The summer when Mary Emma Showalter’s now classic “” was released in 1950, various college students sold the cookbook as a way to make money for their college expenses.

Eugene Souder was one such entrepreneur who had about 15 young women and men selling cookbooks under his loosely organized effort.

He says the John C. Winston Company (publishers in conjunction with the early “Mennonite Community Association” in Scottdale, Pennsylvania) put out a notice that they were looking for someone to round up students who could sell the cookbook to acquaintances, church members, friends or neighbors—and perhaps door-to-door.

“I don’t think I saw that initial notice put out for sales reps, but someone recommended me. So they came recruiting me,” recalled Eugene in a phone interview recently.

“It was simple—I had one or two meetings of interested persons at Eastern Mennonite College, inviting them to earn some extra money that summer,” said Eugene, who at the time was between his junior and senior years of college.  “It was fun to recruit. That was basically all I had to do. I got a commission off of each sale, and the total that year was enough to cover my expenses for my final year of college.” Eugene added that he didn’t sell more than five himself, and that there were more women than men selling the cookbook.

Dan Hertzler, a classmate of Eugene’s and former editor of Gospel Herald, recalls that a year at EMC at the time cost $550, with a $100 discount for Bible majors. While Dan was later connected with the Mennonite Community Association and has long been associated with Scottdale, Dan didn’t help sell the cookbooks.

Eugene confesses he didn’t sell many himself because he was heavily involved in a budding men’s quartet at EMC that went on to help launch the long running radio program in 1952, which led to the whole international Mennonite Broadcasts, Inc.  organization—(which eventually became Mennonite Media, which joined with Mennonite Publishing Network to form MennoMedia in 2011.)

“So that summer of 1950, I didn’t really have that much time to actually sell; I was surprised at the good return for my time,” Eugene says. The cookbook initially cost $3.50 for the plain edition; a deluxe “chapter tab” edition was $4.50. “They were very fair in the commission they paid me.”

Eugene went on to a long career as a pastor, graphic designer, and founder/editor of at least three church magazines: Our Faith, Together, and [the only magazine still in publication, under the editorship of article author Melodie Davis].

Jay B. Landis, a former professor in the English language and literature department at EMC, also sold the cookbooks. But neither Jay nor Eugene remember it being through Eugene’s circle of sellers. “I sold a few—maybe to my mother and a few others,” Jay confesses. Jay was just out of high school and working a full-time job to make money for college, so his involvement was definitely limited.

Jay and his wife Peggy now live in the home where Mary Emma and her eventual husband, Ira Eby, lived in Harrisonburg. When Peggy was an officer of the Auxiliary, she offered a dinner for their annual auction: a meal at their home with recipes cooked from Mary Emma Showalter’s cookbook, including the famous seven sweets and seven sours.

“Some of Mary Emma’s nieces and nephews were the eventual recipients of the dinner, and during the course of the evening, we read several of the essays Mary Emma included at the beginning of each chapter of the book,” Jay recalls.

Eugene summarized his experience of earning enough money for a whole year of college as “the easiest money I ever made. Sometimes it is surprising what good things come your way.” Like other students of his time, he graduated debt free.

Republished from the website with permission from the author, who says she would love to hear from any other cookbook sellers. Visit the cookbook’s website for contact information.

has recently published the alumna’s first book, a devotional memoir, . She also keeps a blog, , in which she explores the intersection of parenting, faith, and work. Gerber is head of youth ministries for .

“I. Don’t. Know. Anything,” Gerber recalls thinking when she was handed her first son, Owen, in 2006. With a cursory introduction to where the diapers, onesies, and wipes were found in the hospital’s nursery bassinet, a nurse left Gerber and her husband, Shawn, on their own.

Ordinary Miracles uses the story of Jesus’ walk to Emmaus after his resurrection to help readers see incidents in their own family’s daily life and challenges as normal and instructional. As readers follow the dark days and disillusionment of the disciples after the death of Jesus, to the moment in which their “eyes are opened” and they see Jesus in the ordinary breaking of bread, Gerber learns to discover the gifts and holy calling hidden in the events of harried family life.

“It has been a joy to learn from the often crazy and unpredictable and disorienting days that parenting young children can bring,” says Gerber in reflecting on the book. “In the most mundane and ordinary days of motherhood, and in moments of exhilaration, joy, and beauty, God is present.”

Gerber works half-time as the Mennonite Church USA denominational minister of youth and young adults. She partners with the Youth Ministry Council, , and Mennonite Church USA convention planning staff on Christian formation and leadership development initiatives. She has also worked in ministerial positions for Mennonite congregations in Colorado and Indiana. Gerber has written curricula, devotionals, and articles for a variety of publications on a range of topics from spiritual formation to dramatic skits. She and her family live in Bloomington, Ind.

The book is available for $12.99 from . For more information, contact Melodie Davis at 540-574-4874 or MelodieD@mennomedia.org.

For more, read the latest edition of .

Myron Blosser

Myron E. Blosser

Myron E. Blosser, a 1983 EMU graduate and veteran educator from Harrisonburg, received EMU’s 2005 "alumnus of the year" award during the Sunday, Oct. 16, worship service of homecoming and family weekend.

The award is presented annually to a graduate who has been recognized for significant recent achievements in their profession, community or church. Melodie M. Davis, a 1975 EMU graduate who has a 30-year tenure as a writer/producer with Mennonite Media in Harrisonburg, received the "distinguished service award," also during the homecoming service.

The annual "distinguished service" award seeks to recognize graduates who have demonstrated in notable ways the Christian service and peacemaking emphases of the university.

Following graduation, Blosser taught at Strasburg (VA) High School for three years before taking a position teaching biology at Harrisonburg High School.

He has received wide recognition over the years for his efforts to instill students with a love of science by taking them beyond the classroom walls.

Blosser led a group of Harrisonburg High School students across the country in 1998 to study environmental science for several weeks. He took another group on a similar trip two years later.

In 2001, he left Harrisonburg High and joined the faculty at Eastern Mennonite High School with the retirement of long-time biology teacher David A. Mumaw, who Blosser said "made me want to be a teacher in the first place."

In 2003, he and two other EMHS teachers in several disciplines led 22 students to the Pacific Ocean, following the trail of Lewis and Clark in the year of the 200th anniversary of the explorers’ voyage of discovery.

This summer, Blosser and another 22 EMHS students followed the Colorado River by bus and raft from its source all the way to Yuma, Mexico, where it enters Mexico. The group analyzed the river’s water along the way and its effects on local farms and a major city, Las Vegas.

Blosser has received numerous recognitions for his teaching, including "biology teacher of the year" in 1993 from the Virginia Association of Biology Teachers, in 1994 from the American Association of University Women and in 1998 from the National Association of Biology Teachers. He was one of 20 teachers nationwide named to the 1999 USA Today Teacher First team and was a member of the state education committee that wrote Virginia’s science Standards of Learning.

The Harrisonburg native is married to Rhonda Graber Blosser, a 1986 EMU graduate. Their children are Kurtis, Kelsey and Bryce, all students at Eastern Mennonite School.

Melodie Davis

Melodie M. Davis

Davis, an English major at EMU, took a position with the former Mennonite Broadcasts, Inc. (now Mennonite Media), one month after graduation and has been with the agency since then.

Today, as writer/producer for Mennonite Media, she works with radio spots, writes a syndicated column, "Another Way," and does editing for the organization’s "Third Way Cafe" () web site. The radio spots are carried on some 300 stations across the country; her column appears in 10 newpapers in North America, including the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record.

Davis also works on documentaries on difficult life issues that have aired on network and cable television.

Davis’ radio spots and other work have received awards from the church and secular media. Her "Parenting on the Edge" radio spots were recognized in the 2003 Gracie Allen Awards.

She has written eight non-fiction books and also works part time as editor of the inspirational newsprint tabloids, "Together" and "Living," published by the Shalom Foundation.

The Goshen, Ind., native is married to Rockingham County native Stuart Davis. The couple has three adult daughters – Michelle, Tanya and Doreen.