A Note From Our Council President

Trinity’s 75^th Anniversary Recap

What a great day and rousing success as we gathered on October 2, 2022 to celebrate 75 years of ministry at Trinity and to finally celebrate Pastor Ken Lane’s retirement and give thanksgiving for his call as Pastor at Trinity.  The day started with worship lead by Pastor Luke.  During the worship service, Pastor Kelly Bayer Derrick, Assistant to the Bishop of the VA Synod, officiated the “Thanksgiving at the Conclusion of a Call” portion of worship service where the congregation officially released Pastor Lane from his call as Pastor of Trinity and where he acknowledged the completion of service and ministry at Trinity. Pastor Lane was called to be Trinity’s Pastor on October 30, 1988.  Hard to believe that Pastor Lane served the congregation at Trinity for 32 years.

Following worship, we gathered in the Fellowship Hall for lunch and a program to celebrate Trinity’s 75^th Anniversary of service to our Lord and to share our thoughts, gratitude and love for Pastor Ken and Deborah. 

After welcoming remarks and an opening pray by Pastor Luke, all gathered partook of a wonderful potluck luncheon.  Trinity cooks never disappoint and due to the importance of this celebration, I think a little extra love and care went into every dish.  Everything was delicious as usual.  The only negative comment that I heard was that needed to have bigger plated (The Invite/Kitchen Team will take that comment under advisement for our next event.)  During lunch all attendees were invited to observe all of the memorabilia displays created by Norma Beckner to reflect past events and people associated with our 75 year history.  For me, the highlight was looking at the 1955 Annual Report which showed the church budget being $12,000 and a 1990 Pictorial Church Directory.  Wonderful to see pictures of dear members that are no longer with us and to see how we have changed over those 40+ years.

After lunch, all of the guests in attendances stood to introduce themselves and tell a little about their relationship with Trinity.  We were honored to have guests from the VA Synod and St. Phillip Lutheran Church join us for this celebration.  We also had family of current members attend.  It was also great to see past members of Trinity return for this celebration.  We probably had a dozen guests in attendance.  Then we had a “Member Joining” Game where all members stood up and were seated as their year of membership was called.  The first to sit was our newest member – Pastor Luke Swanson who joined Trinity this year and the last member to sit down was Ron Crawford who was a “Charter Kid” when the church was started in 1947.

Next came the actual Celebration/Celebration part of the program to celebrate both Trinity and Pastor Lane.  Following remarks from Pastor Luke and greeting from the VA Synod by Pastor Kelly, Ron Crawford led us on a stroll down memory lane.  Ron started us off by sharing some of his earliest memories of Trinity, then opened up to the attendees to share some of their memories.  From meeting in the old Lee Theatre to Luther League to youth gatherings in the Fellowship Hall to Shrove Tuesday Talent Shows to the Chicken Barbeque to Line Dancing to Brunswick Stew to Thrift Shop to Senior Luncheon and too many more to name.  Everyone’s recollections brought back great memories.  Thanks to all that shared.

Then Pastor Lane came to the front to share his memories of his 32 years at Trinity.  What stood out most to me was when he talked about the joys that he and Deborah experienced through the relationships that he/they developed while at Trinity.  He shared this thoughts on the impacts that Trinity as made in the community.  He recalled our tag line – “Small enough to be a family, Large enough to make a difference.”  He talked about the love and friendliness of the congregation.  I was such a joy to have Pastor Lane address the gathering.

Following Pastor Lane’s remarks was the presentation of Pastor Lane’s retirement gift along with the sharing of some thoughts about Pastor Lane.  Hard to believe that we had to wait 2½ years to  finally celebrate Pastor Lane’s retirement and his 32 years of service to Trinity.  We had originally planned to hold this celebration event for Pastor Lane on Easter Sunday 2020, but Covid had other ideas.  It was so nice to be able to final gather to celebration him.  When thinking about Pastor Lane, the following words were used to describe him:  Fearless, Dedicated, Faithful, Leader, Committed, Involved, Calming. Rock, Doer and Friend.  Then Dale Hurt and I presented Pastor Lane and Deborah with his retirement gift from the Congregation – a stained glass piece of art interpretation of Trinity’s stained glass window in the Chancel area along with a card and money.  We can’t thank Pastor Lane enough for all of the wonderful years that he spent serving not only Trinity but other social organizations and churches in the Roanoke Valley.  We wish you and Deborah all the best in retirement.

The last activity of the day was the reveal of items in the time capsule that was buried during Trinity’s 50^th and 60^th anniversary celebrations.  The contents of the time capsule included letters from Elaine St. Clair, Candy Puckett, Louise Reep, Ken & Deborah Lane and June Broadbent.  Family photos from Dale Hurt. 2006 Trinity Annual Report, plaque of church from 50^th Anniversary, VCR of 50^th Anniversary Worship Service at Trinity from Mark Moomaw, VCR of Pastor Lane’s doctoral graduation roast from June 1992, door hanger from Brandy, photo album from the 60^th Anniversary Celebration, poem titled “Here at Trinity” from Jewel Grimm Reed (A copy is published elsewhere in this newsletter), cross stitch art and poem from Louise Reep and a Welcome Bag from Faith and Arts and a CD from a Trinity group visit to the D-Day Memorial in May 2007.  But the most unique item was a pair of “Heelys” shoes from Justin Alls.  All of the items are in the Church Office should you want to see them.

The event ended with closing remarks and a pray by Pastor Luke.

Thanks go out to Debbie Metcalf for her great leadership in organizing and planning this event.  Deb would be the first to say that “TEAM WORK makes the DREAM WORK”. So I’d like to acknowledge and thank the “75^th Anniversary and Retirement” team for making this event a rousing success.  Team members include Pastor Luke, Laura Burk, Norma Beckner, Candy Puckett, Louise Reep, Lori Kincer and Troy Kincer.  Also a special thanks goes out to all of the workers that helped set-up, purchase goods, order & pick-up food/drinks, work in the kitchen and clean-up.  You all did a great job.

I received a letter from Ken four days after the event.  He said, “Sunday was such a grand experience for us (he and Deborah).  There could have been no more perfect gift to us than the stained glass portraying that of Trinity’s above the chancel.  It is a beautiful work of art as well as a reminder of our life at Trinity.  We already have it hanging in a window in our living room.”

Thanks be to God for our past 75 years, for Pastor Lane being such a wonderful part of that history and to Pastor Luke and each of you for all that you do for God’s church at Trinity as we look forward to our future.

Troy Kincer

Council President

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