Harry R. Showalter › Hymnals

Showalter, Harry R. (Cressman, Virginia, August 13, 1889--1992). Mennonite. He was from the Old Order horse and buggy church (Mennonite) in Virginia. He remembered the Sunday when the conservatives went to have services at the Bank meetinghouse and found someone had locked the doors. The group of people met under the trees and the ministers preached from the steps of the meetinghouse. The buggies of the older people were brought up close so that the older people could hear. Harry remembered leaning against a tree during the services.

Harry was raised in the Harmonia Sacra tradition of music and singing schools. In Ohio the Old Order Pleasant View Mennonite (Wisler) Church, Columbiana, Ohio (Mahoning County), the young people would meet in the homes on Sunday evenings for singing, the singing of hymns. Harry Showalter would be present along with Ezra Kropp to teach the young people in the rudiments of reading music (shaped notes) and the different aspects of good unaccompanied singing.

--Wilmer Swope, 16 August 1992, DNAH Archives. Obituary is also available in the DNAH Archives.