Neither I nor Carroll grew up as cradle Episcopalians. She grew up in the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches and I was raised Moravian – you know the cookie and star people. Fortunately for me I was a member of a Boy Scout troop at St. Thomas Episcopal in Reidsville, North Carolina, so I was familiar with the order of service and felt a kinship to the faith.
We met in school at UNC-G less than a year later we were married. That was the start of our journey together forty years ago. Carroll took the leap of faith and followed me to graduate school in Bethlehem, PA. For the first three years of our marriage we lived in Bethlehem, where I attended seminary and earned my master’s degree.
Upon returning to North Carolina, I served several Moravian Churches and I came to realize that my mission was to focus on community outreach. We wanted to help children and families and bring about healing in their lives, so we became Teaching-Parents with Methodist Home for Children. That was the start of our many years of service in several agencies working to help people overcome the trauma they experienced. That part of our journey took us to Raleigh, Carroll’s hometown, then to Asheville, and finally to Swansboro. While we were in Asheville, we joined Grace Episcopal Church and both of our children were confirmed in the Episcopal faith. During our time in Swansboro, I moved my membership from Grace Episcopal to St. Peter’s by the Sea and had four happy years of fellowship among those good people.
While living in Swansboro and working at a program in Jacksonville, an opportunity opened in Wilmington at Coastal Horizons Center as their Quality Improvement Training Director, and I was fortunate to step into that position. I commuted for four years from Swansboro to Wilmington every day and we decided we needed to get closer to my work – less time on the road and more with family.
In 2017 we settled in New Hanover County, and I began looking for another church to join. My daughter mentioned that there was an Episcopal church near my work and I should visit. My first experience was the early service and from that moment I knew I had found my new church home. After a while of going to eight o’clock my daughter agreed she would accompany me if I went to the later service and that is how I ended up at the 10:30 a.m. service.
Carroll and I have been blessed with two children – Robert and Kate. They in turn gave us the sweetest gift of four grandchildren – Atticus, Lilian, Finnegan, and Cooper. I am thoroughly convinced that if life was a meal the children are the vegetables, and the grandchildren are the dessert!
St. Paul’s feeds me in my walk with Christ and provides a community of faith in which to grow in my faith. I look forward to Sundays so I can participate in the Rite II, recite the creed, join in communal prayers, and receive Eucharist.