JINNY WILT
Adams Co. Correspondent
MILL CREEK (York Co.) -
Lee Thierwechter pages through
his loose-leaf notebook filled
with Pennsylvania Dutch stories
and sits down m his lawn chair
which is set among a grove of
trees by York County’s Mill
Creek.
Gathered in a circle around
him are members of the
Pennsylvania Dutch Heritage
Group who have come to their
annual picnic at the home of
member David Sipe with the
added attraction of listening to
Thierwechter of Belleville,
Huntingdon County, read his
stories.
He reads mostly in English
with a Pennsylvania Dutch
accent - letter v comes out as a
w - for those m the group who
cannot understand the
Pennsylvania Dutch dialect, but
a word or phrase of the dialect
still creeps m
Writer of a column in the
Pennsylvania Dutch dialect for a
weekly newspaper near his
home, Thierwechter has also
published a workbook for those
who want to learn more about
the language A retired manager
of an Agway store in Belleville,
he also teaches classes near his
home and will be announcing
new sessions in the fall.
Thierwechter is like many of
the members of the group who
spoke the dialect until they
reached school age. Not only did
they learn reading, writing and
arithmetic when they entered
school, these students also need
ed to learn a second language -
English
The language is a dialect
from the Palatinate region of
Germany and was brought to
the United States by the early
Lee R. Thierwechter of Belleville, Huntingdon County, reads
Pennsylvania Dutch stories to members of the Pennsylvania
Dutch Heritage Group. Thierwechter writes a column in the
Pennsylvania Dutch dialect and was speaker at the group’s
annual picnic.
Group Treasures Pa. Dutch Dialect
settlers from that part of the
world. There are several dialects
under the umbrella of
Pennsylvania Dutch, or as some
prefer Pennsylvania German.
When members of the York
group from different areas of the
Commonwealth converse they
will often note that they use a
different word for the same
object.
Orpha White of York, presi
dent of the group when it orga
nized in the mid 1990 s in an
effort to bring people who spoke
or were interested in
Pennsylvania Dutch together,
said, as a child growing up in
the northern Dauphin County,
the dialect was spoken at home.
“It was all I knew when 1 went
to school,” she said.
At the time of the group’s
organization many people who
attended the first meetings said
they no longer had anyone to
speak Pennsylvania Dutch with
because the use of the dialect
was dying out. Many said their
parents frowned upon their use
of the dialect because it showed
you were poorly educated.
But today some of those who
never learned to speak the
dialect, even though it was spo
ken in their homes, are joining
the group to learn more about
the language.
One of those is Ruth
Gingrich, of Mount Wolf, presi
dent of the group.
Ruth said, “We read about
the meetings in the newspaper
and my sister Rachael
(Gromling) and I were very
interested. We had very much
background because our grand
parents and my father and his
brother always talked Dutch
when they ■were together. And
daddy’s relatives are all from
Lancaster County and they are
PJOMESTEA
4 '
the River Brethien and a lot of
them still use the language so
we were interested, but I can’t
speak it.”
Although the two sisters have
taken classes to learn the
dialect, they can’t hold a conver
sation in it.
Ruth said she gives her time
to the group because the mem
ber’s goal is to preserve the lan
guage. “We don’t want to see it
fall by the wayside,” Ruth said.
She noted that the group
meets the third Saturday of each
month at 2 p.m. in the commu
nity room at York’s Galleria Mall
in Springettsbury Township. All
sessions are open to the public.
Speakers are often on the agen
da and present information
about Pennsylvania Dutch and
its origins. Members also attend
Pennsylvania Dutch activities
held throughout the
Commonwealth.
Sipe, the group’s treasurer,
said he too joined the organiza
tion because of his interest in
the dialect.
“My grandmother spoke the
dialect, but when we’d go to
town she’d say ‘speak English.’
They didn’t want the people to
know we were dumb
Dutchmen,” he said with a
laugh.
“Our parents didn’t want us
to speak Dutch, but it was all
right for them to speak Dutch
because then we didn’t know
what they were saying,” he con
tinues.
“I’ve been in and out of it.
When I was in the Air Force in
the mid-50s, I met a first lieu
tenant from Lehigh County and
he could speak Dutch. I got back
interested in it again, then I got
transferred and he got trans
ferred,” he said.
Once back home over the
years he has taken classes
whenever he found them avail
able. “I’m still not as fluent as
I’d like to be. I can read probably
a lot better than I can speak it
because I don’t converse with
somebody everyday, but I read it
everyday.”
“Very faithfully ever night I
head up the wooden lane and
after I take a shower I’ll lay in
bed and even if it’s just one page
I’ll read,” from publications writ
ten in the dialect, Sipe said. He
keeps a Pennsylvania Dutch-
English dictionary by the bed to
look up words he doesn’t know.
He hopes to see a teacher
offer classes to area people who
are interested in the dialect and
one of the goals he wants the
group to reach is continued
preservation of the language for
the younger generations.
*«« -rrw r«r t ijr»n4 • *•*»**«•«*,
David, who is often mistaken
for C. Everett Koop, former head
of the . Food and Drug
Administration, first grew his
Amish-style beard 26 years ago.
His beard, straw hat, and sus
penders give him the look the
movie moguls wanted when they
Members of the Pennsylvania Dutch Heritage Group
gather at a picnic at the home of David and Shirley Sipe,
Mill Creek Road, in York County.
jin <g<
with Lee Thierwechter during the Pennsylvania Dutch Heritage
Group picnic.
were casting extras in Tim Amishman. Had they asked him
Allen’s moVie “For Richer, For to speak Dutch, he’d have been
Poorer.” He played an able to do that too.
Safety Camp For
Adams County Youth
GETTYSBURG (Adams Co.)
Would your child know what
to do if an emergency happened
while she or he was alone? If
your answer is no or you’re not
sure, then let us present the
1998 4-H Safety Day Camp. It’s
coming to the South Mountain
Fairgrounds on Thursday, July
23, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
4-H Safety Day Camp is open
to any Adams County youth ages
8-13. There is a registration fee
of $2 per child. This fee helps
defer the cost of a catered lunch,
a T-shirt, and other surprises for
each participant.
The campers will participate
in workshops including;
Identifying Farm Hazards; Meet
the Computerized D. B. Pest;
Bicyple Safety; Fire Safety;
Rototiller, Weed Whackers, and
Chainsaws; Hidden Hazards;
Firearm Safety; ' Safety
Jeopardy; Pools, Ponds, and
Creeks; and Disability
Dilemmas.
Other features include
demonstrations on glow germ
and grain in a bucket along with
a possible appearance from Life
Lion Helicopter. The day will
conclude with a simulated farm
rescue.
All campers will receive a
catered lunch provided by Jane’s
Market. They will also have
snacks donated by Utz and
Snyders. Ten lucky campers will
receive a new bicycle helmet
when they attend the Bicycle
Safety workshop. No one will go
home empty handed. Each
camper will receive a t-shirt,
safety information, and other
cool stuff.
The 4-H Safety Day Camp is
sponsored by Progressive
Farmer Magazine, 4-H Clubs of
Adams County, Inc., and the
American Trauma Society-PA
Division.
For more information on
Safety Day Camp contact the
Adams County Extension Office
between 8:00 and 4:30, Monday
through Friday (717) 334-6271
7) 624-4525.