The Amish of Illinois' Heartland by Rebecca Mabry (2008-05-03)

An inside look at the Amish in Illinois ... from how they live and work to what they believe and the importance of family. Featuring 16 full-color photo pages. Anyone who has ever driven through the rural Amish community surrounding Arthur and Arcola has probably struggled to understand why these people have chosen to live without electricity, vehicles, or modern technology like televisions, radios and computers. Visitors hear the clip-clop of the horses pulling buggies and see the children walking in their straw hats and little white bonnets to one-room country schools. They see farmers cutting their hayfields with horse-drawn mowers, and women tending huge gardens to feed their families all year long. What they don't see is the deep commitment these people have to their Christian faith and in keeping their families strong and close. The Amish do not live the way they do because they have a fascination with the past. They live that way to keep their world small and their focus on their faith and their families. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Regional editor Rebecca Mabry began writing for newspapers as an area correspondent. As a married mother of two sons, she finished her degree in journalism at the University of Illinois and in 1981 began working full-time for The News-Gazette. In 1989, she spent three months researching the Amish in the Arthur-Arcola areas and wrote a three-part series called "Be Ye Separate," which was produced and sold as a reprint. She worked as a feature writer and columnist at The News-Gazette until 1995. She returned to The News-Gazette in 2005 and began researching the Amish community once more. She spent 15 or more months traveling to Arthur-Arcola-Sullivan, conducted more than 100 interviews and attended scores of events in the Amish community. She also visited Amish families in the winter community at Sarasota, Fla.