But Weaver, who died Sunday at age 94, was much more than a volunteer weatherman. He also served as a Mennonite preacher and was a ham radio enthusiast, among other accomplishments.

In 1946, Weaver married his wife, Virginia, who survives. It was about that time he began working with her family at the Dale Enterprise Weather Station, just west of Harrisonburg off U.S. 33.

Virginia Weaver’s grandfather, L.J. Heatwole, started keeping weather records in 1868. In the 1880s, the U.S. Signal Service, predecessor of the National Weather Service, appointed Heatwole as a “voluntary observer.”
In the mid-1980s, Richard Weaver became the station’s lead observer, a post he held until he retired in 2012 after nearly 60 years of daily weather observations.

At the time, the station — one of more than 11,000 in the U.S. — was the oldest one operating in Virginia and the third oldest in the nation.
Another of Weaver’s passions was ham radio. He became a licensed operator in 1936 and was an active member of the amateur radio community throughout his life.

Gerry Brunk, 77, of Harrisonburg, said Weaver gave him his first radio license exam in 1955.

“I’ve known him since I was a teenager. We knew each other through ham radio and also through the Mennonite community” Brunk said. “He was an outgoing person, a very spiritual and giving person who loved his community and who loved music.”

Weaver was a part of the Mennonite Hour radio program, and in 1954, when he worked for the show as a recording engineer, he converted his chicken house into a recording studio that improved the quality of the recorded program.

Another radio enthusiast, Ellsworth Neff, also met Weaver as a teenager interested in amateur radio.

“I met Dick in 1954 or so and we’ve stayed in touch ever since,” said Neff, 75, of Mount Crawford. “There hasn’t been a stretch of time where we weren’t in contact, and we’ve spent many hours having conversations over the airwaves.”

Weaver even presided over Neff’s marriage to his wife, Jeanette, in 2000.
“I joked to Dick that he could marry us as long as I didn’t have to drive a horse and buggy,” Neff said. “He was Mennonite and I’m a member of the Church of the Brethren. Dick thought it was hilarious.”

Neff said Weaver’s impact on the community is immeasurable.
“There’s no doubt our community won’t be the same without him,” he said.
Weaver graduated from Eastern Mennonite High School and attended Eastern Mennonite College.

A conscientious objector, Weaver was drafted during World War II and stationed at Harrisburg State Mental Hospital in Pennsylvania and then in Medaryville, Ind., where he banded birds.

He was ordained as a minister by lot in Virginia Mennonite Conference in 1948 and retired in 1995 after 40 years of service.

Courtesy of the Daily News Record, July 30, 2014

Ruth Brunk Stoltzfus and Ella May Miller, both of Harrisonburg, received plaques and letters of commendation during the annual “church leader appreciation banquet” held in Martin Chapel as part of the annual at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. Ervin Stutzman, seminary dean and Phil N. Helmuth, executive director of development and church relations, made the presentations.

The ceremony featured a narrative of the development and growth of the “Heart to Heart” radio program, incorporating archival photos and sound clips. Presenters were Melodie Miller Davis, writer-producer with Mennonite Media, and Paul M. Schrock, retired Herald Press book editor who was editor of “Alive,” a publication of Mennonite Broadcasts, forerunner of Mennonite Media.

Ruth “was probably the first Mennonite woman on the airwaves with a regular program. This was truly amazing, considering what society was like in the 1950s for women, technology and the Mennonite Church,” Davis said.

The idea for the program germinated while the Stoltzfus family was living in Scottdale, Pa. Ruth Stoltzfus discussed the idea of a radio program for women with her husband, the late Grant M. Stoltzfus. They contacted a nearby station, WCVI in Connellsville, and were first told that “there’s no available time.”

But, when the station manager heard the idea, he offered Ruth a six-month contract, beginning that same week.

Heart to Heart

The program needed a name, immediately. Grant asked Ruth what she hoped to do on the broadcast, and Ruth said, “I want to share ideas, tell stories, read poetry and just talk heart to heart.”

“There’s your name – Heart to Heart,” Grant responded. On the air, she referred to herself as “Your Friend Ruth.”

The program began in June 1950, one year before the official launch of what became “The Mennonite Hour” radio program in early 1951. Heart to Heart came under the supervision of Mennonite Broadcasts, Inc., in Harrisonburg in 1956.

After leaving the broadcast, Ruth Stoltzfus continued in church ministry, pastoring Mennonite congregations in Toledo and Pandora, Ohio and Richmond, Va. She was the first woman to be ordained in Virginia Mennonite Conference in 1989 at the age of 74 and received the “distinguished service award” from EMU that same year.

Ella May Miller became “Heart to Heart” speaker in 1958 and served in that role until 1976. During this time, she wrote eight books, started Heart to Heart fellowship groups and went on numerous speaking assignments.

Although Ella May said she “had no experience in radio work, other than preparing and broadcasting a weekly Sunday school lesson WEMC-FM,” she said that “the reason the Lord used Heart to Heart so successfully was I focused on a target audience – just one woman. It made it more personable.”

John L. Horst, Jr., retired EMU physics professor and a cappella music specialist, led attendees in singing verses of the Heart to Heart theme song, “Love at Home,” to open and close the tribute.

Master of ceremonies Jim Bishop interviewed both women during the program and also interacted with Richard Weaver of Harrisonburg, who was recording engineer. The broadcasts were produced for many years in a converted chicken house on S. College Ave. in Park View.

The studio “had the best technical quality available at that time,” Weaver said. “Persons in the recording field came from as far away as Nashville and New York City to see this setup.”

‘Ministering to Each Other’

Weaver said that he “treasured the opportunity” to work with both women, not only because they were capable speakers who generated considerable audience response and requests for prayer and literature, but also because “we often wound up ministering to each other.” Weaver was recording engineer for Mennonite Broadcasts, Inc. for 25 years.

At its height, Heart to Heart was carried on 261 stations in the U.S. and Canada in 15-minute weekly and 5-minute daily versions, including Harrisonburg radio station WSVA.

The women were joined on the platform by two of their children, Kathy Stoltzfus Fairfield of Bridgewater, Va., and Ernest Miller of Minneapolis, Minn. They reflected on their mothers’ radio ministry and noted ways that they lifted stories out of their respective family situations but “used different names” in the examples.

Miller admitted, however, that as teens they coped because “we (kids) rarely listened” to their mother’s programs.

Ella May felt it was time to leave the program in 1976 and did transitional programs with a new speaker and a new program, “Your Time,” with Margaret Foth as speaker. Foth continued this program, while broadening the issues base, for another 10 years.

“These two ordinary but extraordinary Mennonite women used their natural abilities, gifts and passions to serve God and the church in some pretty creative and risky ways,” Davis said to close the tribute. “Both felt it was a privilege to have been part of this media work for the church, and those of us who still work in this arena still consider it a great privilege.

“People are still being challenged and changed. People are still encouraged, like Ruth and Ella May expressed, to experience the Jesus way of forgiving love.”

A retired ˛ÝÝ®ÉçÇř faculty member is working to keep alive a rich musical legacy.

John L. Horst, Jr., professor emeritus of physics at EMU, hosts a weekly program, “Mostly Mennonite, Mostly A Cappella,” 8-9:30 a.m. Sundays. The show repeats 10:30 a.m. to noon on the university’s public radio station, .

The four-part, a cappella singing that is part of the heritage of worship in Mennonite congregations is featured on his 90 minute program. Horst draws from a variety of sources, inter-Mennonite and beyond, in selecting material to feature.

Horst, who taught at EMU from 1967 to 2004, sang bass from 1956 to 1963 as a member of one of the original “Mennonite Hour” quartets. The group recorded regularly for the radio broadcast and also toured the country with speaker B. Charles Hostetter to promote the program.

The “Mennonite Hour,” produced by Mennonite Broadcasts, Inc. (now Mennonite Media) based in Harrisonburg, started the program in 1952. Distribution peaked at more than 140 stations across North America in the early 1960’s. In 1965, the program was shortened to 15 minutes with less music, and in 1978 it went off the air.

“With the exception of [the late] EMU professors J. Mark Stauffer and Earl Maust, the singers in the 1950’s era were all dedicated amateurs from many walks of live in the greater Harrisonburg community,” Horst said. “However, all of them were well-schooled in the traditional Mennonite art of unaccompanied, four-part harmony singing.

“The singing was unpretentious, direct and committed to communicating the Gospel message,” he said. “The distinctive ‘Mennonite Hour’ sound was unmistakable – simple arrangements, solid harmony and clear diction.”

Horst noted that a recording studio built by Richard Weaver on S. College Ave. – converted from a chicken house in 1954 – “provided an excellent environment for good a cappella singing. In the 1950’s, a single, well-placed microphone was used with limited electronic processing.”

After Maust and Stauffer, leadership in the ‘second era’ of the 1960’s came from Marvin Miller, David Seitz and David Augsburger, Horst pointed out, adding: “The singing and sound is noticeably different, with stereo added in this period.” Augsburger went on to succeed B. Charles Hostetter as “Mennonite Hour” speaker.

In 1999, Horst began delving into the Mennonite Media archives and found himself reviewing archival tape recordings that were used on the “Mennonite Hour” broadcasts. He has since produced five compact disc reissues of hymns, gospel selections, folk hymns, spirituals and choral works, including two just-released recordings. Mennonite Media had released six CD’s on their own earlier.

The first of two new recordings, “Sing Them Over Again,” is a compilation of 27 original a cappella recordings by the “Mennonite Hour Singers from the early era, the decade of the the 1950’s.

A second collection, “A Symphony of Hymns,” employs the movements of a classical symphony – prelude, exposition, adagio, scherzo and finale – as a framework to present 26 songs of the church. These selections feature the music groups from the decade of the 1960’s.

“It was an honor to listen to and critique the rich ‘Mennonite Hour’ archive of about 900 acappella hymns and anthems,” Horst said. “It has been a pleasant journey . . . ‘This All My Song Shall Be.'”

For more information on Horst’s a cappella project and available recordings, see or call (800) 999-3534.