Thankful Memories

It has been a busy fall! Connie and I have just returned home after exhibiting at seven conventions over the past nine weeks, and traveling 5,000 miles. We are glad to be home so that Connie could get relief through a root canal on the day before Thanksgiving.

Just this week we received the news that Susan Foster passed away after a long battle with liver cancer. Pray for Max and family as they mourn their loss, and trust in the Lord for His grace. Susan's obituary can be read at: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/obituaries/article_7d36977c-d974-11de-b205-001cc4c03286.html.

Just after we left home in September I received an email from June Barlow Matthews and was not able to post this photo she sent at that time. I am sorry that I buried this photo on my computer for a number of weeks. Here is June with her brother Jack, and sister Judy.

I love the pictures you send!! Thanks to Connie Day Soiberg for encouraging Pat Whitten Thomas to send several wonderful pictures. This fall Camp Assurance in Georgetown, IL, had our old prof Richard Brady speak for their Senior Saints Day. Here is a great picture of Steve and Cindy Nelson, Richard and Jan Brady, and Pat and Ken Thomas.
Steve Nelson is retired from the pastorate, but still plays the accordion and fills pulpits in the Danville, Illinois area.
Connie Day Soiberg also sent this nice photo of Sandy Lackey with her husband Jim Binkley. The Binkley's divide their time, I believe, between the Seattle area and Arizona.

Keep those pictures coming!

More Pictures

I have hoping for some more pictures to come to my mailbox from you folks out there! Sure would like to get more, but I have a few that I will post now and by faith trust that more will come later.


Here is a picture sent by Connie Day Soiberg, that includes her and Sandy Lauritsen Lackey. They both live in the greater Seattle area and we are glad for this great picture.
Just got this picture from Eva and Sam Telloyan. Included in the picture is Eva's mother and Sam and Eva's daughter Naomi and family -- the Tim Van Loh's. Tim is a pastor in the Lansing, Michigan area. Years ago I visited that church and know that it is in a picturesque setting. They all live together and continue to serve the Lord.
Here is a picture from the past. This comes from an old 35 mm slide that I scanned on my new slide scanner. The picture was from my youth pastor days in Normal, Illinois. Mark and Kathy Brush, and Harold and Bonnie Marcilliott had come to our house for a visit. Both Mark and Harold were youth pastors in Illinois at the time of this photo.
I continue to plead for pictures! Send them and I will share them!

VISITING THE KETTENRINGS

On Friday, August 14th, Denny and Sherry Whitehead arrived at our place in Rocky Mount for a visit. They pulled in a little late due to weekend traffic on I-95 north of Richmond, VA, but that's the joy of traveling on east coast highways.

They had just come from several days with Gail and Paul Fosmark up in the Maritimes. You can read about their exploits with Paul and Gail at http://gailsgarden.blogspot.com/. The Fosmarks showed them a great time taking them over to Prince Edward Island, and then to "The Farm", which is Gail and Paul's beloved spot in the New Brunswick countryside.

On Saturday we drove about two hours east to Columbia, NC, where Joel and Pauline Kettenring live on the beautiful Albermarle Sound. We arrived in time for lunch at a quaint place in Columbia. The Kettenrings looked great (as you can see) and we had a wonderful time of fellowship.

We had the privilege of going out to their home, which is a couple hundred feet off the Sound. Their place is about 40 miles from the ocean and the Outer Banks. They have a great view of the water! Here are Pauline, Sherry and Connie enjoying the patio and garden.

This is their house and Joel is explaining to Dennis the joys of living "Down East", as the locals call the region.

After lunch Denny got a haircut (for $5) from the oldest barber in the state of North Carolina. This gentleman was 92 years young -- and he was good!

While Denny was getting his hair cut, Joel and I were hanging out in the Barber Shop swapping stories with the locals. Would you believe two old Minnesota preachers in Carolina?

Probably the highlight of the day was seeing "Mister" (that's his name -- the dog, that is) climb up on Grandpa Kettenring's lap for an afternoon nap. I'm sure the Kettenring's would love a visit if you are in their neighborhood.

PILLLSBURY CHOIR -- 1959 or 1960?

Here is a photo of the Pillsbury Choir that was directed by Joel Kettenring taken in the old parking lot at 4th Baptist Church in North Minneapolis. This picture was taken by Don Nelson and I found it in a stack of photos that I inherited from him.

It looks like Del Budke is the driver of this Owatonna Public School (from Mason Bus Lines) school bus. How many people you can identify in the picture? Click on the picture to enlarge it and then scroll to the right, or see how large your browser will allow you to blow it up further. Let me know who you find in the picture!

MORE PICTURES

Here are a couple of pictures that we collected over the last month. I keep on begging ya'll to send me pictures. The first one is of Dave and Grace Goodman. They sent me this photo last month, but it has been captive on my sick laptop. This week I had a delightful visit on the phone with Dave, and he resent the picture so that I could share it with everyone.

Then I obtained a great picture of Roger and Jan Creamer -- via Denny and Sherry Whitehead. We saw the picture while we were in Florida and I asked Denny to scan the photo and email it to me. I also contacted Roger to get their permission. It is a great shot!

I'll also add the photo that Connie and I took in our home just before all the Christmas festivities began. Please send me your photos so that we can share them with everyone. Also, send me email addresses of folks that you have contact with who spent time at Pillsbury during the early days. God bless you all!

PILLSBURY REUNION IN FLORIDA

We had a great time at Maranatha Village in Sebring, Florida, where several of our Pillsbury alumni friends reside. The Village is a beautiful retirement area situated on over 200 acres in south-central Florida. Connie and I enjoyed ten days at the RV Park located on the grounds. (See our family site for more info: http://carlsonconnections.blogspot.com/.) The weather was great, and the fellowship was superb!

During our visit we had several great times of fellowship with Dennis and Sherry Whitehead, Gil and Pat Seddon, Jerry and Kathy Webber, and Ed and Alice Caughill. The Whiteheads, Seddons, and Webbers have homes at Maranatha Village, and the Seddons had invited the Caughills to their home for a week visit.

We had a great time of fellowship and fun together. On the final night of our visit we sat around the Whiteheads' table and reminisced; told stories from our college days, and confessed some long forgotten hijinks from our days of immaturity. Actually the time was a blessed time of spiritual remembrances -- sprinkled with a lot of laughter and enjoyment.

Here is the whole crowd at the Whiteheads dinning room table. Left to right: Ed & Alice Caughill, Connie & Gerry Carlson, Dennis & Sherry Whitehead, Jerry & Kathy Webber, and Gil & Pat Seddon.

One of the purposes of our visit was to investigate Maranatha as a potential future retirement place. Gil Seddon, and the Village manager, took us on an informational tour of a number of the homes. Maranatha is a friendly place that is well maintained. The website for the Village is: http://www.maranathabaptistsebring.churchpage.us/index.html.

Jerry Webber is pastor of Maranatha Baptist Church, which is the church on the grounds of the Village. He does an excellent job directing the ministry of this active church.

Denny and Sherry Whitehead live year round at Maranatha. Denny is actively involved in the audio support ministry for the church, and Sherry is very busy entertaining -- and she does a great job!

Gil and Pat Seddon split their time between Minnesota and Florida. They are very busy traveling, entertaining and being involved with their family.

Would anyone be interested in coming to Florida for a Pillsbury Reunion sometime? Maranatha Village has some guest rooms, plus the RV Park, and the opportunity to rent some of the units that owners make available. Let me know if you would like to join a future gathering in either 2010 or 2011.

PILLSBURY REMEMBERED

It was with sadness that we learned in late October that Pillsbury was closing its doors at the end of the fall 2008 semester. I had learned earlier in the fall of the lower than hoped for enrollment, and so the news was not a complete surprise. Because of my heavy travel schedule, and a desire to reflect on what to say on this site, I have not posted anything to date. Now our ministry’s generous Christmas break gives me the opportunity to write and express some thoughts about these latest turn of events.



In the last few weeks some things were posted about our Alma Mater on the popular fundamentalist website SharperIron.org. Pillsbury alum Norm Olson, who is Senior Editor of the Baptist Bulletin, has written a very nice piece on closing days of the college. You can read his article entitled “True to the End” at http://sharperiron.org/2008/12/12/true-to-the-end/. Then you might possibly like to read the few comments that were written in response to Norm’s article. Both Dave Becklund and Fred Moritz expressed their thoughts, and I wrote the following:

Norm Olson has done a nice job blending the poignancy and pathos of Pillsbury’s final chapter. The words, pictures, and thoughts bring back a flood of memories from my student days and my interesting sojourn as president in 1994-95. Even remembering the difficult days of what I have often called “my suicide mission”, I am thankful for what I learned at Pillsbury as a young student and later as an older learner.

I too have been pondering what to say, what to write, what to feel, since learning that Pillsbury was coming to a final conclusion. I understand and appreciate the feelings of disappointment and sadness, but keep coming back to the thought that God is still on the throne. He knows; His ways are perfect, and He makes no mistakes.

Bob Crane and his staff have forged a valiant effort. Greg Huffman’s role in these last few months has likewise been strategic. But the main testimony I have seen over the last twelve years coming from the campus community has been that of a quiet dependency on the Lord. My personal contacts with various faculty and staff members have been encouraging and uplifting. They, it seems to me, have done the best they could. We need to pray for them and help them to find productive ministries in other places.

I’ve also been greatly heartened by the way Pillsbury’s sister schools have reached out to aid the present student body at Pillsbury at this time. That spirit of kindness and support can become a great influence in the lives of these young people, if they will go on to trust the Lord in successive steps in their lives.

It is also a blessing to know that one of the sister schools will provide transcript and alumni support to the many Pillsbury graduates scattered across the country and around the world. Because of my experience in Higher Ed, I know how critical it is for graduates to be able to have a credible repository for their academics records. This will become a very important issue for many as they pursue graduate study and future ministry/employment opportunities.

A year ago I launched a website for Pillsbury grads from the early era of the 50s and 60s called Pillsbury Memories http://pillsburymemories.blogspot.com/ . My goal is to see this site used by the Lord to encourage those who were privileged to attend Pillsbury in the early years of the college. A song from bygone days keeps going through my mind.

I just keep trusting my Lord, as I walk along,
I just keep trusting my Lord, and He gives a song;
Tho the storm clouds darken the sky, o'er the heav'nly trail,
I just keep trusting my Lord, He will never fail!
He's a faithful Friend, such a faithful Friend,
I can count on Him, to the very end;
Tho the storm clouds darken the sky, o'er the heav'nly trail,
I just keep trusting my Lord, He will never fail!

A 1982 grad, Attorney Jay Kalasnik, has also provided a link to some outstanding recent winter pictures he took of the campus. You can see all of his excellent photos at http://attorneyjay.smugmug.com/gallery/6748948_8f4oN#431058333_W3J8o. His website is: http://attorneyjay.smugmug.com/. He also has some interesting pictures of the ceremony to honor past Pillsbury coaches at the last basketball game. Our own Coach Poorman was honored. He looks great – doesn’t he?



Why don’t you write some thoughts about “Remembering Pillsbury” and post them on this site, or send them to me in an email. You can write me at: DrGBC@hotmail.com. Send pictures too!! I got some nice pictures from Dave and Grace Goodman, and I will post a gallery soon that I hope will include more pics -- some from you as well, I hope.