Evelyn Bell (White) Minshull

Evelyn B. Minshull, formerly of Mercer, age 93

Evelyn Bell White Minshull’s life journey began February 4, 1929, at home near Templeton, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania.  She was the fourth of seven children born to C. Lillian Kammerdiener and H. Grant White.

In 1939, the journey veered to rural Mercer County, where—with minor intermissions for college, teaching assignments, etc.—it continued until a 2009 move to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and ultimately to Thornwald Home.  It closed September 12, 2022, at Thornwald Home in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  She was 93 years old.

Of her siblings, only a younger sister, Jean White Allen, who resides with James, the youngest of her four children, in Lansing, Michigan—survives.  An older brother, Ernest Grant, died at the age of 95 in Colorado in 2020.  Two brothers died at birth, her oldest sister, Opal Ruth, succumbed at the age of 12, and her youngest sister, Pansy Lee, died at the age of 8.

Also preceding her in death were an infant son, Michael Grant, 1957; her parents; Fred, her husband  of 56 1/2 years, who died at the age of 92 on February 29, 2008; and two sons-in-law, David Barry, 51, and David Hittie, 65.

She is survived by three daughters (Valerie Shuty, recently of Costa Rica; Melanie Barry Wire (Doug), La Grange, Kentucky; and Robin Hittie, Carlisle, Pennsylvania), four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

In addition to recognizing the unceasing encouragement of her parents, husband, and children, Evelyn often expressed gratitude to God for the gifts of art and creative writing and the many opportunities to use and share them.

What developed was an eclectic career, which included:

• 25 1/2 years of public school teaching, 22 of those at Commodore Perry Schools, Hadley, Pennsylvania;
• Establishing long-term writing programs at Commodore Perry—including a relationship between students and published writers—begun in 1968 and continued still today under the coordination of Gloria Peterman of Stoneboro, Pennsylvania;
• Serving for 21 years as advisor to the Youth Education Association at Commodore Perry (formerly Future Teachers of America) which earned numerous awards at annual State conventions;
• Teaching 51 week-long elderhostel classes for the Sawmill Art/Craft Center, Cook Forest, Pennsylvania; 
• Serving for nearly 50 years as a certified lay speaker for the United Methodist Church; 
• Conducting workshops; 
• Conducting puppet performances with her mother and daughters, as well as hundreds of chalk-talks;
• Conducting and/or participating in numerous writers’ conferences, with a long-term relationship spanning three decades with the St. Davids Christian Writers’ Conference;
• Writing many books, including 26 books that were commercially published by Guideposts Books, Westminster Press, Abingdon Press, Thomas Nelson, and others;
• Writing hundreds of published short stories, articles, plays, and devotionals;
• Creating a few wall murals (Palmer Pools, Mercer, Pennsylvania);
• Creating 6 1/2 years of seasonal showcases at Carlisle United Methodist Church; and
• Enjoying decades of drawing quick portraits at art/craft shows, first in oil pastels and later in markers.

Evelyn received her education at Mercer High School, class of 1947; B.S. in art education with a minor in English at Edinboro State Teachers College (now Edinboro University, Edinboro, Pennsylvania), 1951; and Masters of Education in English at Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, 1973.

A 1999 trip to the Holy Land was one of the most life-changing events of her life journey.

A celebration of the life of Evelyn will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, September 24, 2022 at the Robert L. Snyder Funeral Home and Crematory, Inc. 169 Second Street, Fredonia with Rev. Eric M. Peters, officiating.  She will be laid to rest at the Oak Grove Cemetery, Fairview Twp.

Memorial tributes might be directed to Commodore Perry Schools for writing and art programs, or to Autism Awareness, through the Autism Society of NW Pennsylvania (https://www.autismnwpa.org/)

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