Roots of Peoples United Methodist Church
Part 56 Sometimes It’s the Little Things
Sometimes the contributions that people make are easily forgotten because at the time they are not reported or recorded or haven’t been hailed as a major achievement.
That is certainly the case in the life of a church. Some of the items that will be recorded in this edition of Roots were one-time events while others may have taken place over several weeks or for that matter several years.
The contributions of one gentleman who was a long time member of Peoples until he moved with his mother, Elsie Johnson, to be with other family in New Jersey was Tommy Johnson. Tommy might be labeled a hero by a number of folks. Tommy was born with what one would think was a debilitating illness. Tommy, however, might be seen walking all over town, going to and supporting all of the high school and professional teams in the local area and working at Goodwill. At Peoples, Tommy was one who served at one time as the President of the Methodist Men and was a member for many years of one of the adult Sunday school classes. Tommy’s job relative to church services was to service the pew racks. He would faithfully check the pew racks for tracts, prayer cards and pencils. He would make sure that they were well supplied with reading tracts and would sharpen and replace pencils.
At the time that UMW encouraged the men to participate in the operation of Church Bean Suppers, Tommy bought 3 NESCO Roasting ovens, the same ovens that are used in preparing the beans even at the time that these episodes in the life of the church are being compiled. Many little things that Tommy was responsible for may have often gone unnoticed simply because there was no need to question whether the aforementioned needed to be done. Relative to the Bean Suppers it was always expected that Tommy would be the dispenser of tickets and the collector of money as people entered Ellis Hall.
While it may sound like something insignificant Hillie Cass and other members of UMW launched the collection of Campbell soup labels. Over the years thousands of these labels were collected and taken to the Cerebral Palsy Center in Portland. With the contributions of other collectors the Center was able to gain access to many physical training devices for their clients. Several items were added to their playground over nearly 20 years of collections.
Family life activities was chaired by Randy Pike and under his leadership a second "Mystery Ride" culminated in a picnic and game time for those participating at Wolf’s Neck State Park in Freeport. During the following winter Family Life sponsored a Midwinter Ball, the first of which was chaired by Ruth Doughty. Members of the church as well as those too young to be members yet and friends gathered in Ellis Hall to celebrate "Family" by dancing, listening to music and having a great meal exquisitely presented by resident chef, Brad Morrison.
Many times Brad has been willing to cater or take the lead at church functions that called for food to be served. Whether a meal after a church service or the treats prepared for a special function at church Brad could usually be found in the kitchen or at the buffet table with his broad smile and keen wit to share with those who have come to sample the delectable eats that he has prepared.
It should also be noted that Randy Pike as a trustee for many years went about the business of maintaining the financial trusts and also was the man to go to if something around the church needed repair. Certainly his efforts and the time dedicated to church business often went unnoticed by the majority of parishioners yet much appreciation is extended from those who had the opportunity to work with him. The contributions of the Pike family are quite numerous. Kit as mentioned earlier maintained the Cradle Roll for a number of years, but we also need to note that her music and art have graced the sanctuary and other church locations as well. Their three daughters were also active in the programs of the Sunday school and youth groups. These contributions are all given through the grace of our Lord and their dedicated involvement and shared talents are forever significant contributions to the life of Peoples Church.
Several individuals have taken turns in the last 20 years serving as Lay Worship Leaders. While serving on a monthly basis the volunteer might be responsible for a Call to Worship, Opening Prayer, reading of the scripture, and participation in first of the month communions with the pastor. Some who served in that position saw it as an opportunity to give a mini-sermon or a testimony, which may not have been the intent of the position. Presentations were usually very interesting and certainly gave the congregation a more in-depth look at the person holding the position and that person’s walk with Christ. Sometimes the person who was willing to serve in this capacity was quite surprising in that they might be quite shy in general, but would carry an unbelievable message in this role. The persons who volunteered represented all ages. Those willing to serve in this capacity might have been of school age while others might be the eldest members of the church body. Each person carried their own unique messages to the congregation, each an important contribution to the life of worship at Peoples.
Bridget Ramsdell was in part responsible for the continuation of the Toddler Nursery every Sunday. When she was not serving in that capacity she was responsible for making sure that there was a twosome signed up to take care of the youngest children every Sunday of the year. In that regard Peoples was well in front of the day when it became required to have at least two adults, not related responsible for caring for nursery through Junior Church.
Steve Ives who had served as Lay Leader then became responsible for the Stewardship Campaign. He said that while the amount of money pledged fell short of the goal in meeting the budget in 1994 it was a testimony to the Faith of the parishioners that Peoples would go ahead with the approved budget and work on meeting future needs as we progressed. He also was appreciative of the fact that some of the older leaders stepped aside and allowed some of the younger parishioners to take the lead, also showing their faith in new leadership.
Jim Braley was a gentleman who assisted the church program in a number of ways. He assisted with the Sunday school for a number of years with opening and closing exercises. He also was there when Andrea Harvey needed his help in a variety of ways with the MYF. His exploits with Witness, the men’s singing group, have already been noted. I would also wish to call the reader’s attention to the fact that Jim also headed up the Vision 2000 initiative. All the involvement of Jim may have gone unnoticed except for those that worked closely with him in these endeavors. Jim served without the need for recognition, the sign of a true Christian at work for the glory of his Lord.
Kathy Brann and Audrey McRae were two females that took on the task of keeping junior high age youth interested in the church. Faithfully they would meet with young men and women every week during the school year to learn more about the Lord and to have fun in the process. JMYF served as a good feeder program to MYF. Often when MYF had a major activity the JMYF may have been invited to participate.
Andrea Hodgkins Harvey grew up through the Sunday school at Peoples where her mother was a Sunday school teacher and one time church school superintendent. Her sister Hillary also came through the grades as did her brother Brian. Her father could often be seen working on some electrical problem anywhere within the church property. Andrea stayed with the church through school and through college staying in touch with the Sunday school and the MYF. In time she became the MYF coordinator and eventually the Sunday school superintendent. Of her exploits with the youth of Peoples noone would doubt her importance. Certainly the Sunday school and MYF children had many outstanding experiences many of which involved performance and music. The Psalty plays that she directed and the three musicals that teens performed in the 90’s were truly outstanding and attracted a number of teens to Peoples. They had a chance to perform and at the same time fellowship with other teens in an atmosphere of true spiritual meaning generated by the message of the plays and music. Any of these teens would not have had an association with church unless they had been invited to participate in "Joseph and His Technicolor Dreamcoat" or "Godspell" or "Children of God". Andrea dedicated much of her waking hours to young folks. Those were not the small things that we have made the subject of this episode in the life of Peoples. There are two items that I would like to recall that need to be part of this record that Andrea was responsible for. First and foremost, I think of the garden that was first developed by Andrea and the children of the Sunday school as a memorial to her mother Lorraine. That garden still exists today and while it from time to time has fallen into neglect survives today as a blossoming piece of land that can provide a place of solemnity just a few paces from busy Broadway. Others have had ideas about how that garden should look and a garden club of sorts eventually grew from membership to take care of that small plot. The garden area has also come to serve as a memorial to others with a bench placed there in memory of Bob Porter. Bob was a long-time active member of the Men’s Club, whose body was laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery in Washington, D C. This history is most concerned with what took place at Peoples until 2003, the year of our Sesquicentennial, dating from the establishment of the church in Ferry Village. We would add that the American flag and the pole that it flies on at the edge of the garden was erected as a result of a campaign led by Tom Nelson and Chuck Kamilewicz to raise money to honor those who have died in American wars in 2004. At any rate Andrea initiated the garden. The other item that may be small, but showed Andrea’s modernity and preparation for the future was that as Sunday school superintendent she was responsible for buying the church’s first computer.
While most of us have come to take the computer for granted in our lives. Andrea saw the initial value of such an instrument and went out and purchased the computer and then passed the bill on for payment. There may have been a slight struggle financially because of her forwardness, but at any rate the computer ---and those that have become integral to church operation since was initiated by Andrea. Many of the things that Andrea did while at Peoples went unnoticed or fanfare only took place after an action was taken.
Certainly there are many more seemingly "little things" that have been done by church folks that have not been included in this episode of "Peoples Roots". There is still time in the writing of these documents to mention and admire the "little contributions" that members of Peoples have done that are worthy of mention. If it were not for the little things of history many of the big things would never have taken place. When you read this episode or any other I welcome you input either by adding it as a commentary on the Blog or sending a note to me for inclusion in this series that have now spanned four or five years of writing. It is our desire that at some point in the near future we will have completed our task and will be able to publish a complete set of the episodes as well as a lot more material on families, pastors, memorials and organizations. We also hope to include pictures that would augment the value of such a collection.