Sunday Afternoon, July 29

We came home after church where we met Inge Koenig who traveled with us to Ann’s Choice (retirement community), Warminster, PA.

Our first stop – on the PA Turnpike – was Bowmansville Travel Plaza for a quick lunch.

After going through the security gate, I called Howard who guided us through the community roads to his apartment.

Howard is TFC’s President Emeritus and Inge was his Executive Assistant. Cerwin’s claim to fame with Howard is that he is the one who gave Howard’s name to the board when they were looking for a president. Howard still remembers where he was standing in our driveway when Cerwin asked him if he would consider serving a president.

When we reached his apartment, he told us about the counted cross-stitch piece that his wife, Tish, stitched. Tish died several years ago, but her presence is noticeable at the entrance and inside his apartment.

We spent the entire afternoon reliving interesting, funny, and serious memories. His mind is sharp – at the age of 91 – and he didn’t miss a detail about his time of serving as a chaplain on the Harrisburg Chapel. He remembered the first time he met me in the Northeast Region Office of TFC in Morgantown when Melvin Mast was Northeast Region Director. It was about 1986.

The “Thank You” bag contained jelly beans from Inge. We remembered that he kept jelly beans on his desk in the TFC office.

He gives Inge a lot of credit for helping him during the few years he served as TFC President – following his retirement as a Staff Chaplain. After retiring as President, he went back to serving as a volunteer chaplain on the Elkton, Maryland, Chapel. He no longer drives, so he is now completely retired. 🙂 However, he is not retired from studying the Bible. I was amazed at the verses he remembers and the amount of time he studies many days.

After several hours, we decided it was time to leave before we started another subject. I think it was 5:00 pm when we left – and we probably had several more hours of conversation and memories left in us.

We all wanted a few posed pictures before leaving.

Inge and Howard (no camera flash)

With a flash. I couldn’t decide which one I liked best.

Cerwin, Howard, and me. Thanks, Inge, for taking this picture.

Leaving his apartment. He lives on the first floor so we needed an elevator to take us up to the driveway level.

He kept telling us that we will never know how much our visit meant to him.

There were several daylilies just outside his entrance door that captured my attention and needed to be photographed.

Howard is a very special person to us. We treasure his friendship.