Borntrager, Mary Christner (1921-2002)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2002 Dec 23 p. 6

Birth date: 1921 Mar 27

text of obituary:

Author of 'Ellie'novels on Amish dies at 81

More than 593,000 copies in print

NORTH CANTON, Ohio — Mary Christner Borntrager, a Mennonite author whose popular novels focused on the world of her Old Order Amish upbringing, died Dec. 9.

Borntrager, 81, of North Canton, was the author of the popular Ellie's People series of Amish fiction, published by Herald Press.

From 1988, when her first novel, Ellie, was published, until 1997 and the publication of Annie, Borntrager authored 10 Amish fiction titles. More than 593,000 copies of her books are now in print.

Born March 27, 1921, Borntrager was raised in the farming community of Plain City, Ohio, the seventh in an Amish family of 10 children. At age 19, she married John Borntrager, who died just before her first book was published. They had four children.

In her later years, Borntrager lived with a granddaughter who typed her longhand manuscripts into a word processor.

Readers often were intrigued and inspired by Borntrager's fictionalized portrayal of Amish culture. In her books, the Amish were drawn accurately and sympathetically, but her characters were not above questioning traditional beliefs and practices on occasion.

"These books have given me a better understanding of [Amish] beliefs and lifestyles," one reader wrote to herald Press in July, "Sometimes I envy their lives and their enjoyment of the simpler things our grandparents used to enjoy."

In keeping wit h Amish tradition, Borntrager's education began with eight grades of elementary school. After leaving the Amish, she attended a teacher-training institute at the former Eastern Mennonite College in Harrisonburg, Va. She taught for seven years in a Christian elementary school.

In 1994, Borntrager wrote a play based on her first novel, Ellie. It was presented at Hartville Mennonite Church, where she was a member for more than 40 years.

The funeral was held Dec. 13 at Harville Mennonite Church.