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475-4688 (Voice) or (302)529-1135 (FAX)
Sunday Worship
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2320 Grubb Road, Wilmington, Delaware 19810

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50TH ANNIVERSARY BOOKLET
History of St. David's
Episcopal Church:
The Second 25 Years
When The Rev. David Tontonoz left in 1983
to take a position in a downtown parish in
the Diocese of Massachusetts, the Rev. Ed Harris,
our priest assistant, continued as interim
priest for three years while we went about
filling out forms and forming a search committee.
We were asked by Bishop Clark to develop a
profile of the parish by reviewing our lon-
term and short-term goals in our search for
a new rector. After the profile was done, a
search committee and eventually a calling
committee were formed. During this long process
we continued our programs and activities.
We also went from having three services on
Sunday to two services. St. David’s
continued to grow under Ed’s leadership
and the leadership of the lay people of the
parish.
In 1986, the Rev. Ronald Jaynes was
called to be our new rector. He arrived from
Little Silver, New Jersey with his wife, Colleen
and four step-children. It wasn’t
long before they settled in and became a part of our
church family. Ron remembers the wonderful welcome
he and Colleen received as they began their first new
parish together and the excitement of owning a house
for the first time. We soon discovered our new
rector had an outgoing personality, loved to cook and
was not afraid of change. He liked to try out new things
and really kept members of the altar guild on their
toes. One of the first changes he made was
to move the chairs in the sanctuary into the
angled sections we now have.
Besides moving the chairs around, other changes
were made. A rocking chair was placed in
the sanctuary and is still in use today. A
gift from the Proud family allowed us to re-do
what we now call the Memorial Room. This space
became available for small functions, meetings,
receptions and other activities. The new altar
and enlarged platform, another gift from the
Proud family, was dedicated in 1988. It was
designed by Terry Easom, a liturgical designer
from Philadelphia. The altar was built by S.
Diehm Co. Inc. Architectural Woodwork from
Westwood, New Jersey, and the floor was installed
by Charles Ashton. Harry Crawford borrowed
a station wagon so he could drive up to New
Jersey and pick up the altar. As with every
project of this sort, it was not without controversy.
The Victorian bishop’s
chair was given back to Old Swedes Church for
use in their museum.
Under Ron’s direction,
we started a Wednesday evening service. It
all started with an Ash Wednesday “stone
soup” supper where everyone brought an ingredient
and put it in the soup pot. It was a multi-generational
event and those who participated enjoyed it so much,
it was decided to continue it through Lent. It eventually
became a weekly Wednesday evening event of a communion
service followed by a covered dish supper. We also
began having an Easter Vigil service. Who can forget
that the first one lasted two and a half hours! It
was a beautiful and moving service filled with lights,
bells, and music.
During Ron’s time with us,
the five Episcopal churches in the area joined
together and became the Brandywine Parishes.
(St. David’s,
St. Alban’s,
Ascension, Calvary, Grace) We shared office space
at St. Alban’s as well as secretaries and
supplies while continuing to worship in our own
churches. We shared special services and summer
services with the five parishes and got to know
people from the other congregations. Ron gave up
his office at St. David’s
to Beth Beck, the day school director and moved
into the room behind the Memorial Room named the
Fuzzy Room by the teens of the church due to its
textured wall covering. Ron remembers it as a “nice
little office, but every time the rains came, the
floor would flood.”
Ron started reserving
a week at Memorial House in Rehoboth Beach for
St. David’s. Many families
attended and it offered a great opportunity to
visit and get to know each other. One of Ron’s
favorite memories was having the time to sit
and talk to Fred Van Catledge and learn what
it was like to be an African American.
We continued
our many programs and started some new ones.
We began a companion relationship with the
Diocese of Pretoria in 1988. We were the sponsoring
parish for Mary Ann Dorner as she entered the
seminary to study for the priesthood. Our day
school has always been considered an outreach
program for the community so the vestry established
a scholarship fund. Pat Van-Catledge began
a Good Friday “Walk
to Easter” program. This program still
exists and teaches children the Easter story
by walking them through the story of Jesus
from Palm Sunday to Easter. It started out
with one session of students and grew to
two sessions of about 200 children and is
an outreach program to children throughout
the community. One of our assistant priests,
Mary Lindquist, and others who have observed
the program, have incorporated it in their
Holy Week programs.
In 1993, our organist,
Ventie Williams, celebrated 83 years of life
and 25 years as organist at St. David’s.
She was a strong personality and had definite
ideas she was not afraid to share. Many can
remember the stories she told of her life
growing up as a black woman in Wilmington,
her study of music and her work during WWII.
She added much to St. David’s
and is fondly remembered by many.
Buildings and
grounds were not without problems. In the
late 1980s, our roof started to leak
and, during a heavy rain, it was not unusual
to find plastic sheeting and buckets in place
on and around the altar platform. A new slate
roof was put on the church but it did not
completely solve the problem. It took many
visits and much investigation to finally
get the problem solved. One year during Advent,
our furnace failed and we were without heat
for Christmas and beyond. It was a cold winter,
so we decided to hold Sunday services in
the parish hall. That meant moving folding
chairs and then removing them after the services
so the room would be ready for the day school children
on Monday. We even held our Christmas Eve services
there and greens and red ribbons transformed the
parish hall into a festive worship area. A wedding
was also held in the parish hall at this
time. Many remember the quick change from
church to reception area.
We were active
in many areas. One day a month, a group
made dinner and another group baked cookies
for Emmanuel Dining Room. At Christmas, we
provided for families through the Adopt- A-
Family program. We stocked a food closet for
Claymont Community Center. We took communion
to residents of Kamin, a retirement center,
and provided assistance as needed. Some of
our members drove for Meals on Wheels. In May,
the men of the parish fixed a gourmet meal
for the women of the parish. At least half
the parish thought it was a great idea! We
held a family picnic in June. We held work
days twice a year and these included a “gourmet” hot
dog lunch for all the workers. The men of
the parish continued the Shrove Tuesday pancake
supper. We held our Church Fair in November
and prepared gallons of beef vegetable soup,
dozens of baked products and crafts. Who
can forget seeing Ron and Harry Crawford
at work in the kitchen helping to prepare
the soup? Many of these events would not
have been possible without the involvement
of the whole parish community.
Ron and his
family stayed with us until 1994 when he left
to accept a call to St. Catherine’s
Episcopal Church in Tampa, Florida, The Rev. Driss
Knickerbocker became our interim priest while we
again started the searching process.
The Rev. Driss
Knickerbocker was our interim while we again
went through the search process. Driss took
good care of us and was always available when needed.
He told us this was a golden opportunity to try out
new things. He also loved to cook and shared his
black bean soup recipe with us. During the summer
we began having one Sunday service at St. David’s.
This gave us the opportunity to worship at St. David’s
or one of the other Brandywine Parish churches.
In
1996 we welcomed the Rev. Gary Rowe as our rector.
We held a gala party to celebrate his new ministry
and many of his friends from his previous church,
Eastern Shore Chapel in Virginia Beach, Virginia,
spent the day with us. He and his family have
been a wonderful addition to our church family.
We’ve
watched Leah and Daniel grow up and have enjoyed
Leslie’s
participation in our music program. In 2003, Gary
celebrated the 20th anniversary of his ordination
to the priesthood with us.
Under Gary’s leadership
and the vision of some parishioners, new programs
were started and programs already in place
continued. Chris Yovino began “Journey
to Adulthood”,
a program to help young people grow in their
church life. Pat Van Catledge developed “Godly
Play”, a children’s chapel for
3-year-olds to third graders which is held
in the Memorial Room during the Ministry
of the Word at the 10:15 service. Children
join their parents in the sanctuary at the
Peace for the Ministry of Holy Communion. “Walk
to Easter”, another program started
by Pat, continues to grow and reach out into
the community so that two sessions are now
needed. This caused us to move the Good Friday
liturgy to 7:00 p.m. instead of 3:00 p.m.
A program for Junior High School and Senior
High School students was started. Late in
2002, St. David’s
Outreach Committee, with the help of Amy
Myers, started an outreach program with Knollwood,
a low-income community located near us. It
provides an opportunity for us to get involved
and help make a difference in the lives of
others by providing clothes and school supplies,
gifts at Christmas time, tutoring, helping
with community activities, working at a summer
camp and donating money to help stock their
food closet. Our relationship with the day
school continues to strengthen and grow.
All of these programs depend on adults willing
to support them with their gifts of time
and talent.
We’ve shown our creative
side in many ways. We held an art show on
Trinity Sunday in the spring of 2001 and
were asked to express God’s movement
in our lives through art. We had exhibits from photos
to textiles, to flower arrangements. Amanda Kimball
chaired this event and also designed a cross to be
used as St. David’s logo. The cross was put
on a banner which was carried in the procession during
Bishop Wright’s installation. The banner now
stands in the front of the sanctuary and has a reverse
side used during the Easter season. Wilson Somers,
a previous music director, wrote “Mass for
the Homeless”. It was performed at St. David’s
and had its world premier on November 30, 1997 at
the Grand Opera House in Wilmington and was presented
in Rome in 2003.
Betsy Von Dreele was commissioned
to design and make new Lenten vestments. The appliquéd
orphrey banding on the chasuble reminds us of the
hills of the Judean Wilderness. In 2004, Betsy was
commissioned by the Rev. Nancy Calhoun to make festal
vestments in memory of her sister, Barbara. Since
Barbara was a quilter, Betsy decided to use the Cathedral
Windows quilt pattern in her design of many
colors. It was first used at the Easter Vigil
and is now used at all our festive services.
We entered the computer age and upgraded our
database software, and, with Harry Bacon’s
help, set up one of the first websites
in the diocese. Danny Schweers, our present
webmaster (or pixel plumber as he likes
to be called) keeps it up-to-date. We use e-mail
to communicate with each other and to send
news and notices.
In 1998 we received an
endowment from John Proud’s
estate and the Vision Committee was formed. We
were all asked what we would like to see done
at St. David’s.
It took many questionnaires and over a year of
discussion to come to some decisions but it
eventually lead to a feasibility study and
to our building and renovation project. In
2001 we started a three-year Capital Campaign
to raise money for the project. The Vision
Committee also recommended that we consider
calling an assistant rector. In 1999 the vestry
voted to look for a person to help with Christian
Development. This led to the calling of Mary
Lindquist to become our assistant priest. Shortly
after joining us, she was ordained on May 20,
2000, to the Sacred Order of Deacons by the
Right Reverend David Joslin, Assisting Bishop
of New Jersey. Later that year, we celebrated
with her as she was ordained to the priesthood
at a ceremony at St. David’s.
She made many contributions to our church family
during her time with us and we feel we’ve
mentored and help form a new priest. It was a wonderful
experience for all of us and we had mixed feelings
when she left in 2003 to take a call to a parish
in Hawaii.
Gary organized a trip to Jerusalem
in June of 1999. Fourteen of us from St. David’s,
plus three others from the area, flew to Israel
and took part in a program at St. George’s
College in Jerusalem. There we joined other students
from around the world to learn about the Palestine
of Jesus. Although we had teachers from the college,
Gary was also our guide and teacher as we walked
the Old City streets, watched the sun rise while
sitting on a rock in the Judean wilderness, sang
songs in churches with wonderful acoustics and
took in the sights, sounds and smells of the
city. Besides having wonderful memories from
the trip, this experience helped bring the gospels
alive.
On May 7, 2000, we celebrated the 30th
anniversary of our nave. Ken Marengo and his
committee did a great job in planning the celebration.
We were joined by Bishop Wright and previous
clergy and former members of St. David’s
as we gave joyful thanks for our nave. The
sermon was given by the Right Reverend David
Joslin, the third rector of St. David’s.
Wilson Somers, our music director at the time,
wrote special music for the occasion. Our celebration
began with a procession that included balloons,
banners and butterflies and ended in the parish
hall where we were treated to a luncheon buffet
and entertained with 30 years of stories, pictures,
and memorabilia.
Buildings and grounds still had problems.
Even though we had a new roof, we still had
to place buckets on the altar platform when
it rained. It took many months of persistence
to finally find and fix the problem of our
leaky roof. In 1999 Hurricane Floyd came through
with a vengeance and flooded not only the office
and Memorial Garden but continued on through
the sanctuary on its way out the side door
to the parking lot. We still have a reminder
of the damage to the floor in the sanctuary
in the form of a large patch near the center
doors. We also made some changes on the altar
platform and added a raised platform behind
the altar for the placement of the chairs.
The five
churches forming the Brandywine Parishes decided
to dissolve and Gary reestablished an office
at St. David’s. Office space was tight but
we were happy to have our rector back on site.
Gary’s leadership style encourages participation
by many in the congregation. He encourages a variety
of people to take leadership roles and get involved.
Sandy Frazer was given the title
Lay Pastoral Assistant. She and Gary work closely
together in taking care of the pastoral concerns
of the congregation. Many of us have had a hospital
visit from one or both of them. We also have
the benefit of having two clergy as members of
our church family and participants in our services.
The Rev. Nancy Calhoun and The Rev. James Von
Dreele have been given the title Priest Associate
and will occasionally preach or be the celebrant
at our services. Gary and Steven Weatherman,
our music director, work together to fit the
music to the lessons and sermon. Steven, a church
musician, is very involved in the Palm Sunday,
Good Friday, and Christmas Eve liturgy. He has
included many of his original works in our services.
We’ve also tried different forms of
the liturgy, such as, The Creation Liturgy
and Rite 1. Gary has also played a significant
role in diocesan leadership. He has been
vice president of the diocesan council, a
deputy at the general convention twice, and
has served on the standing committee -- including
serving two years as its president.
The building
renovation lasted much longer than any of
us thought it would. As the months stretched
into years, our patience wore thin.
We ran into unexpected problems along the
way. It took a long time to get an inspection
done and to have the work approved. After
a year of construction, the church offices
were ready but the day school offices could
not open until they passed county inspection.
During this time the office behind the Memorial
Room was used as both the church office and
the day school office. It was packed to the
rafters with equipment and people and moving
around had to be carefully choreographed.
We kept our sense of humor through it all and, when
there was a little grumbling, we all understood.
Our
church family has changed and become more diverse.
We have people from many walks of life taking leadership
roles and contributing in various ways to our church
family.
The best way to sum up our 50 years together
is to quote Gary’s April address to the
congregation. “Fifty
years is a significant milestone … but 50
years is the most significant anniversary ... far
more significant than 100 or 300 or 20 or 30 years.
Why? As a congregation you have moved beyond the
first generation -- the congregation builders, the
first storytellers, the founders. You are the new
storytellers, the sustainers and makers of the future
with God’s grace and help. The past 50 years
are past and we’ll celebrate in November. The
next 50 years are in your hands by God’s grace.
Happy 50th Anniversary. May you always be aware of
God’s grace smiling upon
you as you walk the tight-rope of serving God
in the 21st century!”
June 2004
Written by Janie Jersild with the kind assistance
of Sandy Frazer and Chris Yovino, with
notes from the Reverends Ron Jaynes and Gary
Rowe.
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HISTORY:
1954 to 2004

2320 Grubb Road,
Wilmington, DE 19810 -- Call (302) 475-4688 or FAX (302) 529-1135.
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Diocese of Delaware.
in The Episcopal Church of the USA
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2000-2008, Saint David's Episcopal Church, Wilmington,
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