From Plain to Plane

My Mennonite Childhood, a National Scandal, and an Unconventional Soar to Freedom

By: Patty Bear

Narrated by: Patty Bear

Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Famous Shunned Mennonite's Daughter Finally Breaks Her Decades-Long Silence

In 1972, Patty Bear’s father, Robert Bear, was excommunicated from their church and subsequently shunned by members including Gale, his wife. For Amish and Old Order Mennonites, known as “Plain People”, shunning is a biblical practice meant to bring wayward members back into the community’s fold. 

But Robert Bear was enraged. Within months, the tranquil life Patty and her five siblings had enjoyed on a bucolic Pennsylvania farm was upended as their father’s anger gave way to abuse.

Raised to be a silent, submissive, and obedient Mennonite woman, Gale stoically turned the other cheek as Robert hit, humiliated, and gaslighted her. Even as Robert’s tactics escalated to tormenting Patty and her siblings, depriving the family of money and food, tirading publicly against them and hiring a PR agency to portray him as a presumed victim, Gale and the children remained silent. The campaign garnered explosive news coverage: Good Morning America, People Magazine, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The New York Times were among the dozens of outlets that portrayed Robert as an innocent victim of a coldhearted wife and a misguided church.

In From Plain to Plane: My Mennonite Childhood, a National Scandal, and an Unconventional Soar to Freedom, Patty Bear reveals the truth about what the Bear family silently endured for decades and how she managed to break free - ultimately entering the US Airforce Academy and becoming one of a tiny percentage of female pilots and airline captains. Her story illustrates how trauma can sometimes be a path to liberation. Equal parts vivid and dark, heartbreaking and heroic, From Plain to Plane demonstrates abusers’ insidious methods, how easy it is to manipulate public opinion, and the resounding power of speaking up.

©2021 Patricia Bear (P)2021 Patricia Bear

Loved Patty’s story!

Patty has a fascinating story you will love to hear about. She was brave, courageous, and smart.

Excellent

I normally don’t like stories about Mennonite families. But this came highly recommended. All I can say is I believe this to be a very true story. Thank God she was rescued by the Air Force.

Heartfelt read with my insights into charting our own path no matter our personal circumstances.

A woman’s tale of childhood trauma due to her father’s emotional abuse. Patty’s candid recounting of her life and uncovering of an abuser manipulations will have you in tears over and over. But there is a happy ending for the determined little girl readers will come to adore.
This book made me thankful for my childhood, imperfect in its own right, and inspired me to analyze my goals in life and how to achieve them.

Proof ill-informed press info can destroy a family

It's amazing that Patty, her siblings, and her mother escaped the world she was born into and survived the years of lies that her father fed to the press and the courts. No one bothered to think there is always two sides to every story. No, the public fell for it hook, line, and sinker and caused more emotional damage to the family on top of all the emotional and physical damage the father continued to cause for years. I believe her 100% as I also escaped a similar fate with family in a strict religious sect, but fortunately mine did not involve a hounding by the press and public.