Volume 113, No. 8
Houston, Texas
October 2010
Legacy Stewardship is Model for Tellelpsen Family
Roots to Wings and Back Again Tom Tellepsen married his childhood sweetheart, Ingeborg, in Norway in 1912, and brought her to their new home in Houston.
By Carol E. Barnwell
T
add Tellepsen opened the dedication of Houston’s new Tellepsen Family Downtown YMCA with prayer. In it he asked for God’s guidance to do “what is best for our fellow man at whatever cost … that we may be led by integrity and character.” Those fitting words informed the life of his great-grandfather, Tom Tellepsen, and each succeeding generation, to the benefit of their community and their church for the last century. Four generations of Tellepsens have served on YMCA boards, and at the same time they literally helped define Houston’s landscape in the arts, faith and health, building many Houston landmarks (see sidebar). Tellepsens have been active members of Church of the Redeemer, St. James’ and St. Martin’s during the same period. Tom Tellepsen left Norway at age 14 as a deck boy and worked as a carpenter on the Panama Canal in
the early 1900s. When he immigrated to Houston in 1909, the city had 65,000 residents. Tellepsen, who had a seventh grade education, signed up for an architectural drafting class at the Downtown YMCA Night School to improve his skills, which began a 100year relationship between the Tellepsen family, Houston and the YMCA. The new Downtown YMCA, named for the Tellepsen family, will open on October See Roots, page 10
INSIDE Bishops’ Calendars......................... 24 Bishop’s Column.............................. 2 Calendar of Events......................... 13
Diocesan News...........8-12, 14-17 National & International..... 18-22 Parish News............................ 4-7 1
Sam Todd’s Column..................23
Texas Episcopalian
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October
2010