Sue Owings comes to be with me.

Yesterday (Friday 5/2/2025), Sue Owings stayed with me while Ellen met her goddaughter, Ruthie, at a bookstore lunch place in Peterborough, NH. Sue is the second woman to fill that role - Terry Sylvester came a few weeks ago. We had a good visit and we also listened together to an audio recording of a Guilford service from Jan. 13, 1997 - on the theme "Beautiful Aging." That fits nicely into my retired clergy study on "aging with wisdom and grace," and I wanted to check it out to see if it was something I could play for that group. I thought Sue would enjoy hearing it - she knew Shirley well - and she did. I think I will play it for the men. Jack Bixby knew Shirley, who was serving in Guilford at the same time Jack was at Centre Church. Lee and Jeff have never heard or met her. Sue led the service in Guilford last Sunday and did a great job. Things are falling together nicely. Ellen's goddaughter, Ruthie, was testing the waters in Peterborough, so to speak, with regard to moving to NH on a more permanant basis. I guess she has decided not to. I have a feeling that the cost-of-living may have something to do with that decision, but it may also be more social. New Englanders can be sort of clique-ish sometimes, and newcomers can feel unwelcome. That was not my experience back in the 1950's when I came to Vermont, but being a minister also opens a lot of doors. I feel for Ruthie, who I think may feel lonesome.

Sue Owings