01/09/2026
An old story, keep your bones warm by reminiscing of the Florida days.
A Stoltzfus Living in the South
By Elam S. Stoltzfus
33 years ago I came to the South to take on what I thought was a temporary job in Atmore, Alabama, with We Care Prison Ministries working on audio and video productions. I fell in love with a southern girl, and we decided to stay in Florida to raise our children. Being a Stoltzfus in the South has its challenges. First, Southerners have a hard time saying Stoltzfus with the correct German accent. They drop all the consonants and elongate the vowels so it sounds more like Stahl-fus instead of the way my parents taught me how to pronounce it, Shtoltz-foos.
When I was attending the local community college, many of the professors struggled with my last name. At the beginning of the semester, when the professors were going through the roll call, they would call out the names, most of them standard Southern names, “Bailey, Conner, Daniels, Jackson, Smith...” And then there was a hesitation, and a look of befuddlement. I knew they were trying to figure out how to say my name. So I soon learned when there was that pause, I would just say, “Present!” And my classmates by then knew it was me, so my response was followed by a chuckle.
And the pronunciation is just one thing—spelling Stoltzfus is an entirely different matter. Southerners aren’t using to having a “z” in a last name: “Is that a ‘z’ or a ‘c’?” And my first name Elam just throws off everyone. The last time I ordered a chicken sandwich at the local Chik-Fil-A, when the server came and said my first name, it was with a voice of distress, not sure how to pronounce the name, and unsure of whether she was supposed to give it to a man or a woman. Sometimes, people will connect my first name to the last name of the one-eyed Western actor in cowboy movies, Jack Elam. O they’ll connect it to the place kicker with the Denver Broncos, Jason Elam.
Getting back to the Stoltzfus name, I guess you can take a Stoltzfus out of Lancaster but you can't take the Lancaster out of a Stoltzfus. What do I mean by that?
Recently I was checking into a hotel in south Florida. When I gave the receptionist my name, the person behind me in line piped up and said, “We just came from Lancaster County; there were Stoltzfuses everywhere! Are you from Lancaster?” I explained that I was from there, but now I live and work in Florida.
When I first started working in Florida, I was set to give a presentation to a corporate board. When I first walked into the room, one of the men looked at my name on the presentation schedule and then looked up at me and asked, “Elam Stoltzfus—are you an Amish from Pennsylvania?” My response was, “Yes I am!”
As I travel across Florida, I meet Stoltzfuses and people with connections to the Stoltzfus name (especially in Sarasota!). Coming across “freundschaft” always warms my heart. I know that, although I now live in the South, I still have a connection with Lancaster and my Stoltzfus heritage.
