We ran into a former pastor of our church when we were in town today. His family was the first to live in the "new" parsonage that we live in now. He talked about where his garden was located and what a nice raspberry patch he had, with "big plump juicy berries". He asked if we had a washer and dryer in the basement. I told him I couldn't imagine going to the laundry mat 7 miles away! One of the first things we did here was to purchase a used washer and dryer and that was before we had children.
It made me think that usually pastor's families don't hear much about former pastor's families that lived in your house. The pastor either takes another Call or retires and moves away. I know not all pastor's live in a parsonage. But it is interesting to me to imagine where this pastor I was talking to today put his large family in this house. I imagine he had a girl's room and a boy's room, but I don't know that for sure. When they built this house he "designed" a root cellar type of room in the basement.
One of the back rooms here has a large cupboard built into the wall that I use to store my scrapbook supplies. A pastor that visited for a church anniversary a few years ago told me that was the "playroom" and their children would climb up in that cupboard like it was a treehouse or a little house. He also told me that they didn't have air conditioning and I can't even imagine living here without it!
Our kitchen is adequate, but does not have nearly enough cupboards for me. But I have very few complaints about the rest of our parsonage. We have lots of closets with a light in each of them. The boys like the full basement to play in. I like the space with 4 bedrooms.
2 comments:
I love to hear the stories as well!. A retired pastor and his wife are members of our congregation. He served this congregation for 18+ years before accepting a call to another town. When he retired, he moved back. They, and their children, loved to come back and see how it had changed and how it all stayed the same.
Also, the parsonage was built in 1920's for the pastor and his five children. One of those children is still a member of our congregation today. He, too, likes to recall how it is different and the same.
"If these walls could talk....."
Off today to the farm while the basement concrete is cut up into to fix a broken pipe (hopefully nothing else too major - but one never knows when digging up a cement floor) that was most likely from the original 1920's plumbing.
We are friends with the pastor and his wife that served here 50+ years ago. It *is* fun to have them to dinner and ask what the house/ town/ church was like 50 years ago (and what such-and-such parishoner was like 50 years ago too!).
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