I grew up in the Lutheran Church in America, but what often happens to teens, especially entering college, I drifted away from organized religion. After graduating from George Washington University and starting my career in education, I had a renewed interest in the church.
Herb Gant introduced me to the Episcopal Church and visited several different parishes over the years in Washington. The time came when I decided to commit myself to the Episcopal Church, so I joined a month’s long confirmation class at All Saints Church Chevy Chase and was confirmed. Later, St. Paul’s K Street became my home parish. While there I organized and ran the parish’s biannual church sales, chaired the rector’s greeter’s committee, and was a member of the Fellowship Council. One goal of the council was to decide on how funds raised by the two sales would be distributed to local and national Episcopal and non-Episcopal organizations.
My thirty-two-year career in education was in Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia. I taught at the elementary, middle, and high school levels during my first ten years with the county and then returned to the middle school level for the next twenty-two years as Dean of Students…a position where my responsibility was not to just issue disciplinary action, but to help children resolve educational and social issues so they could make better choices in their lives. I retired from the county in 1999, and Herb and I moved to New Orleans. There I was hired by the Historic New Orleans Collection…a museum located in the French Quarter… the historic Quarter with all the sights and sounds of Mardi Gras 365 days a year!
In New Orleans, Christ Church Cathedral became our parish home for the next seven years. It was Hurricane Katrina that was the driving force that brought the two of us to Wilmington in 2007. The locals had said that the city’s levees would always protect the community. We learned otherwise. I don’t know if they did.
We visited all of Wilmington’s Episcopal Churches and settled at St. Paul’s in 2008. I have assisted Ronnie Wise’s ABC sale each year and hope to continue to do so.
Since 2007, I have volunteered at the Bellamy Mansion Museum as its Volunteer Coordinator, the Ex Officio Member of the Board, and the chair of the museum’s Volunteer Committee. If you happen to have a free Tuesday afternoon and have or have not visited the Bellamy, please consider taking our Premium Guided Tour at 2:00 PM. I would love to show you all our historic site.