In my last blog post I mentioned my friend Betty Clark as we have known each other for many years. Laura and I got together with Betty and our friend Carolyn Moorhouse the other day at the Ferry Landing in Coronado. Betty and her family have history in San Diego. I think it was her grandfather that was the first doctor in the area where he lived, maybe National City. Her father and an aunt were professors at San Diego State College, now SDSU. Her father's class surveyed the mountain for the large S that remained there for many years. Maybe it was his class that put the first large S in place.
Betty's brother Ted Livingston and his wife were missionaries in Japan for many years. First Baptist in Coronado used to support their mission work long before I ever was part of the church. Betty lost her brother Ted the very same year that she lost her husband Buford, within a month or two of each other. Betty is headed to Washington to spend time with her sister-in-law. They will go through Ted's things together. Then Betty plans to go to eastern Washington to see more family including her son and his family.
Carolyn and her husband John are probably the only ones left in the church that remember Betty from her time at First Baptist in Coronado. There is possibly one other person that would remember the Clarks. Betty's husband was our pastor in 1966 and 1967. I told more about them in my previous post. Everyone else there now would have come to our church since those years in the sixties. Carolyn and her husband were there when the church was founded sixty years ago. They remember the days of meeting in the VFW hall on Sunday mornings. They had to clean up the place for church after whatever took place on Saturday evenings. It was early in the fifties that the current church was built. I remember visiting there sometime before I ever got married in the early fifties. Paul and I joined First Baptist in 1961 when we were young parents.
Carolyn's husband John was born in China as his parents had business there. They were from England if I remember correctly. They came to Coronado when John was a young teenager. John's father was on business abroad when he became a POW during World War II. Actually the family saw the beginning of the war when Japan invaded China while they still lived there, way before Pearl Harbor ever took place. John was anxious to join the Marines as soon as he was old enough to do so. It took him a while to be able to though. He finally succeeded and soon went to war. He was injured in Okinawa and received a Purple Heart. Eventually John was able to be at the place where his father had been held prisoner and he was there when his father left the prison. John has written his story in book form and I got to read it. I am not good on all details, but I think I have a pretty good thumb nail sketch of his story. John can say that he saw the beginning of the war as well as the ending of the war.
Carolyn and John are both graduates of Coronado High School, as are Paul and me. Carolyn was a majorette for CHS. Paul had a newspaper clipping for many years showing Paul and his sousaphone and Carolyn and her baton, together on the front page of the paper. The high school band was greeting the Valley Forge aircraft carrier as it was arriving at North Island. Paul has misplaced this important news clipping after saving it for many years. Maybe he will find it again someday.
Carolyn's cousin Phyllis was one of my classmates in high school. She was one of my friends and hosted one of my bridal showers. She lived in a house that would have been about where the Lutheran Church is now. I was totally surprised when I got to her house and my friends were there to give me a shower. I pretty much guessed I was having a bridal shower when it was at my grandmother's house. It was family and close neighbors at that shower. My aunt or sisters put that shower on. But the shower at Phyllis' house was a total surprise. Her mother probably helped put that party together. I last saw Phyllis at our fiftieth high school reunion.
I got to know Phyllis' mother quite well when we joined the Baptist Church. We were both active in the women's missionary work. I also got to know Carolyn's mother as she was active in the women's work too. She was one of the founders of First Baptist, Coronado, a charter member. I guess Carolyn and John were charter members too. They were married in First Baptist Church of San Diego before our church was started. We were an outreach of the San Diego church. It used to be downtown for many generations but is in another area now. We used to go to events in the downtown location over the years.
This history can get wordy so I will not go into any more details. It all started with remembering old time friends and all of our connections to our past. There was a reason the Lord led Paul and me to our little Baptist Church in Coronado. We heard the message we needed to hear. We had some wonderful men of God who touched our hearts with God's Word. When we were first in the church we had Pastor Lyon. He was a dear man of God. When we first started going to the church there were visiting evangelists that attracted us there. They came about once a year and we appreciated them. After Pastor Lyon we had Pastor Bruce another dear man of God. We loved their wives too. They ministered to us in a heartfelt way.
Paul and I had been in the Methodist Church when we got married in 1954 and when our first three babies were born. We made many friends and happy memories there as young people, but the time had come for a change. Our lives are forever changing.
One thing remains the same and that is God's Word, His truth does not change.
"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever." Hebrews 13:8
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