John E. Sharp
Director, Historical Committee & Archives of the Mennonite
Church
Editor, Mennonite Historical Bulletin
Since 1995 I have served in these roles and have lived in Elkhart County, Indiana. Earlier I served as pastor in Kansas and Pennsylvania for 15 years. Michele Miller Sharp, PA-C, is a certified Physician Assistant working in family practice. Erin is a second-year music education major at Goshen College. M.J. and Laura are students at Bethany Christian High School.
A sideline of mine has been researching
the fascinating life and career of Solomon Zook Sharp, 1835-1931
(a distant relative). Born the tenth child of an Amish family
in the Kishacoquillas Valley, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania,
who only rarely attended school, he became a passionate educational
pioneer in the German Baptist Brethren Church (Church of the Brethren).
Under the cover of darkness with $50 saved from making and selling
baskets, Solomon stole away from home to study at the Pennsylvania
Normal School, Millersville, Pa. This was the beginning of a lifelong
passion for learning and teaching. By the time he was 65, Solomon
became the founding president of four educational enterprises.
He also heard the Gettysburg Address, collected fossils,
walked up Pike's Peak at age 88, attempted numerous ill-fated
entrepreneurial ventures, wrote a few books and many articles,
and died--optimistic to the end--at age 95.