In the summer of 1980, only days ­after returning from our honeymoon, my wife and I set out with two Austrian friends, in town for the wedding, on a brief sightseeing tour. Included in the trip were the obligatory visits to Niagara Falls and the Empire State Building. But between those landmarks we stopped for the night in Aylmer, Ont., where we were hosted by David Luthy, a most unusual Amishman who was creating a world-class collection of Amish books, periodicals and artifacts while helping to direct a publishing enterprise that would have profound impact on the Old Order Amish community in North America.   

That visit marked the beginning of a friendship that would extend over the next 45 years. Although his death at the age of 84 on Oct. 21 may not be noted outside of Amish circles, Luthy led a remarkable life. Indeed, his intellectual curiosity, passion for history, entrepreneurial energy and colorful personality played a significant — if largely invisible — role in shaping contemporary Amish identity. 

Born into a Catholic family in Peoria, Ill., Luthy studied for a year at Villanova University before transferring to the University of Notre Dame as an English major. Following his graduation in 1964, he immediately enrolled in Moreau Seminary of the Congregation of Holy Cross with the intention of becoming a Catholic priest. Those plans were soon disrupted, however, when he encountered the Amish that summer while selling real estate in LaGrange County, Ind. 

Luthy was quickly impressed by the integrity and depth of Christian commitment he witnessed among his newfound friends. In 1967, after living for more than a year with an Amish family, he was baptized into the Amish church. That same year he moved to Aylmer, where he joined David Wagler and Joseph Stoll in a fledgling publishing venture, Pathway Publishers. 

At the time, there were approximately 35,000 Amish in the U.S. and Canada. Then, as now, Amish life tended to be quite local, rooted in face-to-face relationships and small church districts, with limited access to modern forms of communication and transportation. But Luthy and his colleagues recognized that the rapidly growing Old Order communities — separated by geography and polity — needed a shared literature tailored to their unique interests and concerns.  

Over the next half-century, Luthy would play a major role in the rapid growth of Pathway Publishers. In 1968, he and the other editors launched Family Life — a 40-page monthly periodical featuring articles on biblical principles, Anabaptist history and practical issues of Amish life, along with short stories, poems, medical advice and letters to the editor. Between 1968 and 2022, Luthy contributed a column, “Yesterdays and Years” — 282 in all! — which informed Amish readers on the history of their devotional literature, tracked settlement patterns, awakened interest in Amish folk art and provided updates on his collecting passions, which included family histories, images of Dirk Willems and rare editions of Anabaptist books.

At the same time, Luthy played a key role in publishing a series of graded readers and workbooks designed for use in Amish parochial schools. As the Pathway curriculum — rich in history and moralistic stories — expanded to include all eight grades, so too did the demand, which quickly included a growing homeschool market. 

Along the way, Luthy established the Pathway Heritage Historical Library, a world-class collection of Amish-related materials — including extensive newspaper clippings on a wide range of topics — that attracted scholars of the Amish from around the world. His exuberant and wide-ranging interests resulted in books on Amish devotional literature; the Dutch Anabaptist martyr, Dirk Willems; a history of the Martyrs Mirror; and a catalog focused on the work of Amish folk artist Barbara Ebersol. His best-known book, The Amish in America: Settlements That Failed, 1840-1960 (1986), told the stories of 100 unsuccessful attempts to start new Amish settlements.   

Luthy, who was nearly obsessed with factual accuracy and loved to enumerate his collections, once told me that between 2010 and 2020 Pathway sold more than 2 million books. In the meantime, Family Life — along with its companion periodicals, Blackboard Bulletin and Young Companion — continues to enjoy a wide readership. 

Today, 60 years after Luthy joined the Amish church, the Amish population in North America exceeds 405,000 baptized members, with new settlements emerging almost every month. It is almost certain that nearly every Amish home today has a publication bearing the Pathway imprint. If the Old Order Amish of North America have a shared sense of identity in the 21st century, it is due in no small part to Pathway Publishers and the creative vision of David Luthy.