Adam & Eve
Sandy and Dick Peters
Met in Newark, Del.
When we asked Dick and
Sandy Peters of Mount Joy
if they would be ‘*Adam and
Eve" in the Bulletin, they
consented but warned that
they were ‘‘very ordinary
people’ and that they didn’t
think anyone would be
interested in reading about
them.
Their ‘‘ordinary’’
romance began when Dick,
whose family lived in
Maytown, graduated from
Donegal High School during
the recession of 1962 and
couldn't find a job around
here.
His cousin, who was a
minister in Newark, Del.
told him he could get a job at
Howard Johnson's down
there, and Dick went to live
and work in Newark.
Since his cousin was a
minister, most of Dick’s
social life was centered in
the church. He hadn’t been
in Delaware long before he
was specially attracted to a
tall brunette girl. It wasn’t
just the appearance of this
girl that appealed to Dick. It
was her fearless and hard-
working personality, too.
Sandy climbs church roof
The young people of the
BAVA TTV AST VOLT VAST 0d VT BTV COSTS
church were putting new
shingles on the high, steep
roof of the church. While the
young men were hesitating
and debating about climbin
up on the roof, this tall
brunette girl came by with a
pack of shingles strapped on
her back and climbed right
up the ladder to the roof.
The name of this girl who
“didn’t mind getting dirty’’
was Sandra Curtis.
Sandy ‘‘too young’’
Dick mentioned his at-
traction to Sandra to his
preacher-cousin, but his
cousin cautioned him a-
gainst dating her. She was
too young, only 16, for Dick
who was 19, said Dick’s
cousin.
Dick started dating an-
other girl who attended his
cousin’s church. Before long
he and the other girl were
going steady.
New Year’s Eve
At the end of 1962 Dick
took his girl-friend to a New
Year’s Eve party. On the
way she told Dick she
wanted to break up with
him. When they got to the
party she started talking to
another fellow.
Dick looked around.
There was young Sandra
Curtis, standing alone.
Dick went over
started talkng to her.
Dick and Sandy have been
talking ever since.
They really hit it off and
became good friends.
and
They didn’t have a date
untii a month later, in
February, when Dick drove
Sandy down to Rehobeth
Beach.
They had good times
together that spring of 1963,
at church socials and going
bowling. They weren’t lov-
ers so much, however, as
very, very good friends.
Dick says he treated her
““like one of the boys’.
Separation
That summer Sandy went
to Boston to stay with her
sister, and to work in the
hospital where her sister
was a nurse.
It was that separation that
revealed to Dick and Sandy
how much they meant to
each other. They wrote to
each other every day.
In July Dick went to
Boston to see Sandy. By
then they both knew they
were for each other, for
good.
Dick was working at
duPont now. While Sandy
was away he frequently
visited her family in New-
ark, did a lot of things with
Sandy’s brother. At the end
of the summer, not without
some fear and trembling,
Dick asked Sandy parents if
he could marry their daugh-
ter.
Asks to marry daughter
He was a little afraid for a
number of reasons. Sandy’s
parents had married rather
late in their lives. Dick was
now 20, and Sandy only 17.
She was a member of
National Honor Society and
had planned originally to go
SSS
Dr. Richman conducts Penn.-German tour
A one-week study-tour of
Pennsylvania German Cul-
ture has just been complet-
ed under the direction of Dr.
Irwin Richman, Bainbridge,
R.D. 1. Dr. Richman is
Professor of American Stu-
dies and History at the
Capitol Campus of Pennsyl-
vania State University,
Middletown.
Many nearby places of
local cultural importance
were visited, including Abe
and Betty Groff's Farm
Restautant, Mount Joy.
The students, of varying
ages from New York,
Virginia, as well as distant
parts of Pennsylvania, tra-
velled in a chartered Trail-
ways bus to see:
‘‘Hackberry Hill’’., the
home of Dr. and Mrs.
Richman and Rev. and Mrs.
E.O. Steigerwalt,
Bainbridge, with its German
and English gardens;
Old St. Peter's Kierch,
Middletown, National His-
torical Landmark, built in
the 1700's under the super-
vision of Lutheran patriarch
Henry M. Muhlenberg;
Ephrata Cloisters;
Mennonite Historical So-
ciety where Rev. Ira Landis
introduced the students to
the history of Amish and
Mennonite docitrines and
practices. The students also
heard a lecture by Dr. John
Frantz, Capitol Campus, on
the Pennsylvania German
Church People;
An Amish school, the
Hans Herr house, a Men-
nonite farm;
La -
Pennsylvania Farm Mu-
seum at Landis Valley (also
lectures by Claudia and
Carroll Hopf, directors of
the Museum);
The private restored
homes of Dr. Rife Gingrich,
and of Samuel R. Slaymak-
er, ‘‘White Chimneys’’,
celebrated in Slaymaker’s
book, Captive’s Mansion:
The churches and build-
ings of Moravian Bethle-
hem, Pa.
Along the route the
students ate heartily of box
lunches and of the plentiful
Pennsylvania Dutch cooking
at Plain and Fancy Farm and
Dining Room, Shatlesville
Hotel, as well as Groff’s
Farm.
Dr. Richman pointing out architectural features of restored colonial house near Mount Joy.
They enjoyed shopping at
flea markets and at On-
cher’s cheese market in
Gap.
Those making the one-
week tour were:Carol Ber-
man, Reston, Va.; Shirley
Branner, New York City;
Ruth S. Burkhart, New
Cumberland; Dale Darkes,
Harrisburg; Alexander,
Ann, and Elizabeth Drozda,
Pottsville; Albert Dudrear,
Jr., York; Madeline Ferra-
rotti, Leechburg; Raymond
Higgins, New York City;
Joan Mauer, McLean, Va.;
Margaret Metzler, Man-
heim; June Morroni, State
College; Ruth L. Myrick,
Levittown; Carol Stapp,
Philadelphia Museum of
Art; Erma Stull, Leechburg;
and Patty Williams, Phila-
delphia Museum of Art.
Last Saturday afternoon
at the end of the tour Dr.
Richman told the Bulletin at
his home, ‘‘Hackberry
Hill’’, that the project had
been a ‘‘fabulous success’’
and that ‘‘everyone had
gone away in a glow’’. He
pronounced the week as “‘a
grand educational experi-
ence’’ which will be repeat-
ed next year.
He also announced that
he will conduct one-day spe-
cial interest tours this
fall; one on October 25
centered on Windsor chairs
and clocks and another in
November, ‘Antiquing
through the Dutch Coun-
try’’.
More information about
these upcoming tours can be
obtained from George E.
Bell, Assistant Director,
Continuing Education, Penn
State, Capitol Campus,
Middletown, Pa., 17057,
Telephone (717) 787-7753.
on to college. Also, says
Dick, ‘‘Sandy’s father was a
big man.”’
Sandy’s parents gave
the two young people their
blessing ‘and they announ-
ced their engagement in the
fall.
Also, that fall Dick re-
turned to Maytown to take a
job with Howmet Corp. in
Lancaster. Weekends he
drove down to Newark to see
Sandy.
They were married in the
spring of 1964 in the Newark
Presbyterian Church.
Sandy works as waitress
In the first years of their
marriage Dick and Sandy
moved around quite a bit.
For a while they lived in
Johnson City, N.Y. where
Dick studied at a Bible
training school, and Sandy
worked as a waitress.
In the spring of 1965S,
however, Sandy was preg-
nant; Dick left school, and
took a job in Wilmington,
Del. There their first son,
Phil, was born.
Move to Mount Joy
In 1967 they moved to
Mount Joy, a place both
Dick and Sandy preferred to
the urban environment. of
Wilmington. Soon after the
move to Mount Joy their son
Mark was born. In 1968 Dick
took a job with NCR and
they settled down in their
house at 620 Water Street.
Dick went to work impro-
ving the house, tearing
down partitions, building
closets, finishing walls. He
uncovered the log wall of the
original house on the inside
wall of the living room,
stained it and left is
attractively exposed.
He refinished antiques to
furnish the house.
Enlarge house
As the children grew and
needed more space, he
added an entire new two-
story wing at the rear of the
house. The rebuilding of the
house begun in 1967 goes on
August 27, 1975
today. Sandy and the kids,
instead of minding the
unfinished rooms, actually
‘enjoy living in them and
seeing them improve from
day to day.
Dick and Sandy met in the
church, and their lives go on
centered in Calvary Bible
Church, Mount Joy. Sandy
plays the piano at services
and participates in the
Christmas and Easter can-
tatas. Dick is secretary of
the Boy’s Brigade Commit-
tee. Sandy also works
part-time as a secretary at
Messiah Children’s Home at
the Cross Roads Church.
Marriage grows
Their marriage grows.
They were very young when
they were first married and
have done a lot of growing
up together since they have
been married. Some people
who marry young grow
apart, but not the Peters.
Always they have had
common goals toward which
they strive. The house, the
children, bring them closer.
If they disagree they
abide by a rule:disagree-
ments must be settled
before they go to bed.
If they discover they are
following different policies
toward their children, they
never disagree in front of
the children. They talk over
their differences privately
and always present a united
front to the childdren.
“Every year is better”
Different in temperment,
Dick being more excitable
and talkative, Sandy more
placid and quiet, they have
grown more like each other.
Sandy talks more, Dick
contains himself more than
when they first met.
‘‘Each year of marriage is
better than the preceding,”
says Dick.
The Peters’ had said their
marriage was ‘‘ordinary.”’
How ‘‘ordinary”’ is it for
a marriage to get better
every year?
Dr. Irwin Richman, Bainbridge, descending stairway in
restored German colonial house near Mount Joy