Tusing, Leora "Ora" (1896-1974) and Bertha Lynn Tusing (1905-2000)

Leora "Ora" Tusing and Bertha "Lynn" Tusing: weavers and artisans, were born on Branch Mountain, Hardy County, West Virginia, USA to William Tusing (May 1869-30 September 1960) and Sarah Catherine “Katie” Funkhouser Tusing (2 October 1869-1 October 1951). Ora was born 13 April 1896, the second child and oldest daughter in a family of four sons and four daughters. Lynn was born 22 July 1905 as the second daughter and sixth child. Neither Ora nor Lynn married. Ora Tusing died 6 June 1974, and Lynn died 22 August 2000. They are buried together in the Funkhouser-Foltz-Tusing Cemetery.

Ora and Lynn grew up on the isolated family farm near Mathias, West Virginia. They chopped wood, baked bread, churned butter, made soap, had a garden, and raised farm animals, and they did the other things necessary to survive on an isolated farm. The mailman took the cream to Harrisonburg, Virginia, to make butter. The telephone kept them in touch with family and friends.

While there was still daylight to see their work in the afternoons, Lynn and Ora Tusing worked with looms and spinning wheels to make the coverlets and rugs that bought them fame. The wool came from the sheep on the farm. They cleaned the wool and then carefully carded it to smooth the fibers. Then they made yarn using the spinning wheels. Finally, one of them sat down at the floor heddle loom to weave the yarn through the linen threads fitted on the loom. An embroidered cloth hung in front of the weaver to remind her how to make the pattern. They became well known for their spinning and weaving, and people came to their home to learn these skills.

Authors also visited Ora and Lynn Tusing. In March 1973, the Smithsonian Magazine published an article about the sisters’ life and work with spinning and weaving. Goldenseal, the West Virginia magazine of society in the state, published an interview with Lynn after Ora was gone. In 2003 a video called “The Texture of Life, The Tusing Sisters of Branch Mountain” (Schmitt, 2003) was released and has remained on YouTube.

The Lost River Artisans Cooperative and Museum near Lost City, West Virginia, includes looms and spinning wheels and other artifacts from Ora and Lynn Tusing. This museum is a place to visit to find out more about these remarkable women.

The Tusing family was faithful to the Mennonite Church. When several groups of Mennonites combined to worship at the Mathias Mennonite Church, they decided to continue the cottage meetings [worship in a home] at the Tusing farm because of the difficulty of travel to Mathias. Many people journeyed up Branch Mountain to worship with the Tusing sisters even after their parents were no longer living, and the rest of the family had moved from the farm.

The Tusing sisters were missionaries from their home as they participated in the church by knitting bandages for the Mennonite Church's leper ministries. They faithfully prayed for and corresponded with missionaries; a collection of thank-you letters from missionaries was found in their home after they died.

The world beat a path to the Tusing sisters’ door because of their fame as weavers on their one-hundred-year-old loom. But people also visited because they were fascinating, enjoyable people who lived a way of life from a past era. The Smithsonian author wrote, “From behind their glasses [Lynn’s specked from the morning milking in the barn] they present the amiable expressions of people who like their lot. The sisters are not easily vexed. They like the company they keep, the food they eat…. They like their craft.”

Bibliography

"Leora 'Ora' Tusing." Find-a-Grave. 30 March 2011. Web. 14 November 2020. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/67651622/leora-tusing.

Lost River Artisans Cooperative and Museum. The Tusing Sisters of Branch Mountain. Lost River, West Virginia, n.d. (Binder of information)

Schmitt, R. A., Director. "The Texture of Life, The Tusing Sisters of Branch Mountain." Motion Picture, 2003. YouTube. 14 November 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n60NMB7nj_I.

Thomson, P. "Old-Style Farming Suits These Sisters." Smithsonian Magazine (March 2003): 41-46.

Tusing, Sherwyn. Telephone interview by author. (16 May 2020)

Wenger, Linden. M. "Fifty Years in Northern District of Virginia Mennonite Conference: Memoirs of Linden M Wenger." Self-published, n.d.

Author(s)	Gary Smucker
Date Published	November 2020

Cite This Article

MLA style

Smucker, Gary. "Tusing, Leora "Ora" (1896-1974) and Bertha Lynn Tusing (1905-2000)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. November 2020. Web. 20 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Tusing,_Leora_%22Ora%22_(1896-1974)_and_Bertha_Lynn_Tusing_(1905-2000)&oldid=169430.

APA style

Smucker, Gary. (November 2020). Tusing, Leora "Ora" (1896-1974) and Bertha Lynn Tusing (1905-2000). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 20 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Tusing,_Leora_%22Ora%22_(1896-1974)_and_Bertha_Lynn_Tusing_(1905-2000)&oldid=169430.

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