Faith "Birdie" Lytle interviewed by Lois Boyd and Doug Brackenridge, 1979, side 1.

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    It we can just stop the recorder. and let's say. This
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    is Lois Boyd of Trinity University with R. Douglas
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    Brackenridge of Trinity University talking with Mrs. William J. Lytle,
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    Birdie Lytle, on October 2nd 1979
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    at 101 East Longwood San Antonio Texas.
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    Mrs. Lytle, I didn't even ask you your your given name. We call
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    you Birdie. What is your given name?
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    My real name is Faith, but I've been stuck with Birdie ever
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    since I was a junior in high school. And, we can't seem to
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    change that. BilI [Lytle, William Pierce] would say that we when we go to a new field that he'd start out
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    with Faith, but we never ended up with it.
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    You don't mind if we call you Birdie? Not at all.
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    We're talking with you today primarily about your year, about your
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    experiences as the wife of the moderator of the United Presbyterian Church
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    USA. We talked with your husband about his experiences during the
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    years but before we get into a discussion of that year, would you tell us a little
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    bit about yourself: Where you were born, where you were educated, when you married Bill.
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    What has been your your role, your experiences,
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    your profession.
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    I was born in Maplewood, New Jersey, so I am one of these displaced Yankees.
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    went to a little Presbyterian college in Tennessee by the name of
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    Tusculum. Everyone, when you say Tennessee, they say oh Maryville?No, it is
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    Tusculum. And it was there that I met Bill. It was
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    between his. What year did? Middler
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    and senior year the first president
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    or Junior Middler year that he came down to Tennessee to
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    work in the little mountain churches. And I had already been going up to the churches with the priest
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    and so I got to introduce him to his first field. I was
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    already planning to study in a seminary somewhere. I wanted to
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    be a missionary. So after I met Bil,l it wasn't too hard to decide to go to Princeton.
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    We were married then, following his senior year. What
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    year was this? This was in forty-seven.  So I had a year and two
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    terms in the School of Christian Education
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    in Princeton. It was a three-year course at that time. F
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    ollowing our marriage,
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    we went immediately under the Board of National Missions, the old Sunday School missions program to
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    New Mexico. And, we spent seven years there in one field, we took a year out to go back to Princeton. Bill got his
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    Master's. And, I took some more work then.
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    And then we went back for another seven years to a
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    different town, but the same type of work.
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    And at that time if you looked it up in the Yearbook of Prayer, you know,
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    I was one of those parentheses wives. It always used to make us National Missionaries very
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    unhappy because we thought like that we were equal
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    partners with our husbands on the mission field.
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    I went with Bill everywhere on the mission field.
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    I believe.  it was. We always considered ourselves a missionary team. I worked with
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    the children, had children's choirs. And, that was my role. D
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    id you have a contract with the Board of National Missions yourself? No. No.We were
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    not hired. And you were not paid. No sir. Would you
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    fell at that time say that you would. You said that you had talked about being a missionary. That it never
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    never crossed your mind to think in terms of ordination? Or, Did you ever feel
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    any frustration or dissatisfaction that it
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    never was really possible?
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    No it really wasn't. Not until these later years, you know.  This is bringing it
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    up. If you
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    create a sense of resentment I think in women of our age that we think
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    all we've been doing for all these years and we're never paid for it, and never considered as a
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    profession. At  that time, I never thought about it. I  loved the
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    work, was happy. Enjoyed it, still do. Well,
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    after you left the mission,
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    The Board of National Missions, did Bill take a church after that? No.
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    We didn't really leave it then. We had 15 years there, and then we were
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    called to the College of the Ozarks in Arkansas, which at that time, had just been over by the Board of National Missions.
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    So we were still with the Mission Board. Partly with them, partly with t
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    he college. But there again, our
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    responsibility was to the area around the college. Here again,
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    I worked in the field in a small town.
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    I used to ride, drive the college bus out to these little towns once a week,
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    to work with the children, did puppetry.
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    I guess my main satisfaction in the years in
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    Arkansas were establishing puppet theater,
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    which we took out on the field and used in Christian Education. And
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    at that time, I was also a part-time secretary for Bill.
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    in the Ozarks Area Mission Program. Living on as a program assistant. That
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    were. So that was the only time I ever
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    worked for pay. And, it isn't too bad to work for your husband! How
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    long have you been here in San Antonio? So. This is starting our sixth
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    year. When, when. In light
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    of this background you have had as rather a team worker with your
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    husband. What was your reaction when he was approached with the
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    possibility that he'd be a candidate for moderator?
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    Well. I was delighted. I just. I guess my
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    remark was, "It's about time!" That was
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    right.
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    Did you think of yourself at all? About what you would do? or what your role would be?
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    Not really.
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    I don't know Bill's reaction to this, but I think that, for both of us, it was just such
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    a far off possibility. And, we were so involved in
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    what we were doing here that it was just one of those things well, if it happens. Fine. If it doesn't. Fine. The
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    thing with Bill did not make the approach. He was asked. So it was not his doing.
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    So we just kept on about our business, which is. We were
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    still new here. We still had so much to do with Madison Square.
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    I don't think we stopped doing what we were doing long enough to look ahead.
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    And of course in retrospect we wish had done that at the time.
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    Did you go to the
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    Assembly with him? Yes. Well, at the Assembly when you got here he was under, I guess,
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    great demand to be available to the public. Were you with him
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    when, for instance I believe, they set up rooms where people could come by and talk. Were
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    you with him then? Yes. Yes. Did the other moderators have their spouses with
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    them? Yes, yes.
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    Yes they did. Some of the candidates had done a lot of
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    preparation and sort of politicking
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    in that they had big posters and things and pictures of their families. And, a
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    couple of them had coffee and cookies and so on. We didn't have anything. I had
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    pictures of the four kids. That was it.
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    But it was fun.
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    It was a good experience to meet the others. And, we all became very very appreciative of each other. It was a great experience.
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    Well when he was elected then, were you sitting out in the audience?
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    And I was sitting in the balcony where the visitors were supposed to sit. I
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    was sitting with Wes Baker's [Baker, Wesley C.] wife. He was the one who gave Bill's nominating
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    speech. She had a little calculator there and was adding up the scores. And, Rafael Sanchez [Sanchez, Rafael, Jr.] , who had put Bill's name in, was
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    there. I guess after the first ballot, the second ballot was
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    coming nice, "I think he's going to do it. I think he's going to do it!" And
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    right before I guess the final
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    totals came in on the third ballot. I'm not just sure, Bob Stevenson [Stevenson, Robert F.]  came
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    into the balcony area and looked for me. He just went like that, you know, "Come on down." So then, of course I knew he had won.
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    Could we just one minute. Wes Baker is a minister in the church? At that time, he was a pastor in
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    Wayne, New Jersey. And it has to be a
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    delegate to General Assembly who nominates you. So when the list came out. Bill went
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    down the list to see who knew.
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    And he had always thought a great deal of Wes. And, he asked him if he would do it.
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    And Raphael Sanchez? Is the Executive Presbyter of Alamo Presbytery
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    And, he is the one who asked Bill to run.
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    And, then the Stevenson, Bob Stevenson? Bob Stevenson is the Associate
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    Stated Clerk of General Assembly,
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    whose responsibility is to take care of moderators' itinerary. Oh my.
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    And, he came and got you out of the balcony? Yes.
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    Where did you go then?. Well they took us to this room where the candidates had all been standing.
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    They all came out of the door.
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    He just looked at me and said, "How about that!" a particpant in that General Assembly, trying to separate yourself from the fact that it is your husband. You
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    probably liked him and thought he was the best one there.
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    What do you? How do you account for his election? What was it? Did you? Did
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    you feel anything or did you think why it was they selected him
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    over the other candidates?
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    Well I guess, Doug, because
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    because he came across as a missionary and just himself. And, he spoke,
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    probably more personally than the other candidates.
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    And, I think that we tend to forget that most Presbyterians
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    come from small churches, really. And they're
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    mission-minded people. And, I just think they appreciate
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    someone who is just an every day pastor and who had been on the mission field. And, this is what Bill stressed.
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    I felt like. I didn't think he had a chance when
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    we first went out there, but Monday night, the Outlook always  has a dinner. The Presbyterian Outlook, at whi
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    ch time all the candidates are introduced. A
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    nd, this was a long meeting, it was a dinner
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    meeting. And, it was in honor of Hutchison, I guess, who was retiring. And, so they had
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    many speeches, many speeches before they ever got around
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    introducing the candidate and then they drew the names out of a hat. Lois Stair did.
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    And, Bill's was the last name. I thought, "Oh, my goodness! Everybody is going to be asleep by the time we
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    get to him. And then she began to pull them
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    out and they came up and when she finally got to Bill, she couldn't remember even how to
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    pronounce his name. What a beginning! But, he
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    got up. And, I don't remember what he said at all. But I could tell,
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    by the way the audience responded, that they were still listening and that they were responding
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    to him.
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    So I thought to myself, he's going get it. And. That is interesting. And
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    he was elected then on Tuesday afternoon? L
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    ate afternoon. And, as he described it to us, he immediately then had to make very
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    very important decisions on selecting persons for the
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    committee. So what what did you do then?
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    Well we were invited to have dinner with Bill Thompson [Thompson, William Phelps, Stated Clerk] in his apartment.
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    And. So I was there.Just at in while they were going into this
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    process.
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    And I believe I did go back to my room before they were quite through.
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    Did they make an effort? Did you feel it was an effort made at that point to involve you in
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    this whole thing? Or was it just polite to have you there?
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    Well no I was not. There was no way I could be involved in that at all.
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    But, they were very very gracious.
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    Bill Thompson has to be one of the most gracious people I have ever met. And, to me, it was one of the
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    privileges of the year to know him. And, he couldn't have been more kindo me there. So that
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    during the rest of the week, then
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    what did you? What did you do that?
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    Well it was very unusual in that to see
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    that Tuesday. OK.
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    I really did not get to participate in the Assembly as I would like to have because
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    I met an old friend, who I had gone to high school with, who lived in California
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    and she came down from Claremont. And, we spent two days together. And at that time,
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    I believe, it was the next two days, Wednesday and Thursday, that there are all the committees sessions anyway. There's really not much business going on on the floor.
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    So I wasn't there.
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    And then on Saturday I flew from San
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    Diego to Connecticut to be at my son's graduation from Yale University.
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    It came at the exact same time. And, this was graduate school from Yale. And, I thought that someone from the family had to be there. I wanted to be t
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    here. So
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    I didn't get back until Tuesday.
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    All the big issues of homosexuality had been already, gone.
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    So that's disappointing to me. But that was one of those choices that mothers make.
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    I don't regret it.
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    Well then essentially nothing is really
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    expected of the spouse of the moderator. You did not have. If it was, I was
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    not, not informed  that it was expected of me. After the Assembly, did you not stay over a week? Yes. We had
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    a
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    wonderful dinner at the Coronado Hotel out there.
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    Now, that was the first opportunity Bill had to sit down with Bob Stevenson and
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    begin to talk about itineration. I guess at that
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    time there are already invitations that come the very, very first
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    day. There are some places that the moderator is automatically expected
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    to go. So these are already on the calendar before the moderator is even elected.
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    With obviously with all the emotion and the
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    tension you're having to fly across the country and back, you must both of you be awfully tired..
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    Yes but you're still on a high. And our. The folks at Madison Square were just so wonderful.
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    They sent telegrams and letters, you know.  And, they are on the phone back and forth to the children. And,
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    Mr. Garcia.
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    Frank Garcia, had taken some beautiful pictures of Bill, right when he
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    received the stole and the cross.And, he had blown it up into a big picture so when we
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    came back home, many of the congregation met us at the airport with the big
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    banners and the kids had a big welcome sign at the
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    house and then very shortly afterwards we had a reception at the church.
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    So this euphoria lasts for quite a long time and
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    the congregation was just tremendous Dan. Frank had sent the pictures over so the
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    congregation could see them the very next Sunday. We really appreciated him. The
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    plans for the year had already started at the Assembly?
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    So after you go back to San Antonio, how did you two
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    arrange your plans for the year? You obviously were aware by the time
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    you left San Diego is that it was going to be a busy year for him.
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    What what did you two decide about the year?
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    Well I was given to understand that there is was a
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    spouses' fund in General Assembly. In the General Assembly offices
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    that someone gives a large amount anonymously every year to this fund.
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    And then the Synod itself is invited to contribute to the spouses' fund. And so, Bob Stevenson
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    told me that I didn't have to worry about it. If I wanted to go with Bill, I could go,
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    any time anywhere.
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    It was a very good year for me to be able to leave
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    because our two daughters were at home this year. One of
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    them working in and one of them going to Trinity. And so, they were here to take care of the household.
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    So there was noproblem with me being able to go. the first. The
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    first trip was to Ireland. And that was an
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    unexpected trip. I believe Oscar McCloud [McCloud, J. Oscar] was supposed
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    to go and was unable to we go.  And, they asked if we would go in his place. Who is Oscar McCloud? He
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    is the chairman or Director of the Program Agency. He is the top man in the Program Agency. So
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    we were thrilled to have this opportunity to go. It was sponsored by the
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    National Council of Churches or the Irish Council of Churches. And,
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    it was purely an informational week
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    in Belfast, in Northern Ireland, to try to help
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    Americans understand the troubles that were going on there. And,
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    I have to admit, I was very nervous about going to Belfast. And,
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    the second night we were there in the hotel, we had a bomb scare. We were all routed out of our beds. B
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    ut it turned out to be nothing. But the
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    experience of meeting the leaders of the Irish Church.
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    And, the thrill of seeing the Catholic and Protestant leaders sitting down together round the table with us, which
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    they said ten years ago would have been absolutely impossible. It
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    was a beautiful experience. Very sad to see what has happened there both in Londonderry and through areas in Belfast. It was my
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    first experience seeing a war-torn city. How
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    many attended the seminar? There were thirty-two. Thirty-two. And you travelled with the group? No. We. We flew by
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    ourselves. We met them there. And, they were from all over the United States.
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    Catholic and Protestant, clergy and lay. Well. That
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    was your first trip.
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    So that was that was the big thing that summer.
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    And then we also went back and I believe we went almost directly to
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    Colorado to the Mariners conference outside of Denver. And,
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    this was. This was what was so difficult was trying to adjust
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    so quickly from such intense experiences.
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    I'd have to look at my journal on the order of that. or the other. But the other. also
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    that summer went a weeks conference at Ghost Ranch on church
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    change, clergywomen, which was a very intense week.
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    And Bill had asked you to attend this, so that we might learn more about the
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    problem of clergy women. This is a very very excellent conference what
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    we thought was getting Cynthia McHala at Madison Square.
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    So I began right away to realize what we were in for. In
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    other words you had to change gears Change gears. immediately.
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    And how. How. Well I guess this is a
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    simplistic question, but is that not tiring in the
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    sense of being emotionally tiring?
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    Yes. I think it is more emotionally tiring than it is physically tiring.
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    And my frustration came in that there was no
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    time to sit down and write your feelings, your reflections from the distance.
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    And I had more time than Bill. I would just come home. Bill tried
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    to preach once a month here in Corpus.
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    Every time we came home I would try to work up a bulletin board for the
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    folks at Madison Square for a map and show where we had been, pictures.
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    So on. Trying the best I knew how to keep the
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    focus so I did have that outlet, but Bill was
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    always having to think about the next thing and the next.
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    I didn't have to give a big talk. Rather
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    extraordinary you thinking of that.
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    You and him both being receptacles of information. Then, what you're
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    saying is there was no sharing of this information. There was no time to
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    share them. No time, correct. Did the General Assembly office?
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    Is there anything built into the whole routine for the moderator that gave you an
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    opportunity to to share with people who do the
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    planning for this about your feelings? About your experiences? you
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    know they don't at the end of the year ask you if you want
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    something you know kind of, as it were, de-briefing or anything like that? Not
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    that I know of. Bill could tell you more about that.
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    He spent more time in the office going over itinerary, times
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    that I did not know of. So he did have options. And, Bill's the
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    type of person who likes to be used. So, if someone asked for him, he'd say, "Sure."
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    So he was always looking ahead, rather than.
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    Really people in the United States are not so concerned about what's going on in Ireland and
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    later on in Africa. I find I find I'm having to say
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    I would like to be invited to talk about Africa, no one had asked me
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    . Still shows our provincialism, I think.
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    It's almost ironical I. I. This is the first I heard of your trip to
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    Belfast. Now, perhaps I don't read the right  papers or magazines. I read the little lapse there apparently in communication. Well. On these
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    travels, you. You did go to Africa on some of them? Yes.  Well you. Did you
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    usually accompany him to the meetings? Or did you ever
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    yourself make plans to go do something else, for example, visit schools while he was visiting
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    hospitals or whatever?
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    No.
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    Just about every place we went, it was to a church primarily, other than
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    the seminaries and the colleges and nursing homes. And, I was
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    interested in going to all those places.
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    I really don't know where there would have been time to do anything like that.
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    I don't see myself as a speaker. One or two times after
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    we returned from Africa. In fact, I believe, they were
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    both lunches put on by Women's Associations. Bill and I
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    shared some of our experiences in Africa.
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    He asked me to share some of them. And, as I look back, I thought well if I had known ahead
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    of time, and if the host churches had known that I was coming,
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    I would love to have taken the morning time in the church to visit
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    Sunday school classes and share some of the African experiences
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    with the children. That's where I would have felt comfortable. Many times, Bill spoke at two
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    services, but it would often be that the minister would want me to be
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    in the church so he could introduce me, whereas I would have preferred
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    to have talked to some Sunday School class. So, I put this in
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    the report later on. The report you're talking about. After
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    the year was over, you put down some of your thoughts. Is that correct?  Yes.  To whom did you send it? Well, I sent it
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    to Bill Thompson, Bob Stevenson, and to John Conner [Conner, John T.] And, I
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    sent it to the young woman in the Synod of
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    California, who set up our itinerary there, because she was so helpful and really was interested in my reaction.
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    John Conner is?  Past moderator. Past moderator. The moderator just us. Have you
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    talked to the present
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    moderator [Rice, Howard L., Jr.] at all? Yes. I shared. shared it with him at General
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    Assembly.
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    So, you had prepared this before the General Assembly meeting? Yes.
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    Have you gotten any reaction to it?
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    No. No.
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    I think the main burden that I was concerned about was, was itineration.
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    And evidently they had thought of some of these things before.
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    It seemed that we were we were backtracking a lot and flying back and forth.
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    And so I wondered why we couldn't. Why the modeator couldn't
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    be itinerated by synods
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    and not be in the northern synods in the middle of winter.
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    The weather was quite a factor.
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    And, why the itineration couldn't be done out
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    of synod office directly, between the synod office and the General Assembly office, which is
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    the way is done California and Washington. Those are the only two synods that do the setting up.
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    In that way,
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    the churches that are going to have a centennial celebration
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    would know ahead of time which month the moderator was going to be in
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    their synod. And they could set up their celebration at that time.
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    It seems s
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    tewardship-wise that it would save a lot of money as well.
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    And, it would save a lot of wear and tear on the moderator. It is varied travel. From one time zone to another. It must be. The time zone travel
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    Airplanes. Waiting in the airports. We got a lot of good books
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    read. Lots of reading. Was the? Was the year healthy for both of you? Very healthy! Very healthy!  John [Conner, John T.]
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    had told us this. He said somehow or other you are upheld in a
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    way that you. It's hard to believe. And, that is certainly true.  No question about it. We
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    were never sick. It was wonderful. Not even in Africa. Did
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    you.
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    Did you learn anything? Or did anything about the Presbyterian Church that you felt
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    you didn't already know? Or have a, or have some awareness of? Or was there anything?  In other words, d
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    id all this change in any way your apprehension of the Presbyterian Church?
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    I had no apprehensions.
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    No I just had fears as to how
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    What my role would be and how I could be of help. I just
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    found out how many beautiful people there are in the church. And, how warm and
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    loving and open they are.
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    You know, it just, just makes you very very proud to be a Presbyterian with that kind of experience.
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    And I think the the joyful
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    part about it was that people on both
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    sides of issues were willing to talk.
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    I think definitely were trying to come closer together. And, to me,
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    this was Bill's gift for the year. His tact and his understanding and his willingness to
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    listen to both sides. A
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    nd, I think I felt especially good about that. And, the question, the whole question, of the World Council grant. And, to
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    me, the question and answer periods were the most beneficial.
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    I saw some people have their minds opened to new
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    thoughts on the African situation. And, I
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    heard one person say that he had his mind completely changed after hearing Bill's presentation.
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    This to me was very encouraging. And then, I
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    think the fact that it was the big emphasis on the Major Mission Fund. And, we went to two m
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    ission programs that were outstanding in my mind. One
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    was a presbytery mission in Wellsboro, PA, which was small
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    churches. It was the finest mission program I've ever attended. The spriit was
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    just tremendous. The singing was great.
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    I think maybe I I was surprised at how conservative most Presbyterians are.
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    Is this? Did you visit? Would you say that you visited virtually every
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    part of the country?
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    Yes I think I figured out we went to either thirty-seven or thirty-nine
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    states, and several of those many times. I believe we went to
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    every single presbytery in Pennsylvania.
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    Sure.
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    I think there were some areas we missed. You know. I'm hopeful. I think that Howard [Rice Howard L. Jr.] is
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    trying to get to those. We're disappointed we
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    didn't get to Puerto Rico, but I know Howard has gotten to Puerto Rico. There just wasn't time. T
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    he trip to Africa was
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    to visit the mission fields, stations or? The request
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    came from Zaire, the church there is celebrating 100
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    years of the Gospels introduction into Zaire. They were having a weeklong
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    celebration in Kinshasa.
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    And, there hadn't been a moderator go to Africa in quite
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    some time. And, they thought this was the. ideal time to go.
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    And, I was really scared about going to Africa,  especially when I knew we were going to Ethiopia first. We
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    had an afternoon's briefing with Paul Hopkins in New York. He was our African man.
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    He didn't really allay my fears at all.
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    So I really didn't want to go, but I didn't want to stay home either. So.
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    It was a very tension-, emotion-filled experience.
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    Did you two travel alone? Yes. Yes, we did. Do you ever travel with accompaniment,
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    accompanied by anyone from General Assembly?
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    The only time was when Jim Giddings , the Associate Editor of A.D., spent
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    two or three days with us in Oklahoma. A
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    nd, out of that, came his article that he wrote toward the end of the
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    year, which I guess he always does about the moderator. So. Literally, you two got on a plane and flew to Ethiopia. Right. Right.
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    Anyone there to meet you?  Well. There were supposed to be, but
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    they missed us at the airport in Ethiopia.
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    So when we flew from. We flew from L.A. We
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    had gone back to our church in New Mexico, to our original churches there, and
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    had a very emotional-filled time in New Mexico.
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    Then, flew from there to L.A. and got on the Ethiopian plane. So we
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    left on a Sunday from New Mexico. We arrived in
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    Ethiopia the following Tuesday ,never having gotten off the plane. That struck me a little big
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    back. But we really.
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    We really did very well in the Ethiopian
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    Christians are just so beautiful and
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    so loving. And, I think, probably though it's their
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    dignity and their courage that impressed me the most. The church there has
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    been persecuted by the new communist
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    regime.
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    They're still functioning, but I believe it
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    was the second day we were there, the officers gave a beautiful banquet in our honor at noon. And, that
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    afternoon, the General Secretary of the Ethiopian C
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    hurch was arrested and thrown in jail.
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    So the next morning when we met with him, it was in an upper room office. And, we really
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    felt like we were back in the New Testament days because we stood there in a circle
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    and held hands and prayed for this brother who had been arrested. And,
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    their prayer was not so much that he be released, but simply that he have the courage
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    to witness to Christ in his imprisonment.
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    We later learned from Paul Hopkins that he had been released, but since that time we've
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    heard that he's been arrested again.
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    So, all throughout Africa they were so grateful that we had come such a long distance to see them and especially in Ethiopia and in Mozambique. They just. They said, "Please do not forget us." They didn't ask for anything, but they just said, "Please, do not forget us.". And, they are
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    very joyful people. Of course, their singing, their music was just tremendous
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    We arrived in Kenya
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    just in time for the inauguration of President Moi [Moi, Daniel arap]  who was the
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    successor to Kenyatta [Kenyatta, Jomo]. And, that was a joyful
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    experience, a very happy experience, after the sadness of Ethiopia. W
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    e then had the privilege. Did Bill tell you abour our
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    getting to meet the president of Zambia? We had a g
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    reat privilege of meeting Kaunda, [Kaunda, Kenneth David] who is a Christian.
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    He and a minister and Bill and I, the four of us, sat in his parlor
  • speaker
    and had prayer together. That was an
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    experience I'll never forget. He's under a
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    terrific pressure and asked us to pray for him.
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    So you know I just want to say to people wherever I go,
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    please pray for Christians in Africa. The
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    other thrilling experiencet we had here in Johannesburg was to meet Beyers Naude, who is a
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    Dutch Afrikaaner Christian, who has been banned by the government because of his stand on apartheid. We were
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    privileged to go into his home.
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    He broke the rules because when you're banned, you're only allowed to talk to one person at a time.
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    He said there's no way I won't welcome you into my home. We prayed there together with him.
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    And then we had the final week in Kinshasa.
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    And, Bill and I both have the privilege there of speaking in this huge soccer stadium to
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    about 25000 Christians, who had come
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    together for this celebration.
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    And I was the only woman on the platform. And, I was able to say
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    I'm bringing my sisters in Zaire the greetings of their sisters in Christ in Africa. I love my freedom. And, that was a
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    thrill. That must have been thrilling to be in that kind of situation. In every country there
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    was something really extra special.
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    And, God really took care of us.
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    We flew from the little town of Beira in Mozambique back to Maputo. And,
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    I thought the plane was going to crash.
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    We were caught in a tropical storm. That was really the most scary time.
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    He just couldn't land. He'd start down and then he'd go up againnd, he'd start down. I
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    thought, "Well, I don't mind dying, dear Lord, but I'd rather die back home."
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    But it was a tremendous experience.

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