Published: November 01, 2009 09:05 am      

Remembering lost loved ones

Women of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church fill their garden with love

A group of women with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church have formed a committee filled with love and dedication to their memorial garden on the church grounds.

The memorial garden was established more than 20 years ago as a living memorial to Julia Brown by her family and friends. The purpose of the garden is to provide a place for current and former church members to inter their remains after cremation. Each grave measures 2 foot by 2 foot. There are 200 spaces available in the garden.

Over the years the garden had become over grown and the gravesites which were formerly marked with brass pegs were hard to distinguish.

The members of the memorial garden committee, over the course of the last six months have transformed the garden to a serene place of beauty. Gone is the grass and brass pegs. Now, the ground is covered in bricks with a lighter colored brick with the person’s name on it at the place where they are interned. To secure the site, an iron fence has been installed.

Also added are benches so people can sit while they pray or think about their lost loved ones. Watching over the garden is a large concrete angel.

The women of the committee have also included four large flower pots containing live flowers which they take turns maintaining. But, they are not done yet, they also have plans for an azalea bed outside the fence near the entrance.

The members of the committee are Rebecca Outenreath, Rosie Hurst, Rayda Neswick, Bonnie Blanchard, Krispen Choate, Sheila Dubois, Shirley Marshall and Lynn Phillips.

But, Marshall and Blanchard wanted to express their gratitude for Outenreath’s leadership.

“She does so much,” Blanchard said. “She is so dedicated and a great leader.”

When the women of the church are not working on the garden, they have many other projects to keep them busy. They work with LifeShare to organize blood drives, make boxes filled with supplies for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and assist with the Rainbow Room located at Child Protective Services.

The church building also serves as a gathering place for meetings such as Narcotics Anonymous, Boy Scouts, bridge clubs and watercolor classes.

The stone covered church with the sparkling stained glass windows is where about 100 members join together as well.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church first held services in 1863 at an Orange residence. As the community grew along with the congregation, they rotated services among member’s houses. Around 1880, one of the founders of the church donated land at 4th and Main streets. A small church was built on the site. The congregation continued to meet there until 1897 when it was destroyed by what is called the “great storm.”

Everything was lost, except their faith.

They would rebuild again, but this time at 6th and Main Streets.

It was not until 1947 when the church moved to the location where they are now. Even though the end of World War II resulted in half of the parish moving away, the faithful pursued their goal of a new church building. A permit was obtained from the War Production Board and the ground was broken in Sept. of 1945. A shortage of materials and labor was not enough to keep them from completing the church in early 1947, according to information from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.



Debby Schamber is a reporter for the Orange Leader. She can be reached at 409-883-3571 ext. 2609 or at dschamber@orangeleader.com.