Category: People

 

Richard likes to describe himself as a doer, not a planner. Which is a great orientation for the Property chair on the Holy Cross Vestry. Though he’s in sunny Florida for the winter months, for most of the year Richard is right on top of all the building and grounds jobs that need attention: painting, gutting the old basement, washing windows, grooming the grounds. Richard is a retired sales representative, who lives with his wife Ellie in Hillsborough. When we want something done, we ask Richard! Everyone should be so lucky as to have a guy like him on hand.

 

 

 

 

 

Susan likes to say that when she first started attending Holy Cross we had just installed indoor plumbing! Besides serving as one of our “memory repositories” (she is on the parish history task force) and as head of the Altar Guild, Susan is currently serving on the Vestry as our Diocesan Liaison chair. Combined with her role as one of our delegates to Diocesan Convention, this means that she is responsible for all of the ways in which we interface with diocesan programs: Safer Church minister, coordinator of the Gifts to Children of Prison Inmates program, and more. Susan retired at the end of 2008 (hurray!) has a grown daughter and son, and an adorable granddaughter who sometimes comes to church with her. She’s pictured knitting a prayer shawl for our prayer shawl ministry–through which we give comforting shawls to those in the congregation or the wider community who are ill or facing surgery.

Six or seven years ago one of our musicians, the folk singer Douglas Clegg, suggested that Holy Cross begin a program of supporting an “organ scholar.” Organ scholars would be teenagers who wanted to take organ lessons–the organ being the most difficult and sophisticated instrument a musician can aspire to play. Since organists are something of a dying breed, we thought Douglas had a great idea. His suggestion was taken up enthusiastically by our other two organists, Liz Black and Roberta Walmsley.

Our first organ scholar was a John Stark High School junior, Erik Boyko. Erik started organ lessons, with scholarship aid from Holy Cross, and began to play at church–first one piece, then several, finally whole services. We watched as he grew in competence and were both joyful and sad when he went away to college at the University of Chicago. (Erik graduated two years ago and is now an artisanal bread baker in Boston.)

Our second organ scholar is Mary Copeley. Mary is a home-schooled high schooler, looking towards a career in organ. She is one dedicated and accomplished young lady, having been selected in a natinal competition last year for a summer “organ experience” intensive music camp–one of just 20 young people to be chosen. Lest you think organists are some sort of weird wonks, know that Mary also plays in a rock group, enjoys sports, and otherwise exhibits the marks of a regular teenager. Mary is a faithful member of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Manchester, so she often does double duty, fitting in service there as well as at Holy Cross.