Intergenerational Vacation Bible School Offered at Otey Memorial

Otey Memorial Parish will offer an intergenerational dinner and learning series, VB-Us, a twist on Vacation Bible School, the last week of June. The series takes place on four evenings, Monday–Thursday, June 27–30, and is open to the entire community. There is no charge for dinner or the program which will take place at Otey’s Claiborne Parish Hall. Participants can register at <VB-Us2016.eventbrite.com>.
Dinner will be served at 5:15 p.m. Activities will take place from 6–8 p.m., with the nursery available for infants and very young children. The program is based on Micah 6:8 and will explore doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly through a variety of mediums. Activities will include discussion panels, Godly Play stories, a poetry workshop, group and individual art projects, a sacred journey and a drum circle.
On Monday, June 27, Regan Schutz will tell a Godly Play story. Activity choices are a drum circle and sharing led by Leslie Lytle, April Minkler and Barbara Prunty, or a discussion on local social justice issues, historically and today. Special guest speakers for the discussion include: Robin Bates, one of the plaintiffs for the desegregation of Sewanee Elementary School; Allie Mae Faxon, one of the founders of the Franklin County High School Gay Straight Alliance; Jennie Turrell sponsor of the club FCHS Gay Straight Alliance; and the Rev. Canon Jim Turrell from the School of Theology. Both Faxon and Jennie Turrell have been widely honored for their work with the GSA this year.
Tuesday, June 28, will feature Teresa Phares as storyteller. The Rev. Betty Carpenter, director of the Community Action Committee, will host hands-on mission activities for all ages. Please bring a canned good or other non-perishable item for this activity. There will also be special music by Bazzania! Or attend a writing workshop with Sewanee English professor Jennifer Michael exploring how to use poetry to call out injustice.
Wednesday, June 29, Rebecca Van de Ven will tell a Godly Play story, then share contemplative music during two art projects. Carol Sampson has designed a group mosaic project. Laura Willis will guide another project using collage to express the grief of injustice. Alternatively, participants may join the Rev. Bude Van Dyke for a pilgrimage to a sacred Native American site.
Thursday, June 30, James Goodmann will tell a story that brings the week’s activities together. Goodmann and Karen Meridith will facilitate discussion, synthesis, and response as participants consider their next steps after this experience. The Rev. Rob Lamborn will celebrate Eucharist at the outdoor cross behind Brooks Hall to close the series. For more information contact Jeannie Babb at <oteyformation@gmail.com>.

Exploring Easter Traditions Through Art

On the Saturday before Easter, college students, professors and community members joined together for a creative learning experience provided by the Mellon Globalization Forum and Otey Memorial Parish. Sewanee Dining generously provided 360 eggs for the event. Chef Rick Wright and his team steamed the eggs, and boiled several dozen in onion skins for Polish drapanki, an elaborate method of decoration that involves delicately scratching off the dye with a needle to reveal the white of the egg.

The Holy Saturday egg-decorating event was led by Jeannie Babb and Justyna Beinek. Babb works with children in the Godly Play program at Otey Parish, and Beinek serves at the University as the Mellon Globalization Forum director and visiting associate professor of international and global studies and Russian. 

Babb, who studied church history at the School of Theology, wanted to help parish and community members reconnect the annual egg hunt to Christian tradition and theology. She and Beinek envisioned the event as a way for people with different cultural backgrounds to explore one another’s Easter traditions while experiencing artistic expressions surrounding the egg. 

Babb prepared a slide presentation outlining the history of Easter eggs, and planned activities for all ages, including standard American dip-dying, egg painting with local artist Carol Sampson and a tie-dye table employing whipped topping. 

Beinek, who is originally from Wroclaw, Poland, brought her mother, Eulalia, and her young daughter, Karolinka, to help with traditional pysanka decorating, which was displayed and practiced in many styles at the event. Beinek enlisted the help of Yuliya Ladygina, a colleague from the Russian department at the University. 

Ladygina, who is from Kyiv, Ukraine, provided instruction in the intricate wax-resist method known as batik. This method involves several repetitions of drawing designs with melted wax using a special stylus, then dipping the egg in a successively richer dye. The wax designs eventually melt away from the egg to reveal the colors beneath the wax.

“Decorating the eggs was a fun and meditative way to spend my Holy Saturday,” said Taylor Yost, a Sewanee senior majoring in Russian, International and Global Studies,  and politics, who spent time at all the tables. “The event fostered an environment where many community members could come together and learn from each other. I had a fun conversation with an international student about Easter egg hunts, which were new to her. She told me about Easter practices in her culture. It also brought a lot of different people across campus together. I saw at least three of my professors with their children and many other families, too.”

At the batik table, participants worked on the same egg for an hour or longer, instructing newcomers how to scoop black beeswax into the special stylus. Even as parish members broke down the other tables and prepared for the upcoming Easter reception, artists at the batik table were still wiping the melted wax from their final creations and making plans for another event. 

“We can continue this,” Ladygina offered. “We have the kits now. We can make more eggs.” 

In Orthodox tradition, there are still five weeks until Easter.

—Reported by Jeannie Babb

The Little Library That Could :: Thurmond Library Providing Books for the Community Since 1887

by Kevin Cummings, Messenger Staff Writer

In November 1923, Jim Sutherland hauled two horse-drawn wagonloads of books from Monteagle to Sewanee—and likely saved them from going up in flames.

In the previous year or so, Otey Parish Rector William SterlingClaiborne and his wife donated the Thurmond Memorial Library’s books to the DuBose Training School in Monteagle, which wasn’t a popular move for some local residents. So Sutherland hauled the books back to Sewanee in November 1923, two months before the DuBose school burned.

Those returned and nearly burned books are part of the lineage of the newest Thurmond Memorial Library site, which will celebrate its grand reopening at the Claiborne Parish House on Tuesday, Oct. 27, from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The library actually opened earlier this year when volunteers unpacked the books boxed up during construction of the new parish house, but this is the library’s official commemoration. 

The Community Action Committee will also host a free community lunch at noon at the parish house, and people can enjoy cake and coffee afterwards as they visit and learn about the library’s 128-year history, said Trudy Cunningham, a library volunteer.

“We’re worried that people just aren’t reading books anymore,” said Cunningham, a retired math teacher. “They’re on their iPhones all the time, so we’ve decided to focus on getting books circulating.” 

Volunteers also plan to put people’s names in a drawing. If your name is drawn, you can pick a book for the library to buy, and you’ll get first dibs on reading it.

Sophia Dabney Thurmond and her three sisters started the Sewanee Circulating Library on July 4, 1887, on Oklahoma Avenue in the classroom of Mrs. Smedes, in a house that later became known as the McDonald’s Cottage. 

In 1902 the library moved to the parish hall at Otey Parish and in 1910 leaders changed the name to Thurmond Memorial Library to honor its primary founder.

According to the April 7, 1936, publication of the “Gospel Mission,” the library at that time boasted 2,000 volumes, with 300 of those books circulating in the previous year.

Volunteers boxed up the books and shut down the library a number of times in its history, including during World War I and World War II, when people seemed to lose interest in keeping the library going, or when Rev. A.C. Adams turned the library into a Boy Scout museum.

The current location is open to everyone in the community, 24 hours a day.

“We tell parents who’ve got a screaming baby at home in the middle of the night: ‘One of you get up and bring the baby to the library and let ’em scream while you read and let the other parent sleep’ quietly at home,” Cunningham said, laughing.

All of the books are donations, and the library also has no due dates and no fines. 

`“While it would be fine if the books come back, if they don’t come back we’re not going to worry about that,” Cunningham said. “The secondary motto of the library is: In Sewanee books are like zucchini in August. People are happy to give them away to us. Consequently, we’re not going to worry about losing books.”

Book donations that don’t make it to the shelves are sold at an annual book sale held in conjunction with the Hunger Walk in April. Otey Parish also provides the library space and utilities free of charge. 

Thurmond Memorial contains newer and classic books, including fiction and mystery, nonfiction, children’s, young adult, and local interest. The library also has a selection of books on CD.

Jane Holmes, a retired special education teacher and library volunteer, said she loves working there in part because she’s a big murder mystery fan.

“I started volunteering in 1981 on Saturday mornings,” she said. “It was a good thing because every Saturday I could get a new book to read. I have found so many this morning, and I had to stop at two.”

To volunteer at the library, where reading is encouraged during shifts, email Cunningham at <tcunning@gmail.com>.

Editor’s Note: The historical information in this article is from the “History of the Thurmond Memorial Library” by Eva Pryor Jackson, which uses information from Sewanee Woman’s Club minutes compiled by Mrs. Marion F. Jackson. 

Otey Parish Calls Lamborn as New Rector

The vestry of Otey Memorial Parish is pleased to announce that its new rector will be the Rev. Dr. Robert C. Lamborn. The news was reported to the congregation on June 28.

“I am very excited to be undertaking shared ministry with this active, thoughtful, and uniquely situated congregation,” Lamborn said. “This is a welcome homecoming for my wife and me, and we are confident our daughter will flourish here.” Lamborn will begin at Otey on August 17.

“We are delighted that Rob will be joining us at Otey Parish,” said senior warden Steve Ford. “With the opening of the renovated and expanded Claiborne Parish House and the energy of our congregation, we are poised for a new chapter in Otey’s rich history in this community.”

Lamborn most recently has been serving as interim rector at St. James the Less Episcopal Church in Scarsdale, N.Y. For close to eight years (2004–12), he was rector at Christ Church Riverdale in the Bronx, where he led a campaign to add handicapped accessibility, build a new pipe organ and address decades of deferred maintenance on the historic property. He was rector at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Crawfordsville, Ind., 1996–2004. The chief area of growth during his service at St. John’s was Christian Education, including implementation of Godly Play and the Rite 13/Journey to Adulthood program.

Lamborn is a 1994 graduate of the School of Theology in Sewanee, where he earned a Master of Divinity degree. He earned a Bachelor of Music, summa cum laude, in 1987 from University of Georgia. Before coming to Sewanee for seminary, he was in a Ph.D. program in musicology at Indiana University. He earned a Doctor of Ministry in Ministry Development in 2007 from Virginia Theological Seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1995.

While in seminary, Rob met Amy Bentley, also a student at the School of Theology. They married and have a daughter, Caroline. Amy is also an Episcopal priest and holds a Ph.D in psychiatry and religion from Union Theological Seminary, New York City. For the past four years she has been on the faculty at General Theological Seminary in New York.

“We offer our thanks to the Search Committee for its fine work,” Ford said.

Community Bells Tolled in Solidarity with Emanuel AME Church

On Sunday, June 21st , at 9 a.m., churches on this Mountain will ring bells in solidarity with Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in the wake of the tragic events of June 17.

Tomorrow, bells will ring at Otey Parish, the Chapel of the Apostles and the St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School. At All Saints’ Chapel, there will be a four-bell peal of the carillon for one minute followed by “Nine Tailors” on the George Bentley bells.

May these bells symbolize the deep yearning of all people of good will that tragedies of this nature will some day come to an end.

Lunch Program Feeds Hundreds of Kids

by Kevin Cummings, Messenger Staff Writer

“That’s the best lunch meal I’ve had in a long time,” said the 7-year-old boy.

He was talking about the June 15 lunch of chicken sandwich with lettuce and tomato, potatoes in olive oil and pesto, seasoned carrots, chocolate milk, and mixed fruit provided by the South Cumberland Summer Meal Program.

“I didn’t eat the kiwi; I don’t like kiwi,” he added. 

With or without kiwi, this is the type of nourishing meal kids in Grundy and Franklin counties are getting for free this summer, thanks to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant and a partnership between the South Cumberland Community Fund and the University of the South.

Kelly Farina, an Americorps VISTA and program coordinator of the meal program, said organizers served more than 2,000 lunches the first week of June. 

“Each of our sites has done a great job reaching out to kids and teens in their communities,” Farina said. “We are very excited about all the great work they are doing and the dedication they have to helping make this program a success.” 

St. James Episcopal Church, Otey Parish, Grundy Housing Authority and May Justus Memorial Library in Monteagle are among more than a dozen sites in the two counties where kids 18 and under can get a free lunch regardless of family income level.

St. James has been the busiest site, Farina noted, with volunteers there serving 40 to 50 kids each day.

University executive chef Rick Wright and staff members of McClurg Dining Hall are preparing about 500 nutritious meals each day, Wright said.

“It would be easier and less expensive to meet the USDA requirements by using processed and packaged foods, as many sponsors do; that is not acceptable for me,” he said. “We do almost everything from scratch and exceed the dietary requirements set by the USDA.” 

A lunch last week included chicken fajitas with grilled natural chicken, local peppers and onions, a whole wheat tortilla and real cheese, with refried pinto beans, Spanish brown rice, and a fresh pineapple and shredded coconut cup.

When school closes for the summer, many children have less to eat. One out of every three children are food-insecure on the Cumberland Plateau, Wright said, adding that most children do not get the minimum requirement of fruits and vegetables. 

“Proper nutrition is critical to a child’s development. Not having enough of the right kinds of food can have serious implications for a child’s physical and mental health, academic achievement and future economic prosperity,” he said. “…No child should be hungry, not even sometimes, and every child should be getting fruits and vegetables.”

Wright credits Farina with much of the work in establishing the meal program. 

“Overall the kids we are serving have really been enjoying the meals,” Farina said. “Everything has been very filling and nutritious, and all the people at McClurg have been doing a great job and are really working to make this program the best it can be.”

The summer meal program will be back next year, Farina added.

Lunch days vary at the meal sites, and the sites also have activities for kids, like reading programs and guest speakers. Otey Parish serves meals from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays; St. James serves from noon to 1 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays; Grundy Housing Authority serves breakfast from 9 to 10 a.m. and lunch from 1 to 2 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; May Justus Memorial Library has a reading program from 10 to 11 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with lunch following.

A full schedule is available at “South Cumberland Summer Meal Program” on Facebook, or contact Farina at <sfpvista@gmail.com> or 598-1851 for more information.

Hunger Walk to Support Morton Memorial & CAC on Saturday

All Events Still Planned, Rain or Shine

Monteagle Sewanee Rotary, in partnership with the Community Action Committee of Sewanee, Morton Memorial United Methodist Church of Monteagle and the Mountain Goat Trail, is sponsoring the first annual Hunger Walk. On Saturday, April 25, the walk will begin at the Sewanee Angel Park; registration is at 9 a.m., with the walk beginning at 10 a.m. 

Participants will walk to Pearls Café on the Mountain Goat Trail and return to Otey Parish, a total of five miles. The Hunger Walk will end at Claiborne Parish House, where a complimentary lunch will be served .

“Rotary wants to help raise awareness of poverty and hunger in our communities. That’s why we’re so excited about this event,” said John Goodson, president of Monteagle Sewanee Rotary. “We hope everyone will come out and join us.” 

Registration for the event is $10 per person. Register or find more information online at <www.thehungerwalk.com> or call (931) 968-1127.

CAC Celebrates 40th Anniversary : Four Decades of Caring for the Greater Sewanee Community

The Community Action Committee turns 40 years old in 2014. In 1974 community members who worshiped at Otey Memorial Parish formed the CAC as an outreach ministry of the church. In the ensuing years, other local churches joined Otey to provide food and assistance to members in the Sewanee community. 

There will be a luncheon celebration to commemorate this achievement at noon, Sunday, Dec. 14, in Claiborne Parish Hall at Otey. All are welcome to attend.

From the beginning of CAC, the first Sunday of the month was designated Pantry Sunday. Church members were asked to bring canned goods so that groceries could be distributed once a month to the CAC clients. CAC also purchased food from Kroger to ensure that the bags of food would be nutritionally balanced. For 26 years the CAC offered groceries once a month to about 20 families. 

In 2001 CAC began its partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee in Nashville. Second Harvest is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to serve food banks and soup kitchens with high-quality food at a low cost to its partner organizations. CAC regularly orders between 1,500 and 2,000 pounds of food every two to three months. This partnership with Second Harvest continues and has proven to be CAC’s best ongoing source of non-perishable foods for clients. Pantry Sunday continues, as well, offering people the opportunity to donate food items and toiletries. Fresh produce has also been available through local gardens and from a distribution center in Winchester. 

CAC also provides assistance with utility bills, housing, education needs and dental care. CAC serves the greater Sewanee area (including Midway and Jump Off) and the Sherwood community. 

CAC is an outreach ministry of Otey Parish. It is governed by a board composed of community members, representatives of local churches, the University and the School of Theology. Partner churches include St. James Episcopal Church and Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 

The Rev. Betty Carpenter is the CAC director; volunteers from across the community and area schools help keep the office open, bag groceries and assist with new projects. The University also provides the CAC with students in the Bonner Scholars Program. Community lunches, container gardens and the quilting project are programs that have recently been launched. For more information about CAC or its anniversary event call 598-5927.

—by Pixie Dozier,
Special to the Messenger

Otey Parish Dedicates Parish House & Claiborne Portrait

Otey Memorial Parish will celebrate the renovated Claiborne Parish House at 11 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 15. The Rt. Rev. John Bauerschmidt, Bishop of Tennessee, will conduct a dedication and consecration service. A light brunch will follow in the new St. Mark’s Hall of the parish house.

A new portrait of the Rev. William Sterling Claiborne will be dedicated at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 18, in the Claiborne Hall. This portrait by Claude Buckley, C’81, will be hung in the entrance hall of the building. A reception will follow the dedication. STHP members John Bratton and David Bowman will be on hand to answer questions about Claiborne.

Otey’s rector in the early 20th century, Claiborne initiated or promoted many local institutions: the parish, St. Andrew’s and St. Mary’s schools to educate the local population, and the first infirmary/hospital. 

Claiborne’s ministry and vision continue. The building houses many community services and ministries. 

St. Mark’s Hall, the largest room in the building, honors the 1968 merger of the St. Mark’s and Otey congregations into Tennessee’s first fully integrated Episcopal Church. Bauerschmidt will consecrate a new small chapel in Claiborne as St. Paul’s-on-the-Mountain. In choosing this name, Otey seeks to honor and remember its precursor church. 

Also in the building are Sewanee Children’s Center, the Community Action Committee, meeting rooms and gathering spaces.

CAC: Changing Lives One Stitch at a Time

by Gabriella Valentine C’17, Special to the Messenger

The Community Action Committee began a new program in October in Sherwood. A new quilting group is now meeting once a week in the Sherwood Community Center. The group is taught by Louise Garner, a lifelong resident of the community and avid quilter. For almost her whole life Garner has been making quilts entirely by hand. 

One of the goals of the group is to foster a sense of accomplishment in women. The first quilt made from the group’s efforts will be sold and its proceeds given to the CAC. After that, all of the profits will be given to the women who worked on the quilts. 

The quilting group meets at 8 a.m., Wednesdays, in the Sherwood Community Center. To learn more about the program contact the CAC at 598-5927. 

CAC is located behind Otey Parish in the new Claiborne Parish House. Along with giving weekly grocery bags and the new quilting group, the CAC has started two new programs this year. The CAC offers small garden containers and has given away chicken coops to members of the greater Sewanee community.

The CAC will celebrate its 40th anniversary on Dec. 14. Watch for more details about plans for the event.

Desegregation Celebration Honors Courageous Local Families * Participants Recalled Memories and Experiences From 1964

More than 200 people gathered at the Sewanee Elementary School on Jan. 19 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of the Franklin County Public School System. Some guests came from as far as New Jersey, Atlanta and Asheville, N.C., to be a part of the event, which was organized by the Sewanee Civic Association.

Nine years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, eight local families sued Franklin County to force integration of the system. The plaintiffs were four black families and four white families; the participants were the Bates, Cameron, Camp, Goodstein, Hill, Sisk, Staten and Turner families. The suit, which was successful, was unique because it involved both white and black families as plaintiffs.

Marvin Goodstein, one of the original plaintiffs, spoke eloquently about the time of the lawsuit.

“Perhaps the most serious obstacle to desegregation was the word ‘But.’ People would talk about their support for the [Brown v. Board of Education] decision, and then they would say, ‘But,’ and describe a litany of concerns about it,” Goodstein said. “They were concerned that desegregation would harm the quality of education, that it would require tax increases, that it would bring about ‘undesirable’ contacts between groups of young people.

“And they were wrong. The Supreme Court’s decision was the right one,” he said. He described how the families in Franklin County joined together to bring this change to the local level.

Felder Dorn, who was president of the Sewanee Civic Association (SCA) 1963–64 and led the fund-raising effort, described how the Civic Association studied the school situation and recommended that four new classrooms be added to the Sewanee Public School. “The Kennerly School was a grossly inferior building,” Dorn said, “and we agreed that Sewanee residents would bear the cost of the school addition.”

SCA held a town meeting on March 30, 1964, to initiate a fund-raising drive for the new rooms at the school. They estimated the cost to be $50,000, he said, “all of which came right here from this community.”

Although not everyone in the community favored integration, Dorn said, people understood that it was time for it to happen. “The four rooms we added to this place stand as a monument to the vision and the generosity of a very special community,” he concluded.

Juliette Larkins Taylor, daughter of plaintiff Emma and Samuel Hill, described how hard it was to attend Clark Elementary in Winchester after the integration began, and the fear she felt on the bus and in the classroom. Her mother, however, encouraged her by word and example; Hill had been trained at the Highlander Folk School.

“As kids, aged 11 and 12, I don’t think we understood that we were a significant part of history,” said Robin Bates, a plaintiff with his parents, Phoebe and Scott Bates. “We went with our father to the black school, taking books and talking about what was happening. We knew we needed to stand up for what was right.”

Plaintiff Dora Turner’s daughter, Sandra Turner Davis, recalled being 10 years old as she entered Sewanee Public School.

“It was scary,” she said. “There were some good times, and there were some bad times, but we learned as much as we could. Sewanee people are peaceful people.”

Pam Taylor, daughter of plaintiff Sara Staten, noted that she was grateful that this event was organized to recognize and remember this important work.

“I walked into school that first day fearless because my mother was fearless,” she said. “She instilled love in us. She carried no bitterness in her heart,” Taylor said. “She knew that black children everywhere, not just in Sewanee, needed the same education,” Taylor said of her mother.

Doug Cameron, whose sister, Ann, and parents were plaintiffs in the case, recalled how much race relations had changed since 1964. “There were still water fountains and bathrooms for ‘colored’ and for ‘white’ people,” he said. 

“My favorite quote is, ‘There are times when one has to choose between what is easy and what is right,’” Cameron said, “It took courage, but our parents did what was right.” Cameron was joined on stage by his brother, Bobby Cameron, and together led the gathered crowd in singing, “Oh Freedom!”

During the question-and-answer period, members of the audience recalled their own stories from this time. 

Ruth Ramseur reminded the group of the great courage of the Rev. David Yates, rector of Otey Parish during this period, who integrated the parish before the school system. Otey Parish hosted tutoring for black students the summer before integration so that they would be ready for the new school year. This tutoring program was featured in an October 1964 issue of the magazine The Living Church.

At the site of the new historical marker outside of SES, University Vice-Chancellor John M. McCardell noted that at the same time integration was happening at public schools in Franklin County, Congress was engaged in the debate over the 1964 Civic Rights Bill. 

“This community is truly special, truly strong,” McCardell said. “If there’s anyplace to hope to see progress continue toward justice, it is here,” he said. “Courageous people in this little community stood up and prevailed,” he said. “And it shows that when a community decides to do something, it can make a difference.”

SCA board member Lizzie Duncan unveiled the marker, with help from children attending the event. The group then moved across the street to Otey Parish’s Brooks Hall for refreshments, conversation and videotaping of oral interviews about this historic event.

Celebration of Historic Lawsuit Sunday at SES

Members of the families who were part of the historic integration of the Franklin County School System will speak at the 2 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 19, celebration of the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of the schools, as part of a series of community-wide events surrounding Martin Luther King Jr. Day. All members of the community are invited to attend.

The Sewanee Civic Association (SCA) has been working for months to honor the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of the schools, and to offer a tribute to the Sewanee community and eight local families who played a major role in the historic integration. The families of Hill, Sisk, Staten, Turner, Bates, Cameron, Camp and Goodstein joined together in the unique suit that was comprised of four black families and four white families. The Sewanee community also provided funding to enlarge the school and began a tutoring program to ensure that all students would thrive in the newly integrated school. In 1964, the U.S. District Court issued an order to desegregate the schools and in August the system began to assimilate all children into the classroom regardless of race. 

Among those who are expected at the event are Robin Bates, Doug Cameron, Marvin Goodstein, Juliette Larkins and Sandra Turner Davis. Officials from the Tennessee Historical Commission and members of the Franklin County School board are expected to attend.

The program on Sunday will begin inside SES and then move outside, where a new historical marker will be unveiled and dedicated. 

At the conclusion of the ceremonies, there will be a reception in Brooks Hall at Otey Parish. Otey Parish was instrumental in forging community relationships for the tutoring of many students prior to enrolling at Sewanee Public School. School of Theology students and spouses helped with the adjunct teaching program .

Leading the SCA planning efforts have been Elizabeth Duncan, Susan Holmes and Cameron Swallow, with help from Frank and Barbara Hart and Barbara Schlichting.

Otey Parish Announces New Interim Rector

The vestry of Otey Parish Church announced on Oct. 29 that the Rev. Jess L. Reeves has accepted the call to serve as interim rector at Otey Memorial Parish. Reeves’ first Sunday at Otey will be Nov. 24.

In its statement, the vestry said Reeves has served as an interim priest in a wide variety of settings, most recently at St. Michael and All Angels in Savannah, Ga., as well as at the Church of the Redeemer in Kansas, City, Mo., and St Peter’s in Columbia, Tenn. He has extensive training and experience in interim and transitional ministry.

A native of Pine Bluff, Ark., Reeves graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1975. After some years in the business world, he attended seminary and earned an M.Div. from Trinity School for Ministry in Pennsylvania. He has been a priest since 1987.

“When a beloved pastor retires,” Reeves said, there is “considerable grief and the need to take a breath, reassess, identify strengths and recognize growing edges.” He said he hopes to help the parishioners of Otey dedicate themselves anew and find a well-matched rector for the parish.

“My first Sunday will be Christ the King, Nov. 24, which is a glorious lauding of Jesus Christ, so that is a real high point to begin,” he said. “This is a great privilege for which I am most grateful and enthusiastic.”

Ballard Resigns at Otey

The vestry of Otey Memorial Parish Church announced on Sept. 12 that the Rev. Joe Ballard will resign as rector of the parish.

“The vestry has received this announcement with regret and sadness, understanding the difficulty of this decision for Fr. Joe,” said a letter the vestry sent to friends and members of the parish.

Ballard’s last Sunday at Otey will be Sept. 15, when there will be an opportunity to express appreciation to him and to his wife, Bobbye, for their service to the church. Ballard has been rector at Otey for five years.

In his own letter to the parish dated Sept. 11, Ballard described the serious health problems he is experiencing. He wrote that he is resigning “with the encouragement of my doctors—they do not believe I can ‘slow the slide’ in my health while working here as parish priest and rector.”

“Under Fr. Joe’s leadership, the last five years have seen a renewal of our ministry in the community at Otey Parish,” the vestry wrote. “We are thankful to God for the leadership of Fr. Ballard, and for all that has been accomplished: Otey is and will remain a vibrant, living faith community.”

“A Place at the Table” at SUT Sunday

The University is hosting a special, free showing of the documentary “A Place at the Table: One Nation. Underfed.” at 4:30 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 1, at the Sewanee Union Theater. The movie is rated PG and has a runtime of 84 minutes.

“A Place at the Table” tells the powerful stories of three families who maintain their dignity even as they struggle just to eat. The film shows how food insecurity could be solved forever, once the American public decides—as they have in the past—that ending hunger is in the best interest of us all. 

Through a partnership between the University’s Community Engaged Learning and Bonner Leaders Programs and Otey Memorial Parish, the Community Action Committee will be accepting donations of canned goods, paper products (toilet paper, paper towels, etc.), and other household necessities such as diapers and toothpaste. Donations will be distributed to needy families in the local area.

The Community Action Committee , an outreach program of Otey Memorial Parish with a community board of directors, provides assistance to families in need. Community Engaged Learning is the University of the South’s academic community engagement program, and its Bonner Leaders program is one of its service internship programs.

A discussion of the documentary will be at 10 a.m., Sunday, Sept. 8, at Brooks Hall, Otey Memorial Parish.

CAC Open on Saturday

The Community Action Committee will be have extended hours this weekend, open 9–11 a.m., Saturday, April 20, so that it can share fresh fruit and vegetables with people in need.  Items available include  bell peppers, apples, oranges, grapefruit, grapes, squash, cucumbers, onions, bread, avocados and loads of lettuce.

CAC’s office is temporarily located at the Yellow House at 258 Lake O’Donnell Rd., Sewanee.

The CAC is an outreach ministry of Otey Parish, with generous support from the Sewanee Community Chest and individuals across the Mountain. The CAC provides food, financial assistance and educational support for persons in the greater Sewanee community. For more information contact the CAC at 598-5927.

CAC Offers Fresh Items, Sets New Events

Sewanee’s Community Action Committee has a number of events in the coming days of interest to area residents. CAC received a huge delivery of fresh fruit and vegetables and fresh bread and bakery items from Second Harvest Food Bank on March 20. CAC will give away these fresh items during its regular office hours, 9–11 a.m., today (Friday), March 22. It will also be open 9–11 a.m., Saturday, March 23, to give food to people who cannot get to the office on Friday. 

“We got this great, wonderful gift from Second Harvest and are glad to share it with the community,” said Betty Carpenter, CAC’s interim director. Among the items are bananas, oranges,carrots, grapes and pineapples, as well as bread, cakes and sweet rolls.

CAC is an outreach ministry of Otey Parish, with generous support from the Sewanee Community Chest and individuals across the Mountain. For more than 35 years, the CAC has provided food, financial assistance, and educational support for persons in the greater Sewanee community. 

Boy Scout Troop 14 is having a food drive to benefit CAC on Sunday, March 24, in Sewanee. Scouts will walk through neighborhoods asking residents to donate non-perishable food items for the food pantry. If you are not going to be home and would like to make a donation, contact Speed Baranco at 598-0442 or by email to <sbaranco@gmail.com>.

Finally, Sewanee will have its own version of March Madness on Saturday, March 30. TKP sorority is sponsoring a Powder Puff football game to benefit CAC. The donation of a non-perishable food item will get you in to watch the action. Games begin at 10:30 a.m. at Courts Field. Teams are still being accepted for the event; there is a $50 entry fee. T-shirts will also be available. The event will happen, rain or shine. For more information or to register a team, email Clair Bartholomew at <barthcs0@ sewanee.edu>.

While Otey Parish Hall is under renovation, CAC is located in the Yellow House at 258 Lake O’Donnell Rd. CAC can be reached at 598-5927.

Jazz It Up on Shrove Tuesday

Otey Parish Church’s annual Mardi Gras celebration features good food, good times and great entertainment. The event is always on Shrove Tuesday, the last day before the beginning of Lent. This year’s gathering on Tuesday, Feb. 12, will celebrate 25 years of this very special community-wide gathering.

“In honor of the anniversary,  plans are underway to ‘Jazz It Up,’” said Peggy Peterson, who is heading this year’s activity. The University Jazz Band, conducted by Prakash Wright and boasting a full complement of musicians from piano and strings to a full-throttle horn section, will be on the stage. 

Bazzania will kick off the evening with its eclectic mix of traditional, Americana, bluegrass, Cajun and country music. 

Doors at Cravens Hall will open at 5:30 p.m., and food service begins at 6 p.m. There are door prizes. The Jazz Band will start at 6:30 p.m. 

Tickets are $5 for ages 6–89 and $2 for 5 and under; everyone 90 years or older dines free. Families of six or more may pay a flat fee of $25. 

“Costumes of all types are strongly encouraged but not required,” said Peterson. “It doesn’t need to be formal —anything that puts you in a jazzy mood is perfect. And, be sure to wear those dancing shoes!”

It takes almost 100 people to put this extravaganza together, so if you can volunteer to help with this event, contact Ann Seiters at 598-5629 or email <aseiters@bellsouth.net>.