Growing Up Amish

Growing Up Amish in the News !

"Growing up Amish" author Anna Olson talks about the Amish culture:
Part 2 by Karin L. Nauber

Anna Olson Editor's Note:

This is the second of three parts in a series of articles on "Growing Up Amish: The Insider Secrets" author Anna Olson who left the Amish community and way of life 15 years ago. Anna (Miller) Olson grew up near Bertha and Hewitt. She lived in that area until she was 15 and then the family, including her nine siblings, moved to Blair, Wisconsin where her parents David and Susie still live.

Amish men make their living from farming or operating their own saw mill. Her father operated a sawmill. The women stay at home and take care of the cooking, cleaning and sewing. Some of the women teach school. Anna was a school teacher once she reached adulthood. "I taught school for one year," she said.

Amish children go to school until age 16 or the eighth grade then they join the work force in the Amish community which is dictated by their gender. Those of you who attended school in a one room classroom will understand, partially at least, how the Amish school works. "I had 18 students who were in all grades and all in one room. At the end of the year the teachers had to send in the grades to the government," she said. Sending in the student's grades was about the extent of government involvement in the Amish school system. Anna said that Amish students did not have homework. "We were not allowed to bring it home.

When the teacher was talking with the other classes, that was when you did your homework. My dad said that if we had to bring work home, we were goofing off," she said. Anna said that teachers do not have to be certified or have any special training or even a desire to teach. If you had asked her 15 years ago if she was afraid to leave her life in the Amish community, she would have told you that she was so scared that she didn't know what to do.

"But today I can tell you I am scared to think about what my life would have been if I hadn't gone," she said. Today, Anna says she feels free- free to forgive and forget. Free from rules that no longer hamper her. David and Susie Miller's farm in Wisconsin. They are Anna's parents. "You can't have an opinion (as a female in the Amish community)," she said. Today, Anna is Lutheran in faith.

But growing up Amish she said they lived by a literal interpretation of the Bible. Part of that literal interpretation meant simplicity, discipline and modesty. Immodesty is frowned upon. After the move to Wisconsin, Anna's early 20s were spent with one foot in the Amish world and one foot in the English world. She bought a camera when she was 21 and took photos of her siblings with it. She took a job working as a nanny for a family outside of the Amish community. She lived with that family during the week days.

"Some people might say living with them and that style of living is what made me leave but it was just a catalyst for something that I had dreamed about for a long time," she said. With modern amenities at her disposal, Anna dreamed of living this way. She found that she enjoyed watching TV. A friendship was born between her and her employers, Jon and Penny Paulson, and their three children.

"Penny challenged me to make decisions, something I never had an opportunity to do since most everything was dictated by the Amish rules of operation," said Anna. She told the Wadena Pioneer Journal in a 1995 article that, "Penny was a very good person to talk to. I started feeling comfortable enough with her to voice my opinions. I never had opinions. Well, I had opinions but I didn't voice them."

Anna in her formal Sunday attire. This photo was taken with the forbidden camera. Find out next week why cameras are not allowed. "In the Paulson household, Miller was afforded the luxury of examining her desire to live outside the Amish world, once which she felt she never belonged. She began to put distance between herself and the feelings of downtrodden, ill-treatment and humiliation that ruled her life. Childhood memories of being teased by her peers for being overweight were less painful."

She moved briefly to an Amish community in Indiana but returned when feelings of loneliness overwhelmed her. Anna weighed the pros and cons carefully before deciding to leave the Amish community. After she had made up her mind, she told her mother to ask the ministers at the church to "put her out" which is a form of Amish punishment which includes not being able to go to church or sit with the family during mealtime. She took this time to live in the Paulson home unfettered by the Amish rules. She was 24 years old at the time.

"When my parents figured out what I was doing, they came to the Paulson home with four ministers to try to convince me to come home.I didn't say anything to them. I knew if I did I would go back and I didn't want to go back," said Anna. She stuck with her decision. Part of that was because of the fear of being further humiliated for starting something she couldn't finish. She got her driver's license and eventually moved back to Minnesota, living in Wadena. In 1993, she earned her GED.

Two years later she graduated from Minnesota State Technical College. In 2005, she earned her second degree as a medical secretary. But it wasn't easy. "When I first tried to go to college, I felt lost and didn't know how to study," she said. Anna met a man in Wadena whom she fell in love with and they are now married and living in New York Mills where they are raising their family. Anna goes to visit her parents in Wisconsin but said the visits are usually only for an hour or two. She also has relatives who live in the area but they don't talk much. "Sometimes they ignore me or the conversation is kept to a minimum," she said.

As is custom with the Old Order Amish community, once someone leaves they are excommunicated from the church. Next week, we will have our third and final story on "Growing Up Amish: The Insider Secrets" author Anna Olson.

She will answer some of the questions which many people have about the Amish.

For a closer look at what’s in her book, go to www.growingupamish.com