At 7 p.m. on Feb. 24 in the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College, speaker Julia Spicher Kasdorf gave an illustrated presentation and reading of the poetry of Jane Rohrer. 18 people were in attendance including relatives of Rohrer.
Rohrer was part of one of the first generations of Mennonites to take an interest in the fine arts and the first Mennonite to publish poetry in the mainstream literary press in the United States. Rohrer’s book of poetry “Life After Death” was announced to be republished for the first time since 2002 in the spring of 2022. “Life After Death” was her first published book and features a collection of her poetry about her husband Warren Roher and her life taking care of two kids and a farm.
“A woman writing from her experience in the 1970s when the poetry world was still dominated by men,” Kasdorf said about the significance of Jane Rohrer’s poetry. “She is writing about life on the farm, life with this painter’s husband.” Kasdorf co-curated a Palmer Museum of Art exhibition as well as co-edited “Field Language: The Painting and Poetry of Warren and Jane Rohrer.”
Warren Rohrer was a painter from Lancaster County, Pa. who was also born and raised in the Mennonite community. Together, the couple lived in a farmhouse in Lancaster County where they raised two kids. In the 1970s Jane Rohrer started writing poetry and for nearly three decades, her work appeared periodically in “The American Poetry Review.”
“She persevered through the busy times of life and did not lose her ability to see beauty,” Jonathan Sauder, who was in attendance and is married to one of Warren Rohrers’s nieces, said. “I appreciate the way she was able to get critical distance on her subculture of origin.”
Jane Rohrer became interested in and began writing poetry by independently auditing university courses at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pa. She also attended writer workshops during the same time. Jane Rohrer also never stopped supporting her husband’s art and journey to become an art teacher. Warren Rohrer would also become faculty of the Philadelphia College of Art for 25 years. His work as a painter features abstract art about paying homage to the traditions of respecting and working the land he worked on.
The couple were both raised as Mennonites. Jane Rohrer attended both a Mennonite high school and middle school in Virginia. She was raised on a poultry and horse farm in the Shenandoah Valley, while Warren Rohrer grew up in Smoketown, a village in Lancaster County. The two met when they attended college at Eastern Mennonite College in Harrisonburg, Va. Between the years 1961 and 1984, Jane Rohrer took care of the family home and their gardens while her husband would paint in the barn. In 1984, they moved to the Lower Cogslea, Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia where Jane Rohrer still lives. Warren Rohrer would return to Lancaster County occasionally to sket and take photographs.
“It is exciting to hear about a lady who grew up in the same faith and tradition that I grew up in,” attendee George Stoltzfus said.
“There is not much published about her work but probably the best source would be Field Language catalog which contains her husband’s work and her poetry,” Kasdorf said about where someone can find more of Jane Rohrer’s work.
In 1995 Warren Rohrer passed away and Jane Rohrer would continue to care for the family home. In 2015 Jane Roher suffered a stroke and survived. She is taken care of by her sons and has begun regaining strength in her arms following the stroke.
