82-Umc«!«r Fanning, Saturday. Dacambar 2.1993
Life With Allegra Leininger And 96 Dolls
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
REINHOLDS (Lancaster Co.)
Allegra Leininger’s dolls are
enough to make any doll lover
envious.
With 96 dolls and plenty of clo
thing, high chairs, and rocking
chairs to match, it’s enough to
make a doll lover’s heart pound
faster.
A perky upturned nose, a
dimpled smile, long sleek tresses
or a curly mop of hair give each
doll a personality of its own. To
hear Allegra talk, it’s almost easy
to believe these dolls are not life
less but a roomful of lively babies.
“You aren’t behaving very
well,” Allegra scolds as she picks
up one to straighten the ruffles on
its dress.
The most unusual feature about
these 96 dolls is that Allegra has
made every one of them.
“I always loved dolls,” she said.
“As a child I remember spending
hours and hours hanging up doll
clothes that I kept in a little wicker
basket and talking with my dolls.”
The one daughter the Leiningcrs
had among three sons was never
interested in dolls but threw them
in a comer. There were few dolls in
the house until the children were
grown and living on their own.
Then Allegra decided to make a
doll from a kit. That was 20 years
ago. Since then, Allegra keeps her
eyes* open for doll patterns, and
each year she makes more and
more. Every one is different and
Allegra confesses that she could
never sell one after she made it
“Each one becomes my favorite
while I sew it,” she said, “so my
favorites keep changing.”
Some nights she lies awake try
ing to figure out how to make an
eyelash or fashion a unique twist to
the nose.
Occasionally she becomes frus
trated, but she finishes every one
she starts.
Most of her patterns are selected
from the doll collection magazines
to which she subscribes.
Don’t think Allegra spends her
days entirely with dolls. This busy
grandmother of seven says that it
was bred in her to keep busy
because she grew up as a farm girl.
Allegra grew up on an E-town
farm, met her husband-to-be in
4-H Baby Beef Club, and after
marriage moved to her husband’s
family farm in Reinholds.
“At first we had dairy, but
decided to switch to chickens.”
They founded an egg ranch on
their land and Allegra candled
rites among her doll collec
tion except to say that each
new one seems special as
she makes it. Sometimes
she lies awake at night try
ing to figure out how to com
plete a special technique on
a new pattern.
eggs seven days a week and deliv
ered eggs in a van to stores in three
counties.
Vernon was named a Master
Farmer in 1976.
The couple sold the egg ranch
after the avian influenza outbreak
in the 1980 s.
Over the years, the Leiningers
bought several surrounding farms
that adjoin the family farm. At one
time, the Leiningers farmed more
than 1,000 acres.
“We were fortunate to be in an
era when you could make money
farming,” she said. “The money
we made we pul back into land.”
Because only one child wanted
to continue to help on the farm,
some of the land was sold. Now the
Leiningers and a son crop farm
about 600 acres. The couple raise
feeder cattle and hogs.
It is common to And Allegra
chasing hogs, running for equip
ment parts, and preserving food,
but she does not like tractor work.
This year, the Leiningers had
the best com crop ever.
“We were fortunate to get the
rain when we did and we fertilize
heavily,” she said.
The Leininger home is sur
rounded by about three acres of
lawn, which Allegra mows. She
has extensive weeding to do in the
many landscaped areas around the
property. Recently she finished
planting more than 900 spring
bulbs.
“Growing up, I didn’t have
much and 1 learned to appreciate
what I have,” Allegra said. She
thinks children today are discon
tented because they have not
learned to appreciate little things.
“But there comes a time in
everyone’s life when you just can’t
get everything you want,” she said.
Those times are good, she
believes, for it can bring changes
in attitudes.
Today's parents, she said, don’t
make children do enough things
around the home.
“Parents should teach children
to be helpful. Show them how to
do chores. In later life, children
will appreciate it
“Sometimes our children were
upset by needing to work, but
everyone came back as an adult
and told us how thankful they were
that we made them work,” she
said.
Allegra admires those who keep
interested in life as they grow
older.
“Life can be very joyful. I think
life is great. There are so many
things to do and I just started a new
Because her mother loved music, she named her daught
er Aliegra, and said, “One of my children must be musically
inclined." She was not disappointed. Aliegra practices play
ing the marimba In her music room. She performs with a
marimba band and sings solos.
Allegra designed this room especially to display her doll collection. She has sewn
96 and is in the process of making three more. The placement of eyes, mouth, and
nose and the type of hair can give a whole new personality to a doll, she said. Some of
the dolls have real hair, some wear hats and some carry books.
Allegra Leininger planted more than 900 tulip bulbs around the home that she and
husband built on their farm.
activity,” she said. She works out
at a fitness center three days a
week.
Allegra is active at Mohler
Church of the Brethren, where she
plays music and sings.
“My mother made sure that my
two sisters, a typther and I learned
to play an instrument,” she said.
“We gave music programs while
growing up.”
Allegra continues to give music
programs by playing the marimba
with a group.
She has been a Society 3 Farm
Women member for 26 years and
has served on all the committees
'M
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m
The walls of the Lelnlnger home are filled with crewel and
crossthch pictures that Allegra makes.
rfies
and offices. Recently she was
elected second vice president for
the county organization.
“Although I keep busy, I do
think we all need times to just sit
down, look at life, and appreciate
it,” she said. “We really are so
blessed.”
f vp*