birth_place birth_date dead article_title name
lancaster county , pennsylvania january 16 , 1949 dead anne f. beiler
 anne f. beiler
anne f. beiler

anne f. beiler is an american businesswoman and founder of auntie anne 's pretzels .
beiler was born into an old order amish family in lancaster county , pennsylvania , in 1949 .
when she was three years of age , her parents became members of the amish mennonite church .
growing up in a family of eight children , anne was the baker and bread maker among them .
when she was a teenager , she had a waitressing job that taught her about customer service .
later , she worked at a food stand at a farmers ' market .
it was there that she learned how to make pretzels the old-fashioned , pennsylvania dutch way -- soft and doughy .
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 pretzels they sold during the first weeks of owning their stand tasted `` horrible . ''
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 .
in 1989 , the first auntie anne 's franchises opened throughout central pennsylvania .
she is married to family counselor and author jonas z. beiler and the couple have two children , lawonna and lavale .
the couple 's daughter angela was killed in a farming accident at age 19 months in september 1975 .
on may 21 , 2005 , beiler received an honorary doctorate degree from elizabethtown college .
she also holds an honorary doctorate from eastern university .
in 2002 , beiler wrote a story book style autobiography entitled `` auntie anne : my story having no friends ' with illustrations by artist frieman stoltzfus '' .
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. .
beiler delivered a speech at the 2008 republican national convention on september 3 , 2008 .
beiler also appeared in abc 's `` the secret millionaire '' in 2013 .
