Catching up

I haven't been very disciplined about reporting on what we've done recently, or posting photos I've taken. The everyday sort of thing. So let's go back to last Thursday. I got an email from my friend, Phil McKean, which had a link to a memorial service that was held for Deborah McKean out in California, at Pilgrim Place, a retirement community in Claremont, CA that was created originally for United Church of Christ retired missionaries, clergy and academics. I don't think it is exclusively for such people but they may get preference for finding a place there. Phil and Deborah fit that profile - Phil is a retired UCC minister and they both were missionaries in Indonesia back in the 1960's; Phil is also a retired college professor - he taught for a few years at Hampshire College in Massachusetts. Phil and Deborah have had an apartment at Pilgrim Place for quite a few years, but during the pandemic, when they wanted to fly from their summer home in Maine back to Clarement, and there was an airline policy requiring masks, Deborah's Alheimer's condition made that impossible - she could not tolerate wearing a mask, and could not understand why she had to. So they stayed in Maine, she went into a nursing home in Camden, ME, and that is where she died last April. There was a memorial service for her in September - see the post for September 25th - but now Phil has gone back to Clarement, and since friends there had not had the opportunity to honor her life, they held a service there in a lovely Japanese garden which is on the grounds of Pilgrim Place. So I watched the video, and it was very moving to see and hear my godson, Tom, sing once again (he lives in California), to see and hear Phil again, and also get to "meet" their friends at Pilgrim.Place, which, by the way, Ellen and I Visited on one of our many trips a decade or so ago, soon after the McKeans moved there, so it not an entirely strange place for me. Their daughter, Susannah, was not able to be there, but some of Phil's extended family - relatives of his sister - were there and participated in the service. The big surprise for me was to see Rev. Ron Evans in the service. Ron served the church in Deerfield, MA - about 30 miles south of Brattleboro, Vermont on Route 5 - back in the 1970's, and he filled the pulpit at the Guilford Community Church just before Shirley became the minister there in 1976. So I knew Ron, and did not know (or did not remember!) that he was at Pilgrim Place or was a friend of the McKeans. But there he was, giving the sermon at Deborah's memorial service, and I caught him in a screen shot. He's looking good!

Rev. Ron Evans. ****************************** Later on Thursday, Ellen and I made our little trip to Grandma Miller's Bakery, where they have the Morninglory Muffins that I love, and on Thursday they make a special bakery treat - chocolate eclairs. So we try to go on Thursdays. I went in amd got a photo of the entry hall - sort of unusual - a big world map which allows visitors to put a push pin into their home town - people obviously come there from all over the world! The wall around the map is covered with vintage pie tins. It's a unique spot. And in the midst, a funny sign - see below. When we got home, I took a picture of our entryway at the house where Ellen had put the bouquet she had made for the altar at the Guilford Church a week ago - still looking very nice surrounded by colorful gourds.

House entryway.

Visitor home towns map at Grandma Miller's Bakery

Don Rickles is, of course, a comedian specializing in "insult" comedy.

That delicious eclair! And then Saturday night, we went to a birthday party for Robin Davis - and sort of for Ellen too, because she and Robin share a birthday - which was at the home of their son, Arthur, and his wife, Emma (they were just married a couple of weeks ago. That was fun because we had never been inside their home before. It is an older home in a nice neighborhood in Brattleboro which they were able to buy just before house prices went crazy. The meal was great - they had a baked ham from Rebop Farm where Arthur works occasionally, sweet potatoes, two salads, and Ellen brought a spinich pie. Emma had made an almond flour pie with blueberry filling which was delicious. Nice home, nice people, nice meal, nice time. And then today was the Windham-Union Association meeting after another very lovely service in Guilford, another life story, this time told by Carole Crompton. Every one of these stories is very special. But then, what would would one expect? We are all unique.

Robin and Ellen contemplating their cake.

Arthur and Emma Davis