Bill Coleman and a Quilt

Pray for a good harvest but continue to hoe.

Amish Proverb

For thirty years, Bill Coleman owned and operated a successful portrait studio in State College, Pennsylvania. “I was photographing the most beautiful coeds [from Penn State] in the world,” he said.

Life was good.

But life got even better.

One day a friend offered to take Bill on a road trip that would take his life in a drastically different direction. They drove out to a remote, isolated Amish village. “I couldn’t even spell Amish! I had no idea Amish even lived around here. I’d heard about the Amish in Lancaster, but that’s a massive tourist trap. I learned more in one month there than I had in thirty years.”

Bill was hooked. He found himself returning time and time again to that small and all-but-unknown Amish village where only ninety-some families lived. “It’s hard to believe, at the age of fifty, that I took a completely different life turn. I looked to these people and their lifestyle, and I wanted to know more. I really wanted to be part of it. Innocence is total here.”

He closed his portrait studio and devoted himself to photographing the Amish. That was thirty-three years ago. Now eighty-five, Bill continues to head out to that same village as often as he can. His work on the Amish is acclaimed and exhibited around the world.

What is his favorite subject? “Children, children, children!” Many, if not most, of Bill’s photographs depict Amish children, unposed, doing what children do: skating, pulling sleds, walking through fields, caring for animals. “None of my work is posed, and I think that’s apparent. You can see it’s naturalistic.”

Bill is very protective of the Amish village and doesn’t reveal any details about its whereabouts. The children he once photographed are now grown-ups with children of their own. One of the things he plans for on a trip to the Amish village is to allow for the unexpected. His best photographs, he says, come from being open to seeing something with fresh eyes. Quite a change from a studio with complete control over lighting, shading, elements, and posing.

“I go out there two to three times a week, unless there’s snow,” Bill says. “Oh, heavy snow . . . I can’t go out enough. It’s different every day. It’s exquisite. I think my best work is in the snow. The deep snow.” There’s an Amish cemetery where Bill spends time, for many reasons—the history that’s buried there, the story of early pioneering families. “The average stone is only about a foot high. After a heavy snowfall, what you see are these undulating waves of snow.”

Bill has a great respect for the Amish and their way of life. He said that the interactions he’s had with these wonderful people, their values, and their way of living have quietly altered his own values and perspective on life—all for the better. “They don’t need help. Over the years, I realized what I was missing.” He hopes that his photography can teach others about a lifestyle that can be different.

“The Amish believe in their children and know that good habits start at an early age. They teach their young ones skills, socialization, virtues, and most importantly, the keystone to their culture—cooperation and friendship.” Bill said that in all of the years he has visited the Amish, he’s never heard an Amish parent raise their voice to a child. “Those kids jump up and do what they’re told. But the parents have said that they teach them to obey by encouraging them to emulate their older siblings.”

When Amish children come home from school, they are taught to farm and care for animals. An Amish father once asked him, rather pointedly though good-naturedly, “So, I suppose you let your kids come home from school and watch that television machine?”

He didn’t offend Bill. Not at all. In fact, Bill gets a kick out of Amish humor. “They have a unique sense of humor. It took me awhile to latch on to it. But they do have a good sense of humor.”

There is a beautiful photograph Bill took of three brilliantly colored Amish quilts hanging side by side on a winter clothesline. “There’s a story behind that picture,” Bill said. “The quilt on the far right—it’s a beauty. I offered the woman who made the quilt one thousand dollars, which I thought was an outrageous sum at the time.”

But the woman refused to sell it to him. “Now Bill,” she said, “what would I have to leave my daughter?”

Not much later, Bill heard of a dealer who came through the area and managed to buy that same quilt from the woman for an excess of eleven thousand dollars. When Bill saw the woman, he chided her for selling the quilt. “What are you going to leave your daughter now?”

After a moment’s hesitation, she said to Bill, “Well, I have other quilts.” Then she rubbed her fingers together and a gleam came into her eye. “I’ll leave them money.”

Road Map: Getting There from Here

Bill Coleman has a great admiration for the family dynamics of the Amish. He said that he has observed the Amish instill virtues in their young at an early age, especially cooperation and friendship. Amish children are willing workers, reaching for tasks with enthusiasm—without complaining. They work together as a team, as parts of the same body—the family. The same is true for us—it takes all of us working together to keep our home running well.

Amish siblings are taught to respect each other; the younger ones obey the older ones. It’s never too late to instill a sense of respect among siblings. You set the tone by not tolerating bullying or rivalry or teasing in unhealthy ways. One Pennsylvania mom insisted her children attend each other’s sporting events or musical performances. She found it was a way to validate each child’s unique abilities and to encourage her children to build each other up—part of being a team.

Bill said he never heard an Amish parent raise their voice to a child. And yet, the children obey! The next time you find yourself raising your voice in anger, hold off. Take a deep breath. Then say what needs to be said, minus the anger. You will be far more effective by maintaining self-control.

Bill had a successful career as an owner of a portrait studio. He gave it all up to pursue something he felt passionate about—something he felt called to. What does such a change indicate about Bill? What does it say to you about planning to use your senior years to fulfill God’s purposes for you?

A mother said to her little girl, “Eat your spinach, dear, it will put color in your cheeks.” Then the little girl said, “Who wants green cheeks?”

—Scribe from Hamilton, Indiana

Busy summertime sometimes makes late nights for the farmers, so they like to catch a snooze whenever they can. This one weary farmer was in the field raking hay one day last week, when a shower of sprinkles went through. He decided to just wait it out, out in the field, and lay down on the windrow for a snooze. He had just dozed off when a police car came across the field. Someone from the road had seen the horses, with the farmer lying on the ground. Thinking there had been an accident, they reported it to the police, who came to check it out. Next time, honey, sleep under a tree.

—Scribe from Farwell, Michigan