WOW—what a fabulous celebration weekend we had in July! On the eve of the event, Donna-Mae and I were sharing our ‘biggest’ worries. Not that we hadn’t been thinking of what could possibly go wrong for the past 1½ years. Not that we had not communicated over all priorities, sentiments and contingency plans. But this conversation was more of what was weighing on our minds the eve of the BIG WEEKEND. My secret concern—no one would show up. Seriously, I was concerned that we just wouldn’t make our numbers on any of the events.
Well, I didn’t have that concern for long! On Saturday, over 358 folks were at our evening dinner, with 400 attending the 400th service on Sunday, and over 1200 at the combined reception with the city following the service at the Virginia Air & Space Center. Your active support was a gifted demonstration of what we are capable and served as a powerful witness… and I thank you for allowing me to be a part of it all. I feel humbled and blessed by your trust in my organizational abilities.
The experience reminds me of a saying from Mother Teresa that goes something like ‘What you are doing, I cannot do and what I am doing you cannot do, but together we are a strong extension of God’s love.’ Our celebration weekend was truly a Ministry of the Many. And I have so many to thank—for the assistance in planning, the actual execution, and of course… the clean up. In addition to your planning dream team that included the 2010 committee members and our two sets of vestry members (2009 and 2010), we had volunteers that stepped forward and took care of the details and followed through the execution. As I informed the Vestry afterwards, no one ever said no when asked to help—and that is truly a testament to how you felt about the celebration.
From the planning team, we had Melodye Dorst, Donna-Mae and John Siderius, Jim Tormey, Ann Ward, Charlie Edmonson, Kay Olson, Brian McMahon, Gwen Cumming, Greg Brauer, Whit McKinney, Harper Lewis, and Billie Einselen. But for the actual weekend, we were augmented by Jay Hogg, John Chisman, Bettyrene and Jack Pope, Kim Shoemaker, Nancy LeCuyer, Dan and Betsy Clark, Bob Harper, Bill Boyer, Ann Edgar, Bob Gay, Bill Rhode, Greta Harrison—and of course our time travelers. Our out of town visitors were a delight and contributed throughout the weekend as well.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the folks at the Crowne Plaza, who waived many of the traditional costs for us, as did the Virginia Air & Space Center. Thanks to Dick Fore for contributing the centerpiece flowers and to Baxter Simmons for being able to scale up for the crowd at Sunday’s reception. I can only wonder where we would have stood if not for Beverly Gundry and her faithful work. And the cemetery database has been delivered.
Originally published in St. John’s Epistle, September 2010.