
such as feeding, bedding, and
brushing.
Beverly also owns a six-year
old Haflinger Stallion Paint Pony.
Her responsibilities as Bedford
County’s queen include helping to
obtain funding for the Draft Horse
bam and show which has become
an annual part of the Bedford
County Fair.
“I spoke to the Rotary Club at a
recent meeting,” she smiles and
admits this was not an easy task
for a young lady who has difficul
ty talking.
Beverly also gives out ribbons
at the Draft Horse show at the fair.
She participated in three para
des and three dinners at the 1992
Fall Foliage event in Bedford.
“We’re proud to have Beverly
representing our association,”
Fred Sells says. “And, we are so
happy that things are at last going
in the right direction for this
deserving young woman.”
See your nearest
!\EW HOLLAND’
Dealer for Dependable
Equipment and
Dependable Service:
PENNSYLVANIA
Annvllle, PA
BHM Farm
Equipment, Inc.
RDI, Rte. 934
717-867-2211
Carlisle, PA
R&W Equipment Co.
35 East Willow Street
717-243-2686
Davldsburg, PA
George N. Gross, Inc.
R.D. 2, Dover, PA
717-292-1673
Elizabethtown, PA
Messick Farm
Equipment, Inc.
Rt. 283 - Rheem’s Exit
717-367-1319
Gettysburg, PA
Yingling Implements,
Inc.
3291 Taneytown Rd.
717-359-4848
Halifax, PA
Sweigard Bros.
R.D. 3, Box 13
717-896-3414
Honey Brook, PA
Dependable Motor Co.
East Main Street
215-273-3131
215-273-3737
Honey Grove, PA
Norman D. Clark
& Son, Inc.
Honey Grove, PA
717-734-3682
Loysville, PA
717-789-3117
MARYLAND
Frederick, MD
Ceresville
ord New Holland, Inc.
it. 26 East
301-662-4197
Outside MD,
800-331-9122
NEW JERSEY
Bridgeton, NJ.
Leslie G. Fogg, Inc.
Canton & Stow Creek
Landing Rd.
609-451-2727
609-935-5145
Woodttown, NJ
Owen Supply Co.
Broad Street &
East Avenue
609-769-0308
Hughesvllle, PA
Farnsworth Farm
Supplies, Inc.
103 Cemetery Street
717-584-2106
New Holland, PA
A.B.C. Groff, Inc.
110 South Railroad
717-354-4191
Oley, PA
C.J. Wonsidler Bros.
R.D. 2
215-987-6257
Pitman, PA
Schreffler Equipment
Pitman, PA
717-648-1120
Quakertown, PA
C.J. Wonsidler Bros.
R.D. 1
215-536-1935
Tamaqua, PA
Charles S. Snyder, Inc.
R.D. 3
717-386-5945
West Grove, PA
S.G. Lewis & Son, Inc.
R.D. 2, Box 66
215-869-2214
Washington, NJ
Smith Tractor &
Equip., Inc.
15 HDlcrest Ave.
201-689-7900