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| I would guess this was taken about 1993-4. I think this is the back side yard of our house at 728 Avenue A, under the big Magnolia tree. |
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| Starbucks, May 22, 2018 - Rev. Nanci Hicks, Sheila and Terrell Shaw |
I snuck a picture as Rev. Hicks pronounced our benediction today. That beautiful hand-carved God Is Love pulpit dates at least to before 1939 and likely to the 1800s. It includes the logo and motto of the old Epworth League of the Methodist Episcopal Church South: "All For Christ" . The Omega banner is appropriate I suppose for a day of completion.
And after the service many of us celebrated her ministry with a shared meal and fellowship. There were tears, of course, but there were also laughs and hugs.
None of us know for sure where Nanci's ministry will take her next, but she will be a blessing wherever that is. I hope it'll be somewhere close by.
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| Today, October 22, 2023 |
Many much-loved and influential people in my life have been Trinity folks like Burnita Burton, Jim Smith, Annie Beth Terrell, Chastine Parker, Hugh & Jeanne Holt, Bobby Storey, Brady (Buster) Drummond, Mike Burton, Lynn Popham, Sam Evans, Wint Barton, Grant Magness, Rachel Jones, Kam Malone, and pastors like James Sanders, Scobie Branson, Paul Hanna, George Freeman, David Campbell (I could go on!) and, of course, Nanci Hicks. That's not even counting my family members. Virtually every day of my life I will pass our former church campus as I leave or return to Avenue A. There will some pain every time I see that beautiful building but that will diminish with time, like other deaths in the family.
But (again barring something unexpected) we will find a new church home and life will go on.
I cannot pretend not to have some anger about how all this came about -- about 15% of the membership actually cast votes to disband. The General Conference should not have allowed that to be possible. But I must admit a majority voted, whether they meant to or not, by staying home from the vote. I am trying to deal with my anger in love. I truly do love many of the very folks who made this terrible decision, I believe, out of their fear and prejudice.
Lillian and Jordan seem to me to be kindred spirits. They join their lives officially later this week. I believe they know that love is a choice.
Here's a bit of verse I wrote a long time ago about the choice and promise they are making. Lillian's older sister has labeled the sentiments in this little bit of verse as "Dad's rant". Despite her teasing she too recognizes its truth I believe Yes there must be attraction, compatibility, passion, and more. But it is not love until there is commitment -- a promise.
I pray this will be a joyful, exciting, fun-filled, and love-filled time as we celebrate their love and the beginning of their life together.
Listen, Daughters
To Brannon and Lillian
Listen, daughters.
Be careful what you name love:
It is not so cheap as musk or fate;
It is not so easy as a fall.
Hear the wisdom of age;
Hear your father’s voice!
Love is a promise.
Love is a choice.
by Terrell Shaw
This one dates to my adolescence. I think it was published in our college literary magazine.
Faces
Floating fragments of memory tease my mind.
Your many faces are arranged
and rearranged before my mind’s eye.
I am never sure who you really are.
But real is an arbitrary root
over which I stumble like an infant
over nothing really.
Love is only real.
But you have really never Loved and
God is Love, and Lord knows,
He’s not in vogue this year in abstract time,
when like a child’s useless toy
the windup clock is pounding away fractions
of something that can have no whole.
by Terrell Shaw
Our beloved old Money Pit is being fed major portions of our children's inheritance again, beginning this morning. We hope to have the front porch repairs and painting done, thanks to Will Pinson and his crew, in time to look nice for the wedding festivities. And a start will be made on the back porches as well we hope. And a roofing issue will be fixed. Then we have a long list of more involved stuff. It is never-ending. It all began a little past eight this morning with good wash with water and a little Clorox.
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| They kindly covered my flowers; I hope they can survive this. |
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| I take good citizenship seriously and so carefully choose my candidates and support them all I can... even by plastering their campaign signs on my yard. This year I am pleased to support the three you see here: Incumbents Bonny Askew and Sundai Stevenson and newcomer and our friend Charles Love. I also support Mark Cochran and Bill Collins -- though I don't have their signs yet. This is an off-off-year election. An astonishingly few votes will make the difference between the six who are elected and the three who are not. Please vote, however you vote. I believe these five candidates will think of our current needs and they will also always keep in mind our posterity as they make decisions representing us as our public servants. |
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| We even have a new temporary structure out back. It's the first time since 1951 that I have lived in a dwelling with an outhouse. We tol' 'em they were welcome to use the indoor facilities, but I s'pose porta-potties are standard accoutrements of homesite projects these days. |
I love springtime at Arrowhead, especially the little gully just south of the big beaver pond that fills with the blooms of spring ephemerals in March and April: Mayapples, Sweet Betsy, Foam Flower, Wild Geranium, Star Chickweed -- as well as lots of Red Buckeye trees from tiny sprouts to good sized trees..
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| Buckeyes blooming at Arrowhead. |
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| Here is that transplanted Buckeye... |
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| ...and here you can see its first two fruits... |
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| ...and today the one dropped to the ground and I went ahead and took its sibling. They are not good for eating, as a matter of fact are mildly poisonous, but Native Americans leeched the poison from them in water then pounded them to meal (as they did with acorns) to make an edible paste. Oldtimers say, though, that it ts a good idea to carry one in your pocket, for luck. |
Dear Reader
Mind must convince mind that it can wave the same filaments of subtlety, soul convince soul that it can give off the same shimmers of eternity. - Robert Frost
Stroll gently through this park of secret dreams.
I do not often come here with friends.
I want you to stay,
Through every joy, pain and fear:
to know and be known
to hear and be heard,
each tone and texture,
all scents and every delicious portion.
Can they be mine alone?
Be patient,
Walk softly through my gallery:
Do you hear?
Do you know?
Do you dream too?
by Terrell Shaw
When I became a card-carrying member of the Columbia Record Club, while still in High School about 1963 or 64, Pete Seeger's Carnegie Hall "We Shall Overcome" album was one of the twelve albums I chose with my membership.
I just got back from a 20 minute meeting of the Trinity United Methodist Church Council. We turned in our clergy review forms for 2023 and took two required (though absurd) votes to
(1) approve the 2024 (non-existent) Church Council members. I abstained; I would not give even imaginary support to leaders who would choose to disband the church.)
(2) set a salary for a (non-existent) pastor for 2024. I approved the imaginary salary; I would have approved one-dollar or a million --- in this case identical sums.
Barring some unexpected matter arising that requires a council vote before the church disbands, this was the final meeting of the Trinity United Methodist Church Council. After 148 years of service our congregation will officially disband on November 30, 2023. Each of its remaining 800 plus members will be, at least temporarily, without a church home.
As I waited afterwards for the Turner McCall light to change so I could walk toward home I noticed the sign sadly and appropriately fading away.
For Sheila, Brannon and Lillian
The one I chose, who chose me too;
The one we planned, who startles so;
The one for all, who’s most her own—
To find this place, with the three of you;
And all our love!
Any foregone woe,
The terrors and tears in years alone,
I count as only paving stone.
- by Terrell Shaw
Today Sheila and I attended the graveside memorial service for Patsy Dooley Goodrich. We did not know Patsy well and only met her a few times through of dear friend and Patsy's sister, Laurie Craw. The service was led by the Rev. Natalie Falkner pastor of Cave Spring United Methodist Church. The Rev. Keith Drew, a former pastor at that church sang one of my favorite songs, Morning Has Broken, accompanying himself on guitar. He also delivered an eloquent eulogy and led the family and friends in singing Amazing Grace,
Here is the online obituary posted by the funeral home.
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Patsy Dooley Goodrich, 79, of Winterville, GA passed away on September 7, 2023 at a hospital in Athens, Georgia after a long illness.
Known to her friends as Pat, she was born in Floyd County, Georgia on October 9, 1943, daughter of Posey A. and Bonnie Teat Dooley. She is survived by her husband, James Goodrich of Winterville; sister, Laurie Dooley Craw, brother-in-law, Steve Craw of Cave Spring; niece, Rachel Craw of Brooklyn, NY; nephew, Sam Craw of Atlanta and two step-daughters, Laura Brown and Stephanie Goodrich.
She was a graduate of Cedartown High School and the University of Chattanooga, where she earned a BS degree in Medical Technology. She began her career as a Medical Technologist and retired from the US Department of Agriculture, Russell Research Center in Athens.
Patsy was an avid traveler and outdoors adventurer. She and her husband visited every continent and had many adventures in jungles, mountains, oceans, glaciers and deserts of the planet and delighted in all the nature and animals they encountered. She was a longtime member of the Athens Rock and Gem Club and the local Red Hat Club and held a private pilots license.
She is remembered by family and friends as a gracious lady devoted to family and friends. A strong, self-reliant woman with a big heart.
A graveside service will be held on Thursday, September 14, 2023 at 11:00am in the family lot of the Northview Cemetery.
One of the great joys of my life was the opportunity to perform as Archiebald Craven in the glorious musical play The Secret Garden with BOTH of my daughters. A few years later I had to settle for a supporting role as old Ben the gardener -- I had aged out of the Archie role. BUT my disappointment was greatly assuaged by getting to share the stage again with one of my daughters. This time Lillian played the role Brannon had played the first time, and like her older sister before her she made this song a real showstopper.
Here's Lillian singing "Hold On"...
Saturday, September 2, 2023, 1-3 pm
Public Tour Tickets: $10
Dates:
– Held every first Saturday, Apr – Sept , 1 pm to 3 pm
– Public tours are not offered in October
Clocktower Fall Spectacular – 1st Saturday in November
– A first Saturday November tour is held 5 to 6 pm. This tour is ideal for amateur and professional photographers who want to capture the fall colors.
Tickets are non-refundable unless cancelled by organizer. To avoid online ticket fees, tickets may also be purchased by cash in-person: Georgia’s Rome Gift Shop & Welcome Center (at both the Jackson Hill & history center locations) Ticket sales benefit the Rome Clocktower Restoration Fund. Limit 20 people at clocktower top at a time.
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| Inmate # PO1135809 |
