Clay Center Presbyterian Manor
Living out ‘response ability’ NOVEMBER 2021
By Mary Bridges, chaplain NOTE: Our featured chaplain for November is Mary Bridges, chaplain at Salina Presbyterian Manor. Each month, we share a devotion from one of the chaplains around the PMMA® system in a nod to our faith-based roots in the Presbyterian Church.
My father, Henry, was an eighthgrade graduate and smarter than anyone I have known. He was a lifelong Lutheran. He did not verbalize his faith or quote scripture; he simply lived it, every day. He cared for my grandmother when she lived alone. She was eventually diagnosed with dementia and moved into a nursing home. My father continued to visit her, even though she didn’t recognize him and no longer spoke.
Season of thankfulness When the season of Thanksgiving comes, Marilyn Thomas finds many reasons for thanks. Her birthday is Nov. 24, so it has always fallen around Thanksgiving. Marilyn’s favorite tradition is getting to hang out with family and friends and then celebrating with pie. Last year she had a great-granddaughter born on her birthday as well. They used Marilyn’s name as the girl’s middle name — Micah Marilyn. Additionally, she has four kids, six grandkids, and six great-grandkids. Having a birthday around Thanksgiving is great because she can see everyone for two different reasons. As Thanksgiving approaches, we’d love to hear your favorite traditions, as well as the reasons you find to be thankful — not only now, but throughout the year. u
My father loved the land. After he retired from active farming, he leased a small amount of land north of Russell on Salt Creek. There he had a huge garden, and he shared his garden produce with everyone. One year, he raised turkeys. That November, he and my mom cleaned and dressed more than 20 turkeys, which my father distributed to family, friends and people he knew were struggling. He reserved one of those turkeys for a man who
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stopped to help my father change a tire earlier that year. That Thanksgiving season, and every day, my father exercised what the Rev. Richard J. Fairchild calls our “response ability” that is the result of His goodness. “Our ancestors in faith — from Sarah to Mary and from Abraham to Jesus, all were convinced that God is the source of everything, and that by graciously giving all things to us, God provides us with a response ability,” Fairchild writes.
and to others, Fairchild says. God hopes we will use this ability “for the good that he intends for us and for the good that he intends for our neighbors and our world.” My father grasped this innately, and we all felt it: his family and his neighbors, certainly, and I firmly believe he showed the world God’s great goodness.
no matter how it is organized and we have the presence of God and the promise of Jesus Christ that when we seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteous-ness, that all that we need will be added unto it.” u
I wish you the happiest of Thanksgivings. I will close with more wisdom from Rev. Fairchild: “In the hard times you see, we still have so much, we have life, no matter how slenderly we may hold to it, we have family and friends, no matter That’s the ability to respond to God how scattered, we have community,
Celebrating November birthdays Join us in offering warm wishes to these special birthday celebrants at Clay Center Presbyterian Manor: Kenneth Carlson: Nov. 2 Harold Hartner: Nov. 8 Mary Fowles: Nov. 10 Marilyn Thomas: Nov. 24
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Community Matters 785-632-5646 u Fax: 785-632-5874 924 Eighth St. Clay Center, KS 67432-2620 ClayCenterPresbyterianManor.org
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COMMUNITY MATTERS | November 2021
is published monthly for residents and friends of Clay Center Presbyterian Manor by Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America, Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization.
To submit or suggest articles: dkuhlman@pmma.org Morgan Burton, executive director Dani Kuhlman, marketing director
OUR MISSION: To provide quality senior services guided by Christian values.
Thankful for our Veterans
Don and his fellow seamen recruits posed for a group photo at Camp Farragut, Idaho.
Resident Donald Hatfield served in the U.S. Navy from 1944–46. He enlisted at the age of 18, during World War II. His most dangerous time in the Navy was during a typhoon in September 1945. He was on a 175foot ship with around 50 other sailors. The typhoon pushed most ships onto the beach. Donald’s ship took to sea to try to ride out the storm. The next 48 hours brought no sleep and a constant storm that pushed them 200 meters back, even though they were trying to move forward the entire time. The below-deck doors came off, but luckily the ramp is what keeps the bottom deck sealed from the water. Donald’s time in the Navy created lifelong friends. Even though he hasn’t seen many of them throughout the years, those few years serving together created a bond that lasted a lifetime. We asked Donald to share a few
Donald Hatfield in his Navy uniform in 1944.
memories from his service to our country: • He thanks God that Truman dropped the atomic bomb, or else many of his friends and himself wouldn’t have made it much longer. • Don said the ship he was on was called a Teddy Roosevelt ship because it was a “rough-riding SOB.” • He served in the area from Guam to Okinawa. • He received his Navy papers the same day as his draft papers. He said he took the Navy papers and ran. Like most people in the Navy at the time, he said he wanted to see the ocean. He ended up hating swimming in the ocean, though. • “O Lord how big is your ocean, how small is my boat” is a quotation they repeated quite often. • New recruits would often say, “Man, that’s a lot of water!” The
The ship upon which Don served was called a Teddy Roosevelt ship because it was a “rough-riding SOB.”
veterans replied, “And that’s just what’s on top.” • Don also had a brother who served in the Army and made it his career. • Don left high school to join the Navy. After he was discharged, he returned to finish high school. • When he got back, Don joined Clay Center’s National Guard. • I asked Don if he would serve again, were he asked to do so. His answer: “I love this country and I’m glad to live in it. I would do anything to protect that and the freedom we get.” Don turned 95 in late September. u
Clay Center Presbyterian Manor | A PMMA COMMUNITY
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