Years ago, Frank and Ada Yoder watched a literal dog and pony show at the Farmers Savings Bank parking lot in Kalona.   Afterwards, they met George the animal trainer and invited him over for supper, and he shared with them a few secrets for teaching a pony tricks.

Over the next couple of days, George would facilitate a new pony purchase for the Yoders, and the couple would then proceed to teach Smokey Joe enough tricks that he came to entertain sick children at the children’s hospital and classes of local school children.

Like Smokey Joe, Frank Yoder has entertained the residents of our community for years, through both his stories and photos.

This January, Frank will publish his 11th book, “Living Along Iowa Hwy 1 for 50 Years on the Old Miller Homestead,” just in time for his 90th birthday. 

The book, which might easily be subtitled, “Horses and the people who owned them,” is “a quick look at where our love of horses and our cameras have taken us during our married life together for over 67 years,” the author writes.

Frank was born in 1933 and raised 3 ½ miles north of Kalona on County Line Road.  His dad died when he was only 13 months old, and his family – mother and three brothers – “made it through that time by the goodness of the neighbors and close family members, bankers, people here in town,” he says. 

In 1955 he married Ada, his “childhood sweetheart,” who also grew up with only one parent, having lost her mother when she was 2 years old.  He’s never forgotten an anniversary, as it falls on “one of the most important Amish holidays.”

“Epiphany,” Ada says.  “And his birthday.”

The couple raised five boys, the oldest of whom are now close to retirement-age. 

“If you read the book, that’s our life story.  We started out as an Amish couple who were married in an Amish neighbor’s home,” Frank says.

When the opportunity presented itself, the couple moved into the old Miller Homestead on Highway 1.  “Six generations of [Ada’s] family have lived there now,” Frank comments. 

It is here that the couple established Old Homestead Photos, a photography business that brought them into special moments of other people’s lives, such as weddings and anniversaries, as well as on adventures that Frank wrote about for various publications.

“It’s been a good life,” Frank says.  “Our cameras have taken us all over, into the north country of Canada, way beyond roads, and to the Mennonite World Conference in Wichita.  That was a good experience.”

And as the content of new book suggests, “Our life was so involved with horses,” Frank says. 

“And with the people,” Ada adds. 

The couple always owned their own horses and ponies, and their lives became entwined with others of like mind.  When you read the book, you’ll learn about the “miracle” it took for Frank to purchase his own Arabian horse, and the innovative way Frank solved a show pony’s problem so that he could contend for trophies once again.

When Frank was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a type of chronic inflammatory arthritis, his doctor advised him to stop working with horses as the odds were good he would eventually get knocked down and break a bone.  So he gradually eased away from the animals and toward a new way of life.

The Yoders’ son had moved into the big house, and Frank and Ada were living in a trailer on the property, when their sons approached them about moving on.

“They came home one night and said, ‘Dad and Mom, we’ve been talking with each other, and we think it’s time that you moved to Pleasantview.  So when we go to bed at night, we know that if there’s a problem, we know that there’s someone there to help you,’” Frank recounts.

“That’s the best advice I think we’ve ever taken,” he says.

The couple’s cottage at Pleasantview is cozy and contains all of the essentials, as well as significant family treasures.  It is here that Frank continues the book writing career he began at the age of 80 with publication of “Memories of an Amish Country School Boy.”

His books include a western-style trilogy that includes “Roy’s Story,” “Miss Hattie Gibbs and her Amish Friend Katie Lapp,” and “Toby’s Long Journey Through Life.”

The book Frank is most proud of is “Lena’s Boys: Adventures on the Country Line Road,” published in 2019 by JPV Press. 

“It’s been a very popular book,” he says.

“I saw an ad in a trucking magazine down here at the Amish store.  They had it on a fruit table.  People bring magazines in that they don’t want to keep,” he explains.  “I brought one home, and they had an ad in there for a publisher in Winesburg, Ohio.  And I responded to that.  They asked me if I would submit something to them.”

Frank already had a few books written on his computer, so he sent in a manuscript.

“They published my book for me, and they did a fantastic job,” he says.

Frank managed to get a couple more of his titles into print before COVID drove the small publisher and others like it out of business. 

“And that’s when I started self-publishing,” he notes.

These days, Frank uses voice recognition software to help transcribe his books into Word documents.  Ada or his sons help with proofreading, and his sons have helped him to get his books onto Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform.  His books are now available in both e-book and print format on Amazon.

Today Frank and Ada are looking forward to Frank’s 90th Birthday Party and Book Signing in the Friendship Center at Pleasantview, where his latest book will also be available for purchase. 

“I’ve just been fortunate,” the author says in regard to his writing career.  But if you call, write, or visit with the couple, you’ll understand the good fortune runs deeper than that. 

He’s been blessed with a lifetime of love, and also of horses.

Frank and Ada’s Book signing event is Saturday, Jan. 7 from 9:30 to 11 a.m. in the Friendship Center at Pleasantview, 811 3rd St., Kalona.