Rocking chair
Name/Title
Rocking chairEntry/Object ID
2024.4.1Description
From the donor: To the best of my understanding the Wampler Rocking Chair first belonged to Frederick J. Wampler (1838-c1897). His youngest child (of eleven children) Rev. Ernest M. Wampler (1885-1978) inherited the chair. He in turn passed it down to his younger son (of three children) Dr. D. Eugene Wampler (1935-2019). On his passing I inherited the family heirloom as his only son (of three children). I, Stanley S. Wampler, have no son (zero children) and so I am donating the chair to the Brethren & Mennonite Heritage Center. There is a cavity in one arm of the chair. My father tells the story his father, Ernest, told him. Ernest remembers, as a child sitting in his grandfather’s lap and “picking” at the filler in the arm of the chair, creating the hole. I have always thought that the male relative’s lap must have been his father’s and not grandfather. A brief genealogy search shows that both grandfathers died prior to Earnest’s birth in 1885. My memory of the rocking chair is that it was always in my parents’ bedroom. This Wampler family is from Rockingham County Virginia. My grandfather grew up on his father’s farm and attended Greenmount Church of the Brethren. After many years of service as a Brethren missionary to China he retired to Bridgewater VA and was one of the men who broke ground for the Bridgewater Retirement Community. My paternal grandparents and his parents are buried at Greenmount Church cemetery. My father and grandfather are both graduates of Bridgewater College. When I was little, my parents and two sisters would drive to Virginia to visit my paternal grandparents. We would always look for the sign on Interstate 81 South that announced Rockingham County. After a full day’s drive it was a welcome indication that that the end of a draining car trip was near. We children would always jest about a “pig sitting in a rocking chair” as a goofy image depicting “Rockingham”. Now the Wampler Rocking Chair, empty of pigs but full of memories, is completing its return trip to its home county. Stanley S. Wampler July 2024Cataloged By
Sam FunkhouserCategory
Household