Anne F. Beiler

Anne F. Beiler is an American businesswoman and founder of Auntie Anne's pretzels.[2]

Anne F. Beiler
BornJanuary 16, 1949 (1949-01-16) (age 72)
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
NationalityUnited States of America
OccupationBusinesswoman, author, motivational speaker
Known forFounder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels
Board member ofMuseum of the Bible
Spouse(s)Jonas Z. Beiler
Children3
AwardsEntrepreneur of the Year (Inc. Magazine)[1]

Early life

Beiler was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, one of eight children born into an Old Order Amish family, on January 16, 1949. When she was three years old, her parents made the decision to join the Amish Mennonite church, meaning that, though the family retained many Amish practices, such as farming and using a horse and buggy, they were allowed limited use of modern amenities, such as electricity.[3] She didn't graduate from high school, instead leaving her studies after completing the 8th grade, as most Amish children did in that time.[4]

Career

In 1987, Beiler started making hand-rolled pretzels at a market stand in Maryland. She then rented a stand in February 1988 in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, and called it Auntie Anne's Pretzels. The Beilers decided to tweak the recipe and found success. Anne had no previous business experience and only a ninth grade education, but she had eight stand alone stores and her first Auntie Anne's Soft Pretzels store in a mall after a year. The only advertising the company had was the rave reviews from their customers.[5] In 1989, the first Auntie Anne's franchises opened throughout Central Pennsylvania.[6]

Written works

In 2002, Beiler wrote a story book style autobiography entitled Auntie Anne: My Story with illustrations by artist Frieman Stoltzfus.[7] In 2008, Beiler penned a memoir with her nephew Shawn Smucker entitled Twist of Faith: The Story of Anne Beiler, Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels published by Thomas Nelson Inc.[8]

Speaking

Beiler delivered a speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention on September 3, 2008.[9]

Personal life

Beiler has two sisters, Fi and Becky,[10] and is married to Jonas Z. Beiler, an author and family counselor, by whom she has three children, daughters LaWonna (born 1971), Angela Joy (1974–1975), and Joy LaVale (born 1976).[11][12][13][14] Her middle daughter, Angela Joy Beiler, died at 19 months old, in a farming accident involving a Bobcat tractor driven by Beiler's sister Fi on the family's property in Pennsylvania.[15][16][17] Jonas and Anne married in 1968, when she was 18 years old and he was 21.[18][19] Like Beiler, her husband was raised in an Old Order Amish family.[20] By LaWonna, she has grandchildren, Trinity, Ryan, and Mia, and through her seven siblings, she has more than thirty nieces and nephews.[21][22][23] Dyslexia affects several members of her family.[24]

Beiler describes, in her memoir, her church's pastor having maintained secret sexual relationships with her and her sisters,[25] and that he had also molested her daughter LaWonna.[26]

Beiler holds two honorary doctorates, one from Elizabethtown College and another from the Eastern University, both schools located in Pennsylvania.[27][28] Like most Amish children in her time, she did not complete high school but she did go onto obtain her G.E.D. at the age of 50.[29][30]

Beiler also serves on the Board of Directors for the Museum of the Bible, affiliated with David Green, the founder of Hobby Lobby, which opened in 2017.[31]

References
  1. https://www.outreach.com/events/christian-speakers/Auntie-Anne-Beiler.aspx
  2. Ilan Mochari, In a Former Life: Anne Beiler, Inc.'s Small Business Success Newsletter, September 1, 2000
  3. "12 Facts About Auntie Anne's Pretzels". mentalfloss.com. 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  4. "9 Things You Didn't Know About Auntie Anne's". HuffPost. 2014-10-24. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  5. "Anne Beiler: A Twist of Faith". www.cbn.com. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  6. God has a plan Archived October 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Pentecostal Evangel, December 9, 2001
  7. Noble, Barnes &. "Auntie Anne: My Story". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  8. Twist of Faith: The Story of Anne Beiler, Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. 2010-01-11. ISBN 9781595553409.
  9. "2008 Republican Convention Day 3, Sep 3 2008 | Video | C-SPAN.org". C-SPAN.org. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  10. Twist of Faith: The Story of Anne Beiler, Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. 2010-01-11. p. 192. ISBN 9781595553409.
  11. Whitaker, Mark (2014). "Defying Pretzel Logic: Anne Beiler". Two Ten Magazine.
  12. "Jonas Beiler". Simon & Schuster. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  13. "United States Public Records, 1970-2009," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:29WJ-LFW : 23 May 2014), Joy Laval Beiler, Residence, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States; a third party aggregator of publicly available information.
  14. "Auntie Anne Beiler". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  15. "Angela Joy Beiler (1974-1975)". Find A Grave. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  16. "This Is the Deeply Moving, Almost Unbelievable Story Behind Auntie Anne's Pretzels". Time. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  17. Writer, SUSAN JURGELSKI Staff. "Twists of fate for Auntie Anne". LancasterOnline. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  18. "Auntie Anne's: Soft pretzels out of hard times". Fortune. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  19. "How The Real 'Auntie Anne' Used Pretzels To Save Her Marriage". HuffPost. 2016-10-11. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  20. "Jonas Beiler". Simon & Schuster. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  21. "9 Things You Didn't Know About Auntie Anne's". HuffPost. 2014-10-24. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  22. "Auntie Anne Beiler". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  23. "Into the Darkness - Twist of Faith: The Story of Anne Beiler, Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels". erenow.net. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  24. auntieannebeiler (2018-07-30). "Where There's A Will, There's A Way • Auntie Anne Beiler". Auntie Anne Beiler. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  25. Twist of Faith: The Story of Anne Beiler, Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. 2010-01-11. p. 193. ISBN 9781595553409.
  26. Twist of Faith: The Story of Anne Beiler, Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. 2010-01-11. p. 166. ISBN 9781595553409.
  27. "Anne Beiler 2017 · Truth At Work". Truth At Work. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  28. "Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels and named one of America's 500 Women Entrepreneurs". Accelerent. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  29. "12 Facts About Auntie Anne's Pretzels". mentalfloss.com. 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  30. "9 Things You Didn't Know About Auntie Anne's". HuffPost. 2014-10-24. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  31. "Leadership". www.museumofthebible.org. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
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