Thursday, April 20
It was a cloudy, rainy morning when Cerwin, Sam Rittenhouse, Dan Witwer, and I began our six hour drive to Pembroke, New York.
At times it was a bit foggy.
Other times it was just cloudy.
When I turned around to talk to Dan and Sam, I saw the headlights of a big rig behind them, but till I got my camera, the truck was passing us.
Dan is TFC’s Vice President of Staff Development and Sam is Assistant Director of Pastoral Care for Chaplains. The purpose for this trip was to prepare the chapel to be removed from the truck stop.
Along the way we discussed some of the memories of taking the chapel to the Buffalo area and some of the experiences of it being there for the past twenty-three years.
We took them to our favorite restaurant on this route.
Outside the restaurant
The closer we got to Pembroke the more it rained.
Because of the heavy rain, I sat inside the restaurant while the men went inside the chapel and soon decided to wait until morning to remove the lettering, skirting and steps so the trailer could be pulled away.
The person who bought the rig (for restoration) had already come for the tractor.
I took this picture through our motel window.
There was a preplanned dinner in the truck stop to celebrate the ministry that had happened at this truck stop for the past 23 years. Kathy (right) brought her dad, retired chaplain Earl Carlson (left) who was the chaplain when the rig was brought here. Next to Earl (clockwise) Sam Rittenhouse, Laurie and Jack McMullen, Dwayne Johnson (who also drove through a lot of rain – from Michigan), Dan Witwer, Cerwin, and Kathy.
Earl, Sam, Laurie, and Jack. Jack kept the chapel open several days a week in recent years.
Dwayne, Dan, Cerwin, and Kathy.
Cerwin, Earl and Sam. Earl is 92 years old and doing fairly well.
We were surprised to look up and see this huge dog being brought into the restaurant by the driver of an escort car – for an oversized load. He looked like a pony. 🙂
He slept on the floor while his owner ate supper. Apparently he had permission to be here, because nobody seemed surprised to see him.
Dan gave Jack a gift in honor of his service to TFC at this truck stop.
He gave Earl two plaques that had been inside the chapel.
I enjoyed getting to know Kathy. She is a train engineer.
It was fun for us and Earl that several staff members and truckers who remembered when he was chaplain stopped by our table.
We treasured the time we got to spend with Earl and hear stories from when he was a fulltime chaplain.
thank you for sharing this road trip and the special ministry that met so many needs
It was sad to see the chapel being pulled out, but things change, and doors continue to open in other truck stops.
Was this one of your earliest chapels? I’m glad that Earl was able to join you to help/watch the decommissioning of this chapel! Will it be replaced now with a newer one? I love the fog photos (especially #6) and the raindrops shot from the motel!
Not one of the first – those were in the ’60s, but early after we began placing them at truck stops in a more permanent fashion. The few chapels that TFC had before 1986 were mobile and went from terminal/truck stop to terminal/truck stop.
I’ve seen that chapel when traveling to Buffalo to visit my daughter and family and stopped at that “barn” restaurant once for a bite to eat (quite an experience!). Sorry you had to remove that chapel. We sure haven’t lacked for rain this spring!
We were sorry to remove it too, but life changes and we move on. The new manager was not receptive to us being there and it was difficult to find full-time staff, thus we move on to truck stops where there are staff and we are encouraged to be a benefit to the drivers.