Ira Wagler was born in the small Old Order Amish community of Aylmer, Ontario. At age seventeen, frustrated by the rules and restrictions of Amish life, he got up before dawn, left a note under his pillow, packed his duffel bag, and left. Over the course of the next five years, he would leave and return home numerous times, torn between the ingrained message that abandoning one's Amish heritage results in eternal damnation and the freedom and possibilities offered by the rest of the world. Only upon becoming a Christian at age twenty-six did he finally leave the Amish for good. He is currently general manager of Graber Supply, LLC, and Pole Building Co. in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
