Page 16 - MLD Book

1981
Many of us who had been particularly close to Lou and Joan threw a party in our basement that purposefully was designed to mark their departure to Redlands with an outlandishly funny party. The entertainment was a complete service of Rite four and a half, executed on January 24, 1981. Since there had been so much controversy at Calvary about the new prayer book and rites, the outlandish spoof of rite 4 1⁄2 was ultra appropriate and we had
much fun with it.
Somehow we got a spinet electronic device into our basement, and I was able to make it sound as awful as possible. The prelude was a medley on St. Gertrude, a hymn I had been accused of hating and refusing to program ever! We still have a video of the proceedings if anybody has a device on which it can still play. The whole choir dressed up in plastic sacks as vestments, the crucifer carried a mop in the procession, and Ned Reiter officiated in his most English accent. The processional was sung to Nicaea, with special words beginning each verse with tacky, tacky, tacky, and going on from there to cover various complaints that Lou received over the years, especially from Mrs. Knowles, Whitney Hardy’s mother. The prayers and lessons were all rewritten, including tactful sayings from the Book of Iris; hymns included the Derby song, Lesbia’s song, and the Bedbug song, while the sermon hymn and recessional were rewritten by me to cover yet more happenings in the life of Lou at Calvary. The postlude was Toccata in f MINOR by Widor, where I attempted to recreate the famous toccata on the electronic device in a minor key instead of the major one. It was quite a party!!!!
And so the SEARCH for a new Rector began. I look back on the process now and rejoice that it took a shorter time than is now recommended, with fancy interims trained to turn the parish upside down for as long as three years. Our vestry in January of 1981 formed a search committee of eleven people and you could not have envisioned a more diverse or unique group, and that was as it should be. Barret Hill was voted chairwoman by the committee, and conducted looooong meetings lasting up to six hours. I was chosen as a member in order to champion the music program. Ned Reiter was the secretary, and Judy Chambers and Ellen Wood represented the older contingent. Whitney O’Bannon and Downey Gray were the warden reps, and Ken Wempe, Dade Luckett, Terry McCoy, and Carol Spanyer rounded out the group. I still have visions of Downey Gray, dandruff as usual on his coat, stretched out on the couch in the rector’s office where we met, sparring with Terry McCoy on just about everything in order to carry on the philosophy of taking the opposite view on whatever was introduced. A detailed report is supposedly on file someplace at Calvary, although I wonder where. I do have one! It chronicles the first meetings when the rector profile and job descriptions were finalized, and by April, a questionnaire was sent to the entire parish, with 33 percent return. That’s supposed to be good. Bishop Reed insisted that our list of nine wasn’t long enough and extended it – and the time frame to wait for the resumes – to 45. We finally narrowed it back down to eight.
Eight prospective candidates were then visited by committee members in groups of three during the first part of the summer. I went on a couple and my team was Downey Gray and Judy Chambers. I remember vividly that Downey picked me up on the way to the airport to interview Ben Sanders in Memphis, and around the corner, we noticed a house on fire. The occupants were apparently asleep and we had to wake them up and call the fire department. We were credited with saving the people as well as the house. WE wondered if this were an omen. In retrospect, I cannot imagine why Ben, facing us three decidedly unique individuals, would EVER have been attracted to Calvary! Judy chain smoked small