Beiler, Anna (1952-1969)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1969 May 1 p. 3

Birth date: 1952

text of obituary:

Falls 120 Feet To Death

Stuarts Draft, Va. — An Easter Monday church outing in the mountains near here ended in tragedy when 17-year-old Anna Beiler fell from an overhanging rock and dropped some 120 feet to her death.

Young people of the Mt. Zion Amish Mennonite Church here had gone to Crabtree Falls, about an hour's drive from Stuarts Draft. Anna and two companions were at the top of the highest falls, which is 162 feet high. She stood on the edge of a rock and look over, then lost her footing on the wet surface, fell and slid over the precipice.

The girl's body struck rocks at two points on the descent before coming to rest on a small plateau. Two boys in the group reached her shortly before she breathed her last.

Relatives and friends from a number of eastern states were among the 500 persons who attended the funeral services on April 10 at the Mt. Zion Church. Bishop Adam Byler of Stuarts Draft and Bishop Jonas Hershberger of Montezuma, Ga. officiated.

Survivors include her parents, Eli S. and Emma Beiler, and brothers and sisters.