Senior Adult Ministry: Senior Spotlight

Interview by Sam Thompson

Dorothy Brandenburg Handley was born in Athens on Nov. 27, 1931. Dot and her family lived at 420  Boulevard not far from First Presbyterian Church. Dot lived through the 1930s Depression and WorldWar II. She remembers being at school in 1938 when her teacher brought a radio to hear the reports of Hitler invading Poland. It was during the war that the street car tracks on Boulevard were pulled up and  the metal used to support our war efforts. Dot also remembers the Scutter house that use to occupy the corner of Hancock and Lumpkin St. before the downtown post office was built next door to our church.

Dot and Norman Handley eloped and were married in Calhoun Falls, SC. Norman served in the 82nd Airborne and after the war he worked in real estate. Dot began working for Southern Bell – we now know it as AT&T. She “loves figures” and found herself assigned to support positions in engineering, accounting and
many other departments. She was called the “cat lady” because her cat Midnight had quite a few litters of kittens. Dot’s current four legged companion is Priscilla. Dot tells us many of her phone calls begin with, “How is Priscilla?” Ask Dot about when and how Priscilla joined her household and the connection to the Apostle Paul – it’s quite a story!

Dot loves First Presbyterian Church where she has been a member for 52 years. She considers it her home. She has worked with the youth, youth choir and delivered Meals on Wheels. She has also been a caregiver for her mother, daddy, husband, aunt and brother and continues caring for her sister, who is a First Presbyterian member. You may see Dot on Sunday morning as she faithfully serves our church by collecting the attendance and collection from Sunday School classes. On Monday morning she returns to the church where she puts those years of accounting to work assisting Laura McHugh, our staff accountant. Thank you, Dot!

Dot remembers that her daddy had “the patience of Job” and that he saw to it that their family observed Sunday as a day of rest.  Faith has always been a part of her life and her favorite hymns are: What a Friend We Have in Jesus, and Joy to the World.  Her favorite scripture is John 3:16 and the life lesson she mentioned was:  Love is the greatest & Faith comes from love.  Dot has always believed: “God was with me.”

 
Dot is an amazing member of our First Presbyterian Church family, thank you Dot for all the ways you have served and continue to serve.

Senior Adult Ministry: Senior Spotlight

 It was interesting to look through what some of our church staff call, our church’s - Book of Life - actually it’s the Membership Book of Athens First Presbyterian Church – on one of the first pages you will find the name:

 Marie Montez Scott. 

Marie’s name was recorded as a new member over 80 years ago.  During a recent morning conversation with Marie, that included her brother George & John Kipp she said “I was born into the church, our church has had a tremendous influence on my life.  It is like my second home.”  At the present time, Marie has been a member longer than anyone in our congregation.

Marie thoughtfully prepared remarks about her memories but cautioned – “they are as I remember them, not necessarily as they were.”   She began by telling us that First Presbyterian Church Pastor E. L. Hill, our pastor from 1908 to1949, married her mother and father and following the birth of an older brother & sister their third child - Marie was born in Athens on Feb. 19, 1917.  A treasured picture in Marie’s living room shows the Scott family just 20 years later.  It was taken on the Sunday after her mother’s death.  In the picture Marie is a lovely young woman who then became a second “mother” to her brothers & sisters along with help from their young cook Lucy.  Marie says about those years after her mother’s death: “Lucy & I tried to keep the house going.” After their mother’s death, older siblings Connie & Eugene returned to work and the three younger children, Anna Louise (Nan), Julian & Stella returned to school.  Brother George was just five and started school the following Sept.

An early memory of the Scott home on Mell street offered quite a bonus, because a house two doors away belonged to a former First Presbyterian Church pastor Dr. Walden.  His daughters were very active in our church.  Miss Julie Walden and Mrs. Mae Walden Morton taught Sunday school classes and Miss Carrie Walden was Marie’s kinder garden teacher at Lucy Cobb.  At another home on Wilcox Street lived a next door neighbor Miss Laura Blackshire – beloved aunt to Laura Fortson.  Laura frequently visited in Miss Laura’s home.  Marie shares – “Laura Fortson is one of my oldest friends, along with Grace Winston Stephens, and later I became best friends with Sarah Carlton Pearson Proctor and her family.  Years later Laura Fortson and I were members of the same Presbyterian Women’s Circle.”

When asked about her memories of the church in the 1930’s Marie remembered the opening exercises of the Sunday School. She told us the children and their teachers began in what is now the Children’s Ministry Suite where they would gather and sing hymns on the wooden pews that we still find throughout our church. 

There were constant connections with First Presbyterian Church.  Even walks and drives thru Athens would remind Marie of her former Sunday school teachers: Miss Edna (Mrs. Edna Garland Hulme), and Mrs. Hartford, and Bob Stephens.  She reports “I am interested in the comings and goings of my family which includes my church friends.” It was a blessing when her brother George returned to Athens after retirement and became active in our church.  She says “He can keep me informed about many of my church friends.”  Not surprisingly, she hears from and has visits from many, church members.  She has fond memories of Sunday School, and those that led those classes.  She mentions the kindness of Richard & Fran Lane who “took me to Sunday School and church for many years.”

Marie’s devotion to her family is so much a part of who she is.  She mentioned her brother George and niece Barbara Carlson “who I couldn’t get along without”, her pride in great niece Tanner Scott, her appreciation of her nurse Sonia, and friend Mary.

There are others parts of Marie’s life that included her work at our local Ben Epps Airport.  As record keeper she was there to record the two tornadoes that tore off the tin roof. She was also employed by Wilkins Industries and for many years at UGA in the Dairy Sciences Dept. But her life has always included, and will continue to include, a heartfelt and sincere devotion to First Presbyterian Church and to those of us who consider it our church home.

Senior Adult Ministry's Senior Spotlight: John Kipp

Interview of John Kipp

By Alex Noakes
 

Our First Presbyterian Church family has an incoming freshman at MIT as well as a grad – Alex Noakes & John Kipp.  The two sat down for a chat and Alex asked questions about John’s life experiences, faith development and what he experienced as a student at MIT.

John was born in 1936 & was baptized at age 5.  He remembers holding his parents hands, and as they returned to their pew after his baptism John was heard by the congregation to ask his parents about the “Holy Ghost.”

He became a Presbyterian at age 12 & at 17 had a conversion experience.  He was alone in the woods, at night praying when he said “I knew then, that God heard me.”

Growing up John was exposed to lots of music & his love of music grew & and continues even today.  He played baritone horn in school and that resulted in a scholarship to attend Valley Forge Military School.  He spent two summers at Interlochen Music school and camp in Michigan.  He was offered a scholarship to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY but by that time he had committed to attend MIT.

While at MIT his faith grew.  Some of his friends suggested that a Reformed Presbyterian minister visit him weekly.  John credits this minister with teaching him how to read the Bible & to pray.  During this time & over the span of three years he memorized 3 verses a day and studied a chapter in the Bible each week.  While at MIT he attended the Park Street Presbyterian Church.

One of the organizations that added to his faith development was the Navigators.  This group began in Colorado and was created as a non-denominational religious group by the Navy.  Another meaningful group was Intervarsity.  They held weekly Bible studies in the dorms.  While at MIT John helped to create the Campus Christian Fellowship and served as their president.  John & Dottie his first wife were married the week he graduated from MIT.

After MIT, John applied to Princeton but wasn’t accepted and instead began working for Proctor & Gamble.    John had been in ROTC & therefore had an obligation to serve 3 years of active duty.  Instead of entering Princeton John entered the military and was sent to Mississippi to attend a 10 week radio school course.  After completing that course he was stationed in Redbluff, CA where he was 1 of 6 officers serving at a radar station.   John became active in the Redbluff Presbyterian Church and that church played a large part in his faith development.  While there, he was elected an Elder and also served as a youth leader. The church asked him to preach and conduct a funeral and all of his experiences, continued to confirm his sense of call to ministry.  At the end of his 3 year military commitment, he reapplied to Princeton and was accepted and a month later entered Princeton.  John would love to tell you how his Mother’s phone call played a part in all of this.

He has many favorite hymns but mentioned his love of:  Great is Thy Faithfulness.

The best life lesson: it reflects in part this stage of his life – He feels a gentler approach and broader focus on people and to life in general.

The most important lesson he has learned evolved from two of his life experiences – the death of his first wife & surviving kidney cancer and the surgery it required:  He is grateful every day to God for the gift of life and knowing that God’s love is constant and in feeling God’s presence in ALL of life’s experiences. John especially appreciates the church family we have at First Presbyterian Church, Athens.

SAM's Senior Spotlight

Senior Adult Ministry's Senior Spotlight

Interview by Addie Downs

Sitting in her home in Athens, Georgia - Virginia Lancester Shields, a longtime member of First Presbyterian Church, reflects back on her life. Virginia was born on July 6, 1918.  She grew up on a farm in Floyd, Va. where a spring supplied the family’s drinking water, and she had rivers to swim and play in in the summer.  My mama used to call me “her praying child” she says with a laugh. When she was six, her father enrolled her in the local Presbyterian school.  Her school was also where she attended the once a month church services.  The Presbyterian Church of Roanoke, Virginia made a commitment to education and worship by building three schools that were also used for church services on Sunday.

After Virginia finished college at age 21 she became a teacher & taught grades 1-7 in State Mt., VA in a one room, poorly built schoolhouse that she laughs about and says “it blew over the second year I was there.” She developed an effective system in which the older children listened to the younger children read while she taught math to the 7^th graders. These children invented a game they enjoyed at recess - instead of Cowboys and Indians they played Bootlegger & Revenuers!

In the mid-1940’s, the family moved to Athens. She taught at Athens High for three years and then at UGA where she taught English for 27 years. After Virginia joined First Presbyterian Church  she sang in the choir for 40 years, helped to arrange the flowers for Sunday worship services and taught at Vacation Bible School when her children were young. She joined the Mellows when they first began. Almost every time Mellows sing, Virginia is there.  “ Mellows is what I enjoy the most.”

Her favorite hymn is His Eye Is On the Sparrow, and her favorite Bible verse is Micah 6:8.

“What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with you Lord.”

Senior Adult Ministry: Senior Spotlight

Bill Flatt

Interview By: Hannah Walters

The great William (Bill) Perry Flatt was born in Newburn, Tenn. on June 17, 1931. He grew up on his family’s cotton farm where he regularly attended the local Methodist or Presbyterian church (wherever the pastor was that week) and he spent his childhood summers making rounds to the four surrounding churches. His chore was to draw water which he claims was his “ambidextrous talent.” Not only did he grow up in a church and family-oriented environment, living within five miles of his grandparents, he was also was surrounded by what would end up being his life career: agriculture.

His love for agriculture started when Bill was six years old and he began working on his family’s farm picking cotton. Most of us pray for fluffy white snow to let us get out of school. In Bill Flatt’s childhood, kids got out of school for fluffy white cotton! School kids would get several weeks off to work on their parent’s farm and they got paid by the pounds of cotton picked. Devoted to the church at an early age, Bill began tithing with his first earnings as a cotton picker because like his grandmother would tell him, “Billy, the first ten percent you earn goes to the Lord!” The other money he earned, that he didn’t give to the church, Bill saved for college.

First, Bill attended Bethel College, a Cumberland Presbyterian College where he met his lovely wife, June. They married when he was just seventeen years old. He was later a Deacon at Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Knoxville after they transferred there to attend the Univ. of Tennessee. June was editor of the campus newspaper. With no more cotton fields to pick in the city, Bill worked as a traveling salesman to make money to pay for both his and June’s tuition. After receiving his undergraduate degree, Bill attended Cornell Univ. in Ithaca New York, where he earned a PHD in Animal Nutrition, Biochemistry and Physiology.

Being a triple major doctorate-degreed man, or as one could say, the Agriculture Guru, Bill and June moved to Beltsville, MD just outside of D.C. to work. There he was head of an energy metabolism lab where he worked to increase the efficiency of dairy cows to produce as much milk as possible with the least amount of feed.

Finally, in 1969, Bill and his family moved to Athens. At first, his daughters wanted to attend the Tuckston Methodist church. After they graduated and moved out however, Bill and June began attending Athens First Presbyterian Church in 1973. As he says, “Sunday, it was time to go to church. It was something we did, you know.” He describes this devotion to attending worship as enabling him to question his fundamental faith in a good way so that he can grow and really understand and strengthen his beliefs.

As clearly an avid church-goer, Bill has many favorite practices. His favorite verse is the classic John 3:16 and his favorite hymn is “Amazing Grace.” In fact, in a year he spend working in Scotland to verify the agriculture research he’d done here in the States, Bill says he heard “Amazing Grace” performed many times on the bagpipes. Not only is Bill Flatt a great Christian, he is also a great athlete! When he was in his sixties and taking care of his wife, June, who had tragically developed a debilitating disease called Guillain-Barre syndrome, Bill realized he needed to get active because, in his words, “I needed to be healthier so I could live longer to take care of June.” He achieved this by working out devotedly to Richard Simmons “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” workout video. Bill works hard at everything he does, he even got a call from Richard Simmons himself on Bill’s eightieth birthday and Richard sent him his newest workout video for free!

Obviously we can all look up to Bill Flatt on how to live our lives. Devoted, hard-working, intelligent, kind, and always happy, Bill Flatt is a beacon of light to strive towards, fellow Christians.