Yeakley

Ron Yeakley


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Ron Yeakley grew up in Myerstown, Pennsylvania, and spoke the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect with  his grandparents and parents.  As a child, he worked on local Amish and Mennonite farms digging potatoes and in tobacco sheds stripping and sorting cigar wrappers.  As a teenager, he clerked in a local general store and was a soda jerk at a drive-in restaurant. He attended Temple University in Philadelphia, where he graduated with a degree in broadcasting.  Following two years in the U.S. Army, he jumped into his '49 Ford and drove to Los Angeles.

He attended UCLA film school and worked as a promo producer at the ABC-TV network in Hollywood.  Joining two other Temple grads, he produced educational and cultural progams for the University of Southern California.  Disney executives saw his work and hired him as a second-unit film director prior to his promotion to Manager of Advertising and Promotion.  Eight years later, Ron left Disney to join an advertising agency in Los Angeles where he was an executive on the Sea World and Las Vegas Hilton accounts.  As an advertising consultant, Ron continues to work part-time in advertising for the Medieval Times Dinner Theaters and Catalina Express.

Ron and his wife, Pat have been married for 46 years and have travelled to 56 foreign countries.  They have two children, and two incredible grandchildren.

Death Takes a Buggy Ride: A John Lapp/Sallie Stoltzfus Mystery

Ron Yeakley
iUniverse (2007)
ISBN 9780595404278
Reviewed by William Phenn for Reader Views (2/08)

Read the review on ReaderViews.com

Synopsis: On a cold, rainy night in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, an Amish man named Jacob Stoltzfus drives his horse and buggy along a two-lane road when a
car-full of kids viciously rams the buggy. When he stops to inspect the damage, a man in a pickup truck pulls over and demands Jacob give him the bag he is carrying. When the bandana obscuring the intruder's face slips off, the thief shoots and kills Jacob.

Pennsylvania State Trooper John Lapp, who left the Amish faith fifteen years earlier, is called to the crime scene. He grew up with Jacob and was once in love with the victim's widow, Sallie. The Amish, a religious sect that shuns modern life, do not see revenge and will not assist in finding Jacob's killer. That is, until Jacob's slightly retarded brother, Amos, is charged with the murder.

While Lapp struggles with the disappointments in his own life, his investigation puts him in constant contact with Sallie. He finds himself frequently wondering if he could return to farming and accept the restraints of Amish life or if Sallie would even have him. In his search for the real killer, Lapp sets up a chain of events that reveal the shocking truth behind Jacob's murder.